Polarization properties of changing-look active galactic nuclei: NGC 1365 and NGC 2992

TL;DR

This study investigates the polarization properties of changing-look AGNs NGC 1365 and NGC 2992 to understand the mechanisms behind their spectral state transitions, revealing how polarization varies with galaxy orientation and dust extinction.

Contribution

It provides the first detailed spectro-polarimetric analysis of changing-look AGNs, linking polarization characteristics to galaxy inclination and dust effects, and compares them to normal AGN types.

Findings

NGC 1365 shows polarization similar to type 1 Seyferts, aligned with the radio jet.

NGC 2992's polarization is dominated by dust extinction, masking scattering signatures.

Polarization properties vary with galaxy inclination and dust, affecting the observed AGN state.

Abstract

Changing-look active galactic nuclei (CLAGNs) represent a rare class of AGNs that undergo transitions from type 1 (characterized by the presence of broad emission lines in their spectra) to type 2 (absence of broad emission lines) or vice versa, over timescales ranging from months to years. Since normal type 1 and type 2 AGNs are known to show different polarization properties, detailed investigations of the CLAGN polarization can shed light on the underlying mechanisms responsible for the changing-look phenomenon. We present new (spectro)polarimetric observations of two changing-look AGNs located in the core of the inclined spiral galaxies NGC 1365 and NGC 2992. Both AGNs are radio emitters, thereby enabling a comparison of their polarization to the radio jet axis, which defines the accretion disk geometry. In the case of NGC 1365, the AGN shows polarization characteristics consistent with those observed in type 1 Seyferts, in particular polarization parallel to the radio jet. This intrinsic polarization is modified by the wavelength-dependent dichroic extinction that occurs in the galaxy bar and that rotates the polarization angle at the shortest wavelengths. NGC 2992, on the other hand, is so inclined that dichroic dust extinction in the disk completely dominates the polarization of the AGN, thus overwhelming any polarization due to scattering. Consequently, the polarization properties remain essentially constant between the different AGN states, and the faint broad lines observed in the polarized flux are most likely not scattered light. Differential dilution between the continuum and the narrow-line polarizations can explain the unusually high polarization measured in the emission lines.