Propagation-induced Circular Polarisation in Synchrotron Sources

Abstract The small degree of circular polarisation observed in some synchrotron sources has a frequency dependence that is not consistent with simple predictions based on the intrinsic circular polarisation of synchrotron emission. The suggestion is explored that the circular polarisation arises as a propagation effect within the source. The physical basis of this alternative mechanism is the fact that the natural wave modes of a synchrotron emitting gas are linearly polarised, allowing partial conversion of linear into circular polarisation as in a quarter-wave plate. A relativistic rotation measure (RRM) is defined to characterise the magnitude of this effect.