Polarization Vector Rotations: Real, Spurious, Hidden and Imaginary

Polarization Vector Rotations: Real, Spurious, Hidden and Imaginary

Large and variable polarization is an inherent property of a majority of blazars. Systematic rotations of the polarization vector have been claimed for several blazars. In some cases, however, the reality of these rotations may be questionable. We suggest an additional method for the verification of the reality of polarization position angle rotations based on the correlation of the normalized ...

Working in the real and the imaginary

The science we practice is shaped by our interactions with people; the enthusiastic teachers, the fascinating mentors, the inspiring colleagues, and the inquisitive students. The science we enjoy takes us into areas we couldn't have anticipated. From time to time, we come back to reality and try to find ways to share our new explorations with our friends and relatives and to convert our insight...

Wigner rotations and Iwasawa decompositions in polarization optics.

Wigner rotations and Iwasawa decompositions are manifestations of the internal space-time symmetries of massive and massless particles, respectively. It is shown to be possible to produce combinations of optical filters which exhibit transformations corresponding to Wigner rotations and Iwasawa decompositions. This is possible because the combined effects of rotation, phase-shift, and attenuati...

Imaginary automorphisms on real hyperelliptic curves

A real hyperelliptic curve X is said to be Gaussian if there is an automorphism α : XC → XC such that α = [−1]C ◦ α, where [−1] denotes the hyperelliptic involution on X. Gaussian curves arise naturally in several contexts, for example when one studies real Jacobians. In the present paper we study the properties of Gaussian curves and we describe their moduli spaces. MSC 2000: 14H15, 14H37, 14P...

[Bird flu: a real or imaginary threat?].