Origin of gamma-ray flaring in blazars

Blazars are AGN where the relativistic jet is pointing nearly towards the observer resulting in strong relativistic effects. Although the main properties of blazar jet emission are agreed upon, many important questions still remain unanswered, like the origin and location of gamma-ray emission. We propose a polarization monitoring of 16 gamma-ray emitting blazars with LT/RINGO3 to see if gamma-ray flares are connected to changes in the optical polarization state of the targets as has been observed in a few blazars recently. Optical polarization provides vital information on the geometry and trajectory of the dominant emitting region and on the connection between optical and gamma-ray emission. However, catching interesting events is requires continuous polarization monitoring over long periods of time.