Analyzing polarization swings in 3C 279
  Quasar 3C 279 is known to exhibit episodes of optical polarization angle
rotation. We present new, well-sampled optical polarization data for 3C 279 and
introduce a method to distinguish between random and deterministic electric
vector position angle (EVPA) variations. We observe EVPA rotations in both
directions with different amplitudes and find that the EVPA variation shows
characteristics of both random and deterministic cases. Our analysis indicates
that the EVPA variation is likely dominated by a random process in the low
brightness state of the jet and by a deterministic process in the flaring
state.
