32 research outputs found
The sino-german 6cm polarization survey of the galactic plane: A summary
We have finished the 6cm polarization survey of the Galactic plane using the
Urumqi 25m radio telescope. It covers 10deg<l<230deg in Galactic longitude and
|b| <5deg in Galactic latitude. The new polarization maps not only reveal new
properties of the diffuse magnetized interstellar medium, but also are very
useful for studying individual objects such as Hii regions, which may act as
Faraday screens with strong regular magnetic fields inside, and supernova
remnants for their polarization properties and spectra. The high sensitivity of
the survey enables us to discover two new SNRs G178.2-4.2 and G25.3-2.1 and a
number of Hii regions.Comment: 10 pages, 1 figure. International Journal of Modern Physics:
Conference Series (IJMPCS) for Proceedings of 3rd Galileo-Xu Guangqi meetin
New lambda6cm observations of the Cygnus Loop
Radio continuum and polarization observations of the entire Cygnus Loop at
6cm wavelength were made with the Urumqi 25m telescope. The 6cm map is analysed
together with recently published maps from the Effelsberg 100m telescope at
21cm and 11cm. The integrated flux density of the Cygnus Loop at 6cm is
90+/-9Jy, which implies a spectral index of -0.40+/-0.06 being consistent with
that of Uyaniker et al. (2004) in the wavelength range up to 11cm. This rules
out any global spectral steepening up to 6cm. However, small spectral index
variations in some regions of the source are possible, but there are no
indications for any spectral curvature. The linear polarization data at 6cm
show percentage polarizations up to 35% in some areas of the Cygnus Loop,
exceeding those observed at 11cm. The Rotation Measure is around -21rad/m^2 in
the southern area, which agrees with previous observations. However, the
distribution of Rotation Measures is rather complex in the northern part of the
Cygnus Loop, where the 21cm emission is totally depolarized. Rotation Measures
based on 11cm and 6cm data are significantly larger than in the southern part.
The difference in the polarization characteristic between the northern and
southern part supports previous ideas that the Cygnus Loop consists of two
supernova remnants.Comment: 11 pages, 10 figures, accepted for publication in A&
Polarization observations of SNR G156.2+5.7 at lambda 6cm
G156.2+5.7 is a large supernova remnant (SNR) first discovered in the ROSAT
X-ray survey but radio observations are rare because of its low surface
brightness and large size. Radio continuum and polarization images of the SNR
G156.2+5.7 at lambda 6 cm are presented for the first time to be discussed in
the context with available data to investigate its physical properties. We
obtained an integrated flux density for G156.2+5.7 of S6cm= 2.5+-0.5Jy. The
spectral index of the integrated emission is alpha=-0.48+-0.08 between lambda
74 cm and 6 cm excluding compact radio sources. We also obtained a spectral
index map, which shows little variation between the shells and the central area
of the SNR. This is consistent with the constant integrated flux density
spectrum. Highly polarized radio emission has been detected from the SNR shell,
but also from a central patch, which probably originates in the front part of
the spherical SNR shell. We derived the distribution of rotation measure from
polarization data at 11 cm and 6 cm and found RM gradients of opposite
direction in the SNR shell. The SNR G156.2+5.7 is unusual by its exceptionally
high X-ray brightness and very low surface-brightness in the radio range. The
magnetic field is very well ordered along the shell periphery as expected for a
compressed ambient magnetic field. A toroidal magnetic field component is
indicated by the RM distribution. (abridged)Comment: 8 pages, 8 figures -- accepted by A&
Pulsar rotation measures and the magnetic structure of our Galaxy
We have obtained 63 rotation measures (RMs) from polarization observations of
southern pulsars, of which 54 are new measurements and 3 are varied from
previous values. The new pulsar RM data at high Galactic latitudes are mostly
consistent with the antisymmetric RM distribution found previously. For the
Galactic disc, evidence for a field reversal near the Perseus arm, and possibly
another beyond it, is presented. Inside the Solar Circle, in addition to the
two known field reversals in or near the Carina-Sagittartus arm and the
Crux-Scutum arm, a further reversal in the Norma arm is tentatively identified.
These reversals, together with the pitch angle derived from pulsar RM and
stellar polarization distributions, are consistent with bisymmetric spiral
(BSS) models for the large-scale magnetic field structure in the disc of our
Galaxy. However, discrimination between models is complicated by the presence
of smaller-scale irregularities in the magnetic field, as well as uncertainties
in the theoretical modelling.Comment: 10pages; 8 figures; Accepted by MNRA
Milestones in the Observations of Cosmic Magnetic Fields
Magnetic fields are observed everywhere in the universe. In this review, we
concentrate on the observational aspects of the magnetic fields of Galactic and
extragalactic objects. Readers can follow the milestones in the observations of
cosmic magnetic fields obtained from the most important tracers of magnetic
fields, namely, the star-light polarization, the Zeeman effect, the rotation
measures (RMs, hereafter) of extragalactic radio sources, the pulsar RMs, radio
polarization observations, as well as the newly implemented sub-mm and mm
polarization capabilities.
(Another long paragraph is omitted due to the limited space here)Comment: Invited Review (ChJA&A); 32 pages. Sorry if your significant
contributions in this area were not mentioned. Published pdf & ps files (with
high quality figures) now availble at http://www.chjaa.org/2002_2_4.ht
A Sino-German 6\ cm polarization survey of the Galactic plane VI. Discovery of supernova remnants G178.2-4.2 and G25.1-2.3
Supernova remnants (SNRs) were often discovered in radio surveys of the
Galactic plane. Because of the surface-brightness limit of previous surveys,
more faint or confused SNRs await discovery. The Sino-German 6\ cm
Galactic plane survey is a sensitive survey with the potential to detect new
low surface-brightness SNRs. We want to identify new SNRs from the 6\
cm survey map of the Galactic plane. We searched for new shell-like objects in
the 6\ cm survey maps, and studied their radio emission, polarization,
and spectra using the 6\ cm maps together with the 11\ cm and
21\ cm Effelsberg observations. Extended polarized objects with
non-thermal spectra were identified as SNRs. We have discovered two new, large,
faint SNRs, G178.2-4.2 and G25.1-2.3, both of which show shell structure.
G178.2-4.2 has a size of 72 arcmin x 62 arcmin with strongly polarized emission
being detected along its northern shell. The spectrum of G178.2-4.2 is
non-thermal, with an integrated spectral index of . Its
surface brightness is , which makes G178.2-4.2 the second faintest known Galactic SNR.
G25.1-2.3 is revealed by its strong southern shell which has a size of 80
arcmin x 30\arcmin. It has a non-thermal radio spectrum with a spectral index
of . Two new large shell-type SNRs have been detected at
6\ cm in an area of 2200 deg^2 along the the Galactic plane. This
demonstrates that more large and faint SNRs exist, but are very difficult to
detect.Comment: 8 pages, 8 figures, accepted by Astronomy and Astrophysics. For the
version with high resolution figures, please go to
http://zmtt.bao.ac.cn/6cm/papers/2newSNR.pd
A Sino-German 6 cm polarization survey of the Galactic plane II. The region from 129 degree to 230 degree longitude
Linearly polarized Galactic synchrotron emission provides valuable
information about the properties of the Galactic magnetic field and the
interstellar magneto-ionic medium, when Faraday rotation along the line of
sight is properly taken into account. We aim to survey the Galactic plane at 6
cm including linear polarization. At such a short wavelength Faraday rotation
effects are in general small and the Galactic magnetic field properties can be
probed to larger distances than at long wavelengths. The Urumqi 25-m telescope
is used for a sensitive 6 cm survey in total and polarized intensities. WMAP
K-band (22.8 GHz) polarization data are used to restore the absolute zero-level
of the Urumqi U and Q maps by extrapolation. Total intensity and polarization
maps are presented for a Galactic plane region of 129 degree < l < 230 degree
and |b| < 5 degree in the anti-centre with an angular resolution of 9'5 and an
average sensitivity of 0.6 mK and 0.4 mK Tb in total and polarized intensity,
respectively. We briefly discuss the properties of some extended Faraday
Screens detected in the 6 cm polarization maps. The Sino-German 6 cm
polarization survey provides new information about the properties of the
magnetic ISM. The survey also adds valuable information for discrete Galactic
objects and is in particular suited to detect extended Faraday Screens with
large rotation measures hosting strong regular magnetic fields.Comment: 17 pages, 20 figures, accepted by A&A. Resolutions of the figures
have been significantly reduced. For version with full resolution, see
http://159.226.88.6/zmtt/6cm/papers/gao.paper2.pd
Ultra-High Energy Cosmic Ray Nuclei from Individual Magnetized Sources
We investigate the dependence of composition, spectrum and angular
distributions of ultra-high energy cosmic rays above 10^19 eV from individual
sources on their magnetization. We find that, especially for sources within a
few megaparsecs from the observer, observable spectra and composition are
severely modified if the source is surrounded by fields of ~ 10^-7 Gauss on
scales of a few megaparsecs. Low energy particles diffuse over larger distances
during their energy loss time. This leads to considerable hardening of the
spectrum up to the energy where the loss distance becomes comparable to the
source distance. Magnetized sources thus have very important consequences for
observations, even if cosmic rays arrive within a few degrees from the source
direction. At the same time, details in spectra and chemical composition may be
intrinsically unpredictable because they depend on the unknown magnetic field
structure. If primaries are predominantly nuclei of atomic mass A accelerated
up to a maximum energy E_max with spectra not much softer than E^-2, secondary
protons from photo-disintegration can produce a conspicuous peak in the
spectrum at energy ~ E_max/A. A related feature appears in the average mass
dependence on energy.Comment: 15 pages, 16 ps figures, published version with minor changes, see
http://stacks.iop.org/1475-7516/2004/i=08/a=01