scholarly journals The Rotation Measure of Background Radio Sources Seen Through the Supernova Remnant OA184 (G166.2+2.5)

1988 ◽  
Vol 101 ◽  
pp. 355-358
Author(s):  
K.-T. Kim ◽  
P.P. Kronberg ◽  
T.L. Landecker

AbstractRadio sources in the field of the extended SNR OA184 (G166.2+2.5) have been studied to determine the excess rotation measure (RM) arising from the SNR. Of a total of 32 radio sources observed with the VLA in the C configuration, eight are found to be polarized above 7σ The sources seen through the SNR show significantly high RM in comparison to background sources. The excess RM due to the Faraday active plasma in the SNR is estimated to be 150±20 rad m−2, which corresponds to . The sign of RMs of the sources within an area of about 2°×2° centred on the SNR shows a systematic longitudinal polarity change on either side of l ≈ 166°.2. Although a larger sample is needed to justify this, we tentatively interpret this “flip” as due to the reversal of an irregular component of the galactic magnetic field on a scale of order 100 pc.

1985 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 431-435

During the triennium under review many papers reported on studies of the structure of the galactic magnetic field. Andreasyan used rotation measures (RM) of large samples of extra-galactic radio sources and pulsars (29.156.001) or radio sources (32.156.002), and Inoue and Tabara (31.156.011) used in addition optical polarization of stars to investigate the direction of the large-scale regular magnetic field. Thomson and Nelson analyse the RMs of 459 extragalactic sources (32. 161.001) to determine the best fit parameters for a galactic magnetic-field model, and find agreement with their earlier work using pulsars (27.156.009). Similarly, Sofue and Fujimoto (33.155.011) show that the characteristic features of the RM distribution on the sky are well reproduced by a model in which the magnetic field is in a bisymmetric, two-armed logarithmic spiral configuration. Finally, Welter, Perry and Kronberg (37.159.096) present a statistical analysis of the (Galaxy-corrected) residual rotation measure (RRM) of 116 QSOs.


1990 ◽  
Vol 140 ◽  
pp. 41-43
Author(s):  
A. G. Lyne

The high linear polarization of pulsar radiation allows a reasonably easy determination of the Faraday rotation measure. Unlike other radio sources, the impulsive nature of pulsar emission also permits a determination of the number of electrons responsible for the rotation, through the dispersion measure, DM.


1990 ◽  
Vol 140 ◽  
pp. 55-58
Author(s):  
James M. Cordes ◽  
Andrew Clegg ◽  
John Simonetti

We discuss small scale structure in the Galactic magnetic field as inferred from Faraday rotation measurements of extragalactic radio sources. The rotation measure data suggest a continuum of length scales extending from parsec scales down to at least 0.01 pc and perhaps to as small as 109 cm. Such turbulence in the magnetic field comprises a reservoir of energy that is comparable to the energy in the large scale field.


1979 ◽  
Vol 84 ◽  
pp. 317-319
Author(s):  
P. P. Kronberg ◽  
M. Simard-Normandin

We have measured the linear polarization of a new large sample of extragalactic radio sources, and by combining these with polarization values already in the literature, we have been able to compute a large number of rotation measures, with improved quality. We have also investigated the depolarization properties of these sources and as a result have been able to identify most sources with a large internally generated Faraday rotation. Figure 1 shows the rotation measures of 475 extragalactic radio sources on an equal-area projection, after “cleaning out” the extragalactic effects to first order.


1985 ◽  
Vol 106 ◽  
pp. 251-252
Author(s):  
Y. Sofue ◽  
M. Fujimoto

The distribution of Faraday rotation measure (RM) of extragalactic radio sources shows that a large-scale magnetic field in the Galaxy is oriented along the spiral arms. The field lines change direction from one arm to the next in the inter-arm region.


2018 ◽  
Vol 613 ◽  
pp. A74 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alice Pasetto ◽  
Carlos Carrasco-González ◽  
Shane O’Sullivan ◽  
Aritra Basu ◽  
Gabriele Bruni ◽  
...  

We present broadband polarimetric observations of a sample of high-Faraday-rotation-measure (high-RM) active galactic nuclei (AGN) using the Karl. G. Jansky Very Large Array (JVLA) telescope from 1 to 2 GHz, and 4 to 12 GHz. The sample (14 sources) consists of very compact sources (linear resolution smaller than ≈5 kpc) that are unpolarized at 1.4 GHz in the NRAO VLA Sky Survey (NVSS). Total intensity data have been modeled using a combination of synchrotron components, revealing complex structure in their radio spectra. Depolarization modeling, through the so-called qu-fitting (the modeling of the fractional quantities of the Stokes Q and U parameters), has been performed on the polarized data using an equation that attempts to simplify the process of fitting many different depolarization models. These models can be divided into two major categories: external depolarization (ED) and internal depolarization (ID) models. Understanding which of the two mechanisms is the most representative would help the qualitative understanding of the AGN jet environment and whether it is embedded in a dense external magneto-ionic medium or if it is the jet-wind that causes the high RM and strong depolarization. This could help to probe the jet magnetic field geometry (e.g., helical or otherwise). This new high-sensitivity data shows a complicated behavior in the total intensity and polarization radio spectrum of individual sources. We observed the presence of several synchrotron components and Faraday components in their total intensity and polarized spectra. For the majority of our targets (12 sources), the depolarization seems to be caused by a turbulent magnetic field. Thus, our main selection criteria (lack of polarization at 1.4 GHz in the NVSS) result in a sample of sources with very large RMs and depolarization due to turbulent magnetic fields local to the source. These broadband JVLA data reveal the complexity of the polarization properties of this class of radio sources. We show how the new qu-fitting technique can be used to probe the magnetized radio source environment and to spectrally resolve the polarized components of unresolved radio sources.


1990 ◽  
Vol 140 ◽  
pp. 477-481
Author(s):  
G.V. Bicknell ◽  
R.A. Cameron ◽  
R.A. Gingold

It is proposed that the large rotation measure gradients observed in the lobes of some extragalactic radio sources are produced by non–linear Kelvin–Helmholtz surface waves. Related small scale turbulence is responsible for a “diffuse spray” of relativistic plasma and magnetic field into the surrounding medium. The mixture of magnetic field and thermal plasma causes large rotation measure variations on the scale of the Kelvin–Helmholtz waves. An order of magnitude prediction of the effect is in good agreement with the observations of Cygnus A and PKS 2104–25 N.


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