Variation in the Polarization Across Bends in the Spectra of Self-Absorbed Synchrotron Sources

The accepted interpretation of the low frequency turnovers in the spectra of many extragalactic radio sources is that they are due to the effects of synchrotron self-absorption, i.e. to the source becoming optically thick. It has been shown that the signs of the degrees of both linear and circular polarization for a homogeneous source at frequencies where it is optically thick are opposite to those at frequencies where it is optically thin.