Polarization of synchrotron radiation from blazar jets

Supermassive black holes in active galactic nuclei (AGNs) launch relativistic jets that shine through the entire electromagnetic spectrum. Blazars are a subclass of AGN where nonthermal radiation from the jet is strongly beamed, as the jet is directed nearly toward the observer. Multifrequency polarimetry is emerging as a powerful probe of blazar jets, especially with the advent of the Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE) space observatory. IXPE mostly targeted high synchrotron peaked (HSP) blazars, where both optical and x-ray emissions can be attributed to synchrotron radiation from a population of nonthermal electrons. Observations of HSP blazars show that the polarization degree is strongly chromatic (${\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Pi}}}_{\mathrm{X}}/{\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Pi}}}_{\mathrm{O}}\ensuremath{\sim}2--7$), whereas the electric vector position angle (EVPA) is nearly independent of the observed frequency (${\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Psi}}}_{\mathrm{X}}\ensuremath{\simeq}{\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Psi}}}_{\mathrm{O}}$). The strong chromaticity of the polarization degree was interpreted as evidence that nonthermal electrons are accelerated by shocks. We present an alternative scenario that naturally explains IXPE observations. We study the polarization of synchrotron radiation from stationary axisymmetric jets viewed nearly on axis. We show that the polarization degree increases significantly at high photon frequencies, as the distribution of the emitting electrons becomes softer, whereas the EVPA is nearly constant. The chromaticity of the polarization degree is much stronger in axisymmetric jets than in the case of a uniform magnetic field. Our results show that the topology of the electromagnetic fields is key to interpreting multifrequency polarimetric observations of blazar jets. On the other hand, these observations may be less sensitive than previously thought to the specific particle acceleration process (e.g., shocks or magnetic reconnection).