  In order to verify the existence of coherent orientations of quasars
polarization vectors on very large scales, we have obtained new polarization
measurements for a sample of quasars located in a given region of the
three-dimensional Universe where the range of polarization position angles was
predicted in advance. For this new sample, the hypothesis of uniform
distribution of polarization position angles may be rejected at the 1.8%
significance level on the basis of a simple binomial test. This result provides
an independent confirmation of the existence of alignments of quasar
polarization vectors on very large scales. In total, out of 29 polarized
quasars located in this region of the sky, 25 have their polarization vectors
coherently oriented. This alignment occurs at redshifts 1-2 suggesting the
presence of correlations in objects or fields on Gpc scales. More global
statistical tests applied to the whole sample of polarized quasars distributed
all over the sky confirm that polarization vectors are coherently oriented in a
few groups of 20-30 quasars. Some constraints on the phenomenon are also
derived. Considering more particularly the quasars in the selected region of
the sky, we found that their polarization vectors are roughly parallel to the
plane of the Local Supercluster. But the polarization vectors of objects along
the same line of sight at lower redshifts are not accordingly aligned. We also
found that the known correlations between quasar intrinsic properties and
polarization are not destroyed by the alignment effect. Several possible
mechanisms are discussed, but the interpretation of this orientation effect
remains puzzling.
