
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Melrose, Don 
A1  - Kennett, Malcolm 
T1  - Propagation-induced Circular Polarisation in Synchrotron Sources
JF  - Publications of the Astronomical Society of Australia
JO  - Publ. Astron. Soc.  Aust.
Y1  - 1998
VL  - 15
IS  - 2
SP  - 211
EP  - 216
KW  - 
UR  - https://doi.org/10.1071/AS98211 
N2  - The small degree of circular polarisation observed in some synchrotron sources has a frequency dependence that is not consistent with simple predictions based on the intrinsic circular polarisation of synchrotron emission. The suggestion is explored that the circular polarisation arises as a propagation effect within the source. The physical basis of this alternative mechanism is the fact that the natural wave modes of a synchrotron emitting gas are linearly polarised, allowing partial conversion of linear into circular polarisation as in a quarter-wave plate. A relativistic rotation measure (RRM) is defined to characterise the magnitude of this effect. 
ER  -

