Speaker
Markus Boettcher
(North-West University)
Description
We report on recent results from a target-of-opportunity programme to
obtain spectropolarimetry observations of flaring gamma-ray blazars with
the Southern African Large Telescope (SALT). In tandem with this observational
program, we develop a leptonic blazar model for a self-consistent representation
of SEDs and optical (SALT) spectropolarimetry. Such modeling provides an accurate
estimate of the degree of order of the magnetic field in the emission region as
well as thermal contributions (from the host galaxy and the accretion disk) to
the SED, thus putting strong constraints on the physical parameters of the
gamma-ray emitting regions.
Primary author
Markus Boettcher
(North-West University)
