ترغب بنشر مسار تعليمي؟ اضغط هنا

Constraining regular and turbulent magnetic field strengths in M51 via Faraday depolarization

134   0   0.0 ( 0 )
 نشر من قبل Carl Shneider
 تاريخ النشر 2014
  مجال البحث فيزياء
والبحث باللغة English
 تأليف Carl Shneider




اسأل ChatGPT حول البحث

We employ an analytical model that incorporates both wavelength-dependent and wavelength-independent depolarization to describe radio polarimetric observations of polarization at $lambda lambda lambda , 3.5, 6.2, 20.5$ cm in M51 (NGC 5194). The aim is to constrain both the regular and turbulent magnetic field strengths in the disk and halo, modeled as a two- or three-layer magneto-ionic medium, via differential Faraday rotation and internal Faraday dispersion, along with wavelength-independent depolarization arising from turbulent magnetic fields. A reduced chi-squared analysis is used for the statistical comparison of predicted to observed polarization maps to determine the best-fit magnetic field configuration at each of four radial rings spanning $2.4 - 7.2$ kpc in $1.2$ kpc increments. We find that a two-layer modeling approach provides a better fit to the observations than a three-layer model, where the near and far sides of the halo are taken to be identical, although the resulting best-fit magnetic field strengths are comparable. This implies that all of the signal from the far halo is depolarized at these wavelengths. We find a total magnetic field in the disk of approximately $18~mu$G and a total magnetic field strength in the halo of $sim 4-6~mu$G. Both turbulent and regular magnetic field strengths in the disk exceed those in the halo by a factor of a few. About half of the turbulent magnetic field in the disk is anisotropic, but in the halo all turbulence is only isotropic.



قيم البحث

اقرأ أيضاً

Optical and infrared continuum polarization from the interstellar medium is known to generally be due to irregular dust grains aligned with the magnetic field. This provides an important tool to probe the geometry and strength of those fields, partic ularly if the variations in the grain alignment efficiencies can be understood. Here, we examine polarization variations observed throughout the wall of the Local Bubble, using a large polarization survey of the North Galactic cap (textit{b}$>30^circ$) from citet{berdyugin2014}. These data are analyzed together with archival photometric and spectroscopic data along with the mapping of the Local Bubble by citet{lallement2003}. We can model the observational data by assuming that the alignment driving mechanism is due to the radiation from the surrounding star field. In particular we find that the fractional polarization is dominated by the light from the OB associations within 150 pc of the sun, but is largely insensitive to the radiation field from red field stars. This behavior is consistent with the expected wavelength dependence of radiative grain alignment theory. We also probe the relative strength of the magnetic field in the wall of the Local Bubble using the Davis-Chandrasekhar-Fermi method. We find evidence for a systematically varying field strength distribution, where the variations in the field are correlated with the variations in grain alignment efficiency, indicating that the relatively higher field strength regions might represent a compression of the wall by the interaction of the outflow in the Local Bubble and the opposing flows by the surrounding OB associations.
[ABRIDGED] The knowledge of the regular component of the Galactic magnetic field gives important information about the structure and dynamics of the Milky Way, as well as constitutes a basic tool to determine cosmic rays trajectories. It can also pro vide clear windows where primordial magnetic fields could be detected. We want to obtain the regular (large scale) pattern of the magnetic field distribution of the Milky Way that better fits the polarized synchrotron emission as seen by the 5-year WMAP data at 22 GHz. We have done a systematic study of a number of Galactic magnetic field models: axisymmetric, bisymmetric, logarithmic spiral arms, concentric circular rings with reversals and bi-toroidal. We have explored the parameter space defining each of these models using a grid-based approach. In total, more than one million models are computed. The model selection is done using a Bayesian approach. For each model, the posterior distributions are obtained and marginalised over the unwanted parameters to obtain the marginal 1-D probability distribution functions. In general, axisymmetric models provide a better description of the halo component, although attending to their goodness-of-fit, the rest of the models cannot be rejected. In the case of disk component, the analysis is not very sensitive for obtaining the disk large scale structure, because of the effective available area (less than 8% of the whole map and less than 40% of the disk). Nevertheless, within a given family of models, the best-fit parameters are compatible with those found in the literature. The family of models that better describes the polarized synchrotron halo emission is the axisymmetric one, with magnetic spiral arms with a pitch angle of ~24 degrees, and a strong vertical field of 1 microG at z ~ 1 kpc. When a radial variation is fitted, models require fast variations.
SOFIA HAWC+ polarimetry at $154~micron$ is reported for the face-on galaxy M51 and the edge-on galaxy NGC 891. For M51, the polarization vectors generally follow the spiral pattern defined by the molecular gas distribution, the far-infrared (FIR) int ensity contours, and other tracers of star formation. The fractional polarization is much lower in the FIR-bright central regions than in the outer regions, and we rule out loss of grain alignment and variations in magnetic field strength as causes. When compared with existing synchrotron observations, which sample different regions with different weighting, we find the net position angles are strongly correlated, the fractional polarizations are moderately correlated, but the polarized intensities are uncorrelated. We argue that the low fractional polarization in the central regions must be due to significant numbers of highly turbulent segments across the beam and along lines of sight in the beam in the central 3 kpc of M51. For NGC 891, the FIR polarization vectors within an intensity contour of 1500 $rm{MJy~sr^{-1}}$ are oriented very close to the plane of the galaxy. The FIR polarimetry is probably sampling the magnetic field geometry in NGC 891 much deeper into the disk than is possible with NIR polarimetry and radio synchrotron measurements. In some locations in NGC 891 the FIR polarization is very low, suggesting we are preferentially viewing the magnetic field mostly along the line of sight, down the length of embedded spiral arms. There is tentative evidence for a vertical field in the polarized emission off the plane of the disk.
119 - Daniel C. Homan 2012
Motivated by recent observations that show increasing fractional linear polarization with increasing wavelength in a small number of optically thin jet features, i.e. inverse depolarization, we present a physical model that can explain this effect an d may provide a new and complementary probe of the low energy particle population and possible helical magnetic fields in extragalactic radio jets. In our model, structural inhomogeneities in the jet magnetic field create cancellation of polarization along the line of sight. Internal Faraday rotation, which increases like wavelength squared, acts to align the polarization from the far and near sides of the jet, leading to increased polarization at longer wavelengths. Structural inhomogeneities of the right type are naturally produced in helical magnetic fields and will also appear in randomly tangled magnetic fields. We explore both alternatives and find that, for random fields, the length scale for tangling cannot be too small a fraction of the jet diameter and still be consistent with the relatively high levels of fractional polarization observed in these features. We also find that helical magnetic fields naturally produce transverse structure for inverse depolarization which may be observable even in partially resolved jets.
Low ($lesssim 1%$) levels of circular polarization (CP) detected at radio frequencies in the relativistic jets of some blazars can provide insight into the underlying nature of the jet plasma. CP can be produced through linear birefringence, in which initially linearly polarized emission produced in one region of the jet is altered by Faraday rotation as it propagates through other regions of the jet with varying magnetic field orientation. Marscher has begun a study of jets with such magnetic geometries using the Turbulent Extreme Multi-Zone (TEMZ) model, in which turbulent plasma crossing a standing shock in the jet is represented by a collection of thousands of individual plasma cells, each with distinct magnetic field orientations. Here we develop a radiative transfer scheme that allows the numerical TEMZ code to produce simulated images of the time-dependent linearly and circularly polarized intensity at different radio frequencies. In this initial study, we produce synthetic polarized emission maps that highlight the linear and circular polarization expected within the model.
التعليقات
جاري جلب التعليقات جاري جلب التعليقات
سجل دخول لتتمكن من متابعة معايير البحث التي قمت باختيارها
mircosoft-partner

هل ترغب بارسال اشعارات عن اخر التحديثات في شمرا-اكاديميا