NEW-GENERATION INTERFEROMETRIC POLARIMETRY

Polarized emission encodes essential information for very different fields of Astrophysics: from the study of dust grains and magnetic fields in proto-planetary discs and evolved stars, to the formation and propagation of relativistic outflows in Active Galactic Nuclei, or the study of inflation and primordial gravitational waves from the CMB anisotropies.\n\nObserving polarized light at very high angular resolutions and sensitivities typically involves the use of interferometric techniques. New-generation interferometric instruments, which cover new windows to the Universe with wide fractional bandwidths, are pushing the polarimetric observational capabilities to the technical limits. In this talk, we will summarize the techniques of interferometric polarimetry, focusing on the problem of data calibration and interpretation, and will discuss novel algorithms developed for the new-generation interferometers, which are already starting to produce ground-breaking results in Astrophysics.