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 λ\lambda6\ 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 $\lambda$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 $\lambda$6\ cm survey map of the Galactic plane. We searched for new shell-like objects in the $\lambda$6\ cm survey maps, and studied their radio emission, polarization, and spectra using the $\lambda$6\ cm maps together with the $\lambda$11\ cm and $\lambda$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 $\alpha = -0.48\pm0.13$. Its surface brightness is $\Sigma_{1 GHz} = 7.2 x 10^{-23}{Wm^{-2} Hz^{-1} sr^{-1}}$, 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 $\alpha = -0.49\pm0.13$. Two new large shell-type SNRs have been detected at $\lambda$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&amp;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