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Register a new userA study of broadband Faraday rotation and polarization behaviour over 1.3--10 GHz in 36 discrete radio sources
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We present a broadband polarization analysis of 36 discrete polarized radio sources over a very broad, densely-sampled frequency band. Our sample was selected on the basis of polarization behaviour apparent in narrowband archival data at 1.4 GHz: half the sample show complicated frequency-dependent polarization behaviour (i.e. Faraday complexity) at these frequencies, while half show comparatively simple behaviour (i.e. they appear Faraday simple). We re-observed the sample using the Australia Telescope Compact Array (ATCA) in full polarization, with 6 GHz of densely sampled frequency coverage spanning 1.3 to 10 GHz. We have devised a general polarization modelling technique that allows us to identify multiple polarized emission components in a source, and to characterize their properties. We detect Faraday complex behaviour in almost every source in our sample. Several sources exhibit particularly remarkable polarization behaviour. By comparing our new and archival data, we have identified temporal variability in the broadband integrated polarization spectra of some sources. In a number of cases, the characteristics of the polarized emission components, including the range of Faraday depths over which they emit, their temporal variability, spectral index, and the linear extent of the source, allow us to argue that the spectropolarimetric data encodes information about the magnetoionic environment of active galactic nuclei themselves. Furthermore, the data place direct constraints on the geometry and magnetoionic structure of this material. We discuss the consequences of restricted frequency bands on the detection and interpretation of polarization structures, and implications for upcoming spectropolarimetric surveys.
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We present a polarization and Faraday rotation study of the hybrid morphology radio galaxy NGC 612 (PKS 0131-36), using Australian Telescope Compact Array observations from 1 to 3 GHz. In general, the results are consistent with an external Faraday screen close to the radio source. In the eastern FRII lobe, the RM of the hotspot increases in magnitude towards the leading edge, as well as changing sign (compared to the rest of the lobe). The Faraday depolarization is also ~3 times larger at the hotspot than elsewhere. A plausible explanation for this is significant compression of ambient magnetised gas by the bow shock produced by the advancing hotspot. The western FRI lobe also exhibits some evidence of interaction with local magnetised gas, as a transverse band of high RM coincides with a distinct bend in the lobe. Previous observations of NGC 612 revealed an HI bridge of tidal debris along the direction of the eastern lobe towards the gas-rich companion NGC 619. We find no clear evidence that ionised gas associated with this bridge is either mixing with or lies in the foreground of the radio source. This is consistent with the absence of HI absorption against the hotspot, and indicates that the tidal debris must lie mostly behind the eastern lobe.
We present a catalog of Faraday rotation measures (RMs) and redshifts for 4003 extragalactic radio sources detected at 1.4 GHz, derived by identifying optical counterparts and spectroscopic redshifts for linearly polarized radio sources from the NRAO VLA Sky Survey. This catalog is more than an order of magnitude larger than any previous sample of RM vs. redshift, and covers the redshift range 0 < z < 5.3 ; the median redshift of the catalog is z = 0.70, and there are more than 1500 sources at redshifts z > 1. For 3650 of these sources at Galactic latitudes |b| >= 20 degrees, we present a second catalog in which we have corrected for the foreground Faraday rotation of the Milky Way, resulting in an estimate of the residual rotation measure (RRM) that aims to isolate the contribution from extragalactic magnetic fields. We find no significant evolution of RRM with redshift, but observe a strong anti-correlation between RRM and fractional polarization, p, that we argue is the result of beam depolarization from small-scale fluctuations in the foreground magnetic field or electron density. We suggest that the observed variance in RRM and the anti-correlation of RRM with p both require a population of magnetized intervening objects that lie outside the Milky Way but in the foreground to the emitting sources.
We present a polarization catalog of 533 extragalactic radio sources with 2.3 GHz total intensity above 420 mJy from the S-band Polarization All Sky Survey, S-PASS, with corresponding 1.4 GHz polarization information from the NRAO VLA Sky Survey, NVSS. We studied selection effects and found that fractional polarization, $pi$, of radio objects at both wavelengths depends on the spectral index, source magnetic field disorder, source size and depolarization. The relationship between depolarization, spectrum and size shows that depolarization occurs primarily in the source vicinity. The median $pi_{2.3}$ of resolved objects in NVSS is approximately two times larger than that of unresolved sources. Sources with little depolarization are $sim2$ times more polarized than both highly depolarized and re-polarized sources. This indicates that intrinsic magnetic field disorder is the dominant mechanism responsible for the observed low fractional polarization of radio sources at high frequencies. We predict that number counts from polarization surveys will be similar at 1.4 GHz and at 2.3 GHz, for fixed sensitivity, although $sim$10% of all sources may be currently missing because of strong depolarization. Objects with $pi_{1.4}approx pi_{2.3} ge 4%$ typically have simple Faraday structures, so are most useful for background samples. Almost half of flat spectrum ($alpha ge -0.5$) and $sim$25% of steep spectrum objects are re-polarized. Steep spectrum, depolarized sources show a weak negative correlation of depolarization with redshift in the range 0 $<$ z $<$ 2.3. Previous non-detections of redshift evolution are likely due the inclusion of re-polarized sources as well.
Faraday rotation measures (RMs) of extragalactic radio sources provide information on line-of-sight magnetic fields, including contributions from our Galaxy, source environments, and the intergalactic medium (IGM). Looking at differences in RMs, $Delta$RM, between adjacent sources on the sky can help isolate these different components. In this work, we classify adjacent polarized sources in the NVSS as random or physical pairs. We recompute and correct the uncertainties in the NVSS RM catalog, since these were significantly overestimated. Our sample contains 317 physical and 5111 random pairs, all with Galactic latitudes $|b|ge20^{circ}$, polarization fractions $ge2%$, and angular separations between $1.^{},$ and $20^{}$. We find an rms $Delta$RM of $14.9pm0.4,$rad m$^{-2}$ and $4.6pm1.1,$rad m$^{-2}$ for random and physical pairs, respectively. This means polarized extragalactic sources that are close on the sky, but at different redshifts, have larger differences in RM than two components of one source. This difference of $sim10,$rad m$^{-2}$ is significant at $5sigma$, and persists in different data subsamples. While there have been other statistical studies of $Delta$RM between adjacent polarized sources, this is the first unambiguous demonstration that some of this RM difference must be extragalactic, thereby providing a firm upper limit on the RM contribution of the IGM. If the $Delta$RMs originate local to the sources, then the local magnetic field difference between random sources is a factor of two larger than between components of one source. Alternatively, attributing the difference in $Delta$RMs to the intervening IGM yields an upper limit on the IGM magnetic field strength of $40,$nG.
We present radio observations of the most slowly rotating known radio pulsar PSR J0250+5854. With a 23.5 s period, it is close, or even beyond, the $P$-$dot{P}$ diagram region thought to be occupied by active pulsars. The simultaneous observations with FAST, the Chilbolton and Effelsberg LOFAR international stations, and NenuFAR represent a five-fold increase in the spectral coverage of this object, with the detections at 1250 MHz (FAST) and 57 MHz (NenuFAR) being the highest- and lowest-frequency published respectively to date. We measure a flux density of $4pm2$ $mu$Jy at 1250 MHz and an exceptionally steep spectral index of $-3.5^{+0.2}_{-1.5}$, with a turnover below $sim$95 MHz. In conjunction with observations of this pulsar with the GBT and the LOFAR Core, we show that the intrinsic profile width increases drastically towards higher frequencies, contrary to the predictions of conventional radius-to-frequency mapping. We examine polarimetric data from FAST and the LOFAR Core and conclude that its polar cap radio emission is produced at an absolute height of several hundreds of kilometres around 1.5 GHz, similar to other rotation-powered pulsars across the population. Its beam is significantly underfilled at lower frequencies, or it narrows because of the disappearance of conal outriders. Finally, the results for PSR J0250+5854 and other slowly spinning rotation-powered pulsars are contrasted with the radio-detected magnetars. We conclude that magnetars have intrinsically wider radio beams than the slow rotation-powered pulsars, and that consequently the latters lower beaming fraction is what makes objects such as PSR J0250+5854 so scarce.
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