Speaker
Description
Blazar flares present as increased brightness of the jet from an Active Galactic Nucleus across the electromagnetic spectrum; they also display changes in polarisation fraction and direction. The Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA) is a far more sensitive detector of gamma-ray blazar flares than previous instruments, and is already detecting them in the northern sky. CTA covers the whole sky from southern and northern sites, but the northern hemisphere has many more polarimetry instruments available. More southern-sky polarimetry data will be required.
CTA-Pol is a visible-light polarimeter to monitor and follow up southern blazars, providing the polarisation data to interpret gamma-ray detections. It is designed to measure strong linear polarisation of quite faint targets, using small- to medium-size telescopes. The optical design and component choices are aligned with this goal. It has been commissioned on a 0.6m on-campus telescope, successfully recovering known polarisation, and will also operate on the 2.3m ANU telescope at Siding Spring.
We present commissioning data and progress on monitoring and follow-up programmes for blazars in the southern hemisphere.
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