High‐Frequency VLBA Total and Polarized Intensity Images of Gamma‐Ray Bright Blazars

Abstract

We present Very Long Baseline Array images of 42 γ-ray bright blazars, including 36 with polarization vectors, obtained during the course of a multiepoch monitoring program. Each object was observed at either 43 or 22 GHz, with some objects observed at both frequencies and/or at 15 or 8.4 GHz. The morphologies are varied, with some of the blazars displaying long, thin jets, others short, broad jets, and still others containing cores with only very weak features that are probably knots in faint jets. The polarization of the cores ranges from less than 1% to 8.6%, with electric vector position angles (EVPAs) that are split between nearly parallel and nearly transverse to the jet axis. The polarization of knots in the jets covers a much broader range, from less than 2% to tens of percent. The EVPA of the brightest compact feature in each jet ranges from 0° to 80° from the jet position angle, with roughly half measuring less than 20°. The distribution is consistent with intrinsically oblique magnetic fields whose observed directions are altered by relativistic aberration.