Polarization of Radio Sources. I. Transfer of synchrotron Radition through an Extended Radio Source with Faraday Rotation|Polarization of Radio Sources. I. Homogeneous Source of Arbitrary Optical Thickness

Abstract

The problem of transfer of radiation in a medium with polarized emission, polarized absorption and Faraday rotation of the plane of polarization is formulated. Solutions are obtained for the case of a homogeneous source. In the range of frequencies for which a medium is optically thick the degree of polarization of synchrotron radiation depends on the type of absorption process and is different for synchrotron absorption and for thermal absorption. It is therefore suggested that the low frequency polarization measurements of radio sources with curved spectra may determine whether synchrotron self -absorption or thermal absorption or another process is responsible for the low frequency curvature in spectra of certain radio sources.