Simulating the polarized emission from relativistic AGN jets across the electromagnetic spectrum

Modern ray-tracing in (hybrid) relativistic magnetohydrodynamic (RMHD) jet simulations has brought forth answers to questions about one of the most energetic phenomena in the universe — the jets originating from the centers of active galactic nuclei (AGN). Our research of these objects aims to bridge the gap between numerical simulations and observed polarization. We focus on understanding how the morphology of the jet’s synchrotron emission is influenced by the magnetic properties of the relativistic plasma within the jet stream. To achieve this, we compare observational very-long-baseline interferometric data with our RMHD simulations, allowing us to identify favoured intrinsic magnetic fields in Blazar sources. The latest version of the PLUTO code facilitates the study of a macro particle module, enabling to model the emission from relativistic jets across the entire electromagnetic spectrum. This new module incorporates physics related to radiative losses and diffusive shock acceleration, which are crucial source terms in correctly modeling synchrotron emission from AGN jets. To compute polarization using the RADMC-3D code, we directly calculate and interpolate the non-thermal particle attributes on a grid in the 3D space. The final set of polarized images include maps of the four Stokes parameters (I, Q, U, and V) and linearly polarized intensity. The synthetic polarization maps are expected to provide valuable insights into the high-energy synchrotron polarization levels that NASA’s Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE) mission is detecting in AGN sources. Our ultimate goal is to create a comprehensive simulation of the synchrotron spectral energy distribution (SED) of AGN, spanning from radio to X-ray. We analyze this SED over time, considering various jet simulation scenarios, including high-energy flares and environmental interactions.