scholarly journals A bisymmetric spiral magnetic field in the Milky Way

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.

2012 ◽  
Vol 10 (H16) ◽  
pp. 395-395
Author(s):  
Roland Kothes

AbstractAs supernova remnants (SNRs) expand, their shock waves freeze in and compress magnetic field lines they encounter; consequently we can use SNRs as magnifying glasses for interstellar magnetic fields. A simple model is used to derive polarization and rotation measure (RM) signatures of SNRs. This model is exploited to gain knowledge about the large-scale magnetic field in the Milky Way. Three examples are given which indicate a magnetic anomaly, an azimuthal large-scale magnetic field towards the anti-centre, and a chimney that releases magnetic energy from the plane into the halo.


2008 ◽  
Vol 4 (S259) ◽  
pp. 75-80 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roland Kothes ◽  
Jo-Anne Brown

AbstractAs Supernova remnants expand, their shock waves are freezing in and compressing the magnetic field lines they encounter; consequently we can use Supernova remnants as magnifying glasses for their ambient magnetic fields. We will describe a simple model to determine emission, polarization, and rotation measure characteristics of adiabatically expanding Supernova remnants and how we can exploit this model to gain information about the large scale magnetic field in our Galaxy. We will give two examples: The SNR DA530, which is located high above the Galactic plane, reveals information about the magnetic field in the halo of our Galaxy. The SNR G182.4+4.3 is located close to the anti-centre of our Galaxy and reveals the most probable direction where the large-scale magnetic field is perpendicular to the line of sight. This may help to decide on the large-scale magnetic field configuration of our Galaxy. But more observations of SNRs are needed.


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.


2007 ◽  
Vol 663 (1) ◽  
pp. 258-266 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. C. Brown ◽  
M. Haverkorn ◽  
B. M. Gaensler ◽  
A. R. Taylor ◽  
N. S. Bizunok ◽  
...  

Author(s):  
R. R. Andreasyan

We bring results of some our investigations of magnetic field of our Galaxy and extragalactic radio sources. For the study were used data of Faraday rotation of pulsars and extragalactic radio sources as well as data of physical and morphological properties of more than 500 radio galaxies of different morphological classes.


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.


1989 ◽  
Vol 136 ◽  
pp. 243-263 ◽  
Author(s):  
F. Yusef-Zadeh

Recent studies of the Galactic center environment have revealed a wealth of new thermal and nonthermal features with unusual characteristics. A system of nonthermal filamentary structures tracing magnetic field lines are found to extend over 200pc in the direction perpendicular to the Galactic plane. Ionized structures, like nonthermal features, appear filamentary and show forbidden velocity fields in the sense of Galactic rotation and large line widths. Faraday rotation characteristics and the flat spectral index distributions of the nonthermal filaments suggest a mixture of thermal and nonthermal gas. Furthermore, the relative spatial distributions of the magnetic structures with respect to those of the ionized and molecular gas suggest a physical interaction between these two systems. In spite of numerous questions concerning the origin of the large-scale organized magnetic structures, the mechanism by which particles are accelerated to relativistic energies, and the source or sources of heating the dust and gas, recent studies have been able to distinguish the inner 200pc of the nucleus from the disk of the Galaxy in at least two more respects: (1) the recognition that the magnetic field has a large-scale structure and is strong, uniform and dynamically important; and (2) the physics of interstellar matter may be dominated by the poloidal component of the magnetic field.


2018 ◽  
Vol 14 (S342) ◽  
pp. 244-245
Author(s):  
Sebastian Knuettel ◽  
Denise Gabuzda

AbstractBy constructing images of the Faraday rotation measure (RM) of large scale astrophysical jets, the line-of-sight magnetic field component and electron density in the region of Farady rotation can be investigated. A significant gradient in the RM transverse to the jet direction may indicate a corresponding gradient in the line-of-sight magnetic field, implying a toroidal or helical magnetic field, which would, in turn, imply the presence of an associated electrical current in the jet. The detection of such large scale gradients can reliably demonstrate that helical or toroidal fields can persist to large distances from the central AGN. We present a kiloparsec-scale Faraday rotation map of NGC 6251 that shows statistically significant transverse RM gradients across its kiloparsec scale jet structure that imply an outward current.


1997 ◽  
Vol 163 ◽  
pp. 692-692
Author(s):  
John Contopoulos ◽  
Arieh Königl

AbstractCentrifugally driven winds from the surfaces of magnetized accretion disks are a leading candidate for the origin of bipolar outflows and have also been recognized as an attractive mechanism for removing the angular momentum of the accreted matter. The origin of the open magnetic field lines that thread the disk in this scenario is, however, still uncertain. One possibility is that the field lines are transported through the disk, but previous studies have shown that this process is inefficient in disks with turbulent viscosity and diffusivity. Here we examine whether the efficiency can be increased if angular momentum is transported from the disk surfaces by large-scale magnetic fields instead of radially by viscous stresses. In this picture, the removal of angular momentum is associated with the establishment of a global poloidal electric current driven by the radial EMF in the disc, and it does not necessarily need to involve super-Alfvénic outflows. We address this problem in the context of protostellar systems and present representative solutions of the time evolution of a resistive disk that is initially threaded by a uniform vertical field anchored at a large distance from its surfaces. We assume that the angular momentum transport in the disk is controlled by the large-scale magnetic field and take into account the influence of the field on the disk structure.


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