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Through thick or thin: multiple components of the magneto-ionic medium towards the nearby H ɪɪ region Sharpless 2-27 revealed by Faraday tomography

Citation

Thomson, AJM and Landecker, TL and Dickey, JM and McClure-Griffiths, NM and Wolleben, M and Carretti, E and Fletcher, A and Federrath, C and Hill, AS and Mao, SA and Gaensler, BM and Haverkorn, M and Clark, SE and Van Eck, CL and West, JL, Through thick or thin: multiple components of the magneto-ionic medium towards the nearby H ɪɪ region Sharpless 2-27 revealed by Faraday tomography, Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 487, (4) pp. 4751-4767. ISSN 0035-8711 (2019) [Refereed Article]


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Copyright Statement

This article has been accepted for publication in Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society ©: 2019 the authors. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Royal Astronomical Society. All rights reserved.

DOI: doi:10.1093/mnras/stz1438

Abstract

Sharpless 2–27 (Sh2–27) is a nearby H ɪɪ region excited by ζOph. We present observations of polarized radio emission from 300 to 480 MHz towards Sh2–27, made with the Parkes 64 m Radio Telescope as part of the Global Magneto-Ionic Medium Survey. These observations have an angular resolution of 1.35°, and the data are uniquely sensitive to magneto-ionic structure on large angular scales. We demonstrate that background polarized emission towards Sh2–27 is totally depolarized in our observations, allowing us to investigate the foreground. We analyse the results of Faraday tomography, mapping the magnetized interstellar medium along the 165 pc path to Sh2–27. The Faraday dispersion function in this direction has peaks at three Faraday depths. We consider both Faraday thick and thin models for this observation, finding that the thin model is preferred. We further model this as Faraday rotation of diffuse synchrotron emission in the Local Bubble and in two foreground neutral clouds. The Local Bubble extends for 80 pc in this direction, and we find a Faraday depth of −0.8±0.4 rad m-2. This indicates a field directed away from the Sun with a strength of -2.5 ± 1.2 μG. The near and far neutral clouds are each about 30 pc thick, and we find Faraday depths of -6.6 ± 0.6 rad m-2 and +13.7 ± 0.8 rad m-2, respectively. We estimate that the line-of-sight magnetic strengths in the near and far cloud are B∥,near ≈ -15 μG and B∥,far ≈ + 30μG⁠. Our results demonstrate that Faraday tomography can be used to investigate the magneto-ionic properties of foreground features in front of nearby H ɪɪ regions.

Item Details

Item Type:Refereed Article
Keywords:polarization, H ii regions, ISM, magnetic fields
Research Division:Physical Sciences
Research Group:Astronomical sciences
Research Field:Galactic astronomy
Objective Division:Expanding Knowledge
Objective Group:Expanding knowledge
Objective Field:Expanding knowledge in the physical sciences
UTAS Author:Dickey, JM (Professor John Dickey)
ID Code:134556
Year Published:2019
Web of Science® Times Cited:4
Deposited By:Mathematics and Physics
Deposited On:2019-08-20
Last Modified:2020-05-20
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