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We report on IXPE, NICER, and XMM–Newton observations of the magnetar 1E 2259+586. We find that the source is significantly polarized at about or above 20  per cent for all phases except for the secondary peak where it is more weakly polarized. The polarization degree is strongest during the primary minimum which is also the phase where an absorption feature has been identified previously. The polarization angle of the photons are consistent with a rotating vector model with a mode switch between the primary minimum and the rest of the rotation of the neutron star. We propose a scenario in which the emission at the source is weakly polarized (as in a condensed surface) and, as the radiation passes through a plasma arch, resonant cyclotron scattering off of protons produces the observed polarized radiation. This confirms the magnetar nature of the source with a surface field greater than about 1015 G. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present the multiwavelength flaring activity of the blazar AO 0235 + 164 during its recent active period from 2013 to 2019. From a discrete correlation function analysis, we find a significant (⁠|$\gt 95~{{\ \rm per\ cent}}$|⁠) correlation between radio and gamma-ray light curves with flares at longer wavelengths following flares at shorter wavelengths. We identify a new jet component in 43 GHz Very Long Baseline Array data that was ejected from the radio core on MJD |$57246^{+26}_{-30}$| (2015 August 12), during the peak of the 2015 radio flare. From the analysis of the jet component, we derived a Doppler factor of δvar = 28.5 ± 8.4, a bulk Lorentz factor of |$\Gamma =16.8^{+3.6}_{-3.1}$|⁠ , and an intrinsic viewing angle of |$\theta _{\rm v}=1.42^{+1.07}_{-0.52}\textrm {~degrees}$|⁠. Investigation of the quasi-simultaneous radio data revealed a partially absorbed spectrum with the turnover frequency varying in the range of 10−70 GHz and the peak flux density varying in the range of 0.7−4 Jy. We find the synchrotron self-absorption magnetic field strength to be |$B_{\rm SSA}=15.3^{+12.6}_{-14.0}\textrm {~mG}$| at the peak of the 2015 radio flare, which is comparable to the equipartition magnetic field strength of |$B_{\rm EQ}=43.6^{+10.6}_{-10.4}\textrm {~mG}$| calculated for the same epoch. Additional analysis of the radio emission region in the relativistic jet of AO 0235 + 164 suggests that it did not significantly deviate from equipartition during its recent flaring activity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present multi-epoch optical spectra of the γ-ray bright blazar 1156+295 (4C +29.45, Ton 599) obtained with the 4.3 m Lowell Discovery Telescope. During a multiwavelength outburst in late 2017, when the γ-ray flux increased to 2.5 × 10−6 phot cm−2 s−1 and the quasar was first detected at energies ≥100 GeV, the flux of the Mg ii λ2798 emission line changed, as did that of the Fe emission complex at shorter wavelengths. These emission-line fluxes increased along with the highly polarized optical continuum flux, which is presumably synchrotron radiation from the relativistic jet, with a relative time delay of ≲2 weeks. This implies that the line-emitting clouds lie near the jet, which points almost directly toward the line of sight. The emission-line radiation from such clouds, which are located outside the canonical accretion-disk related broad-line region, may be a primary source of seed photons that are up-scattered to γ-ray energies by relativistic electrons in the jet. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]