A detailed analysis of the optical polarimetric variability of the TeV blazar 1ES 1959+650 from 2007 October 18 to 2011 May 5 is presented .
The source showed a maximum and minimum brightness states in the R-band of 14.08 \pm 0.03 mag and 15.20 \pm 0.03 mag , respectively , with a maximum variation of 1.12 mag , and also a maximum polarization degree of P = ( 12.2 \pm 0.7 ) % , with a maximum variation of 10.7 % .
From August to November 2009 , a correlation between the optical R -band flux and the degree of linear polarization was found , with a correlation coefficient r _ { pol } =0.984 \pm 0.025 .
The source presented a preferential position angle of optical polarization of \sim 153 ^ { \circ } , with variations of 10 \arcdeg - 50 \arcdeg , that is in agreement with the projected position angle of the parsec scale jet found at 43 GHz .
From the Stokes parameters we infer the existence of two optically-thin synchrotron components that contribute to the polarized flux .
One of them is stable , with a constant polarization degree of 4 % .
Assuming a stationary shock for the variable component , we estimated some parameters associated with the physics of the relativistic jet : the magnetic field , B \sim 0.06 G , the Doppler factor , \delta _ { 0 } \sim 23 , the viewing angle , \Phi \sim 2.4 \arcdeg , and the size of the emission region r _ { b } \sim 5.6 \times 10 ^ { 17 } cm .
Our study is consistent with the spine-sheath model to explain the polarimetric variability displayed by this source during our monitoring .