Faraday rotation (FR) is widely used to infer the orientation and strength of magnetic fields in astrophysical plasmas. Although the absence of electron-positron pairs is a plausible assumption in many astrophysical environments, the magnetospheres of pulsars and black holes and their associated jets may involve a significant pair plasma fraction. This motivates being mindful of the effect of positrons on FR. Here we derive and interpret exact expressions of FR for a neutral plasma of arbitrary composition. We focus on electron-ion-positron plasmas in which charge neutrality is maintained by an arbitrary combination of ions and positrons. Because a pure electron-positron plasma has zero FR, the greater the fraction of positrons the higher the field strength required to account for the same FR. We first obtain general formulae and then specifically consider parameters relevant to active galctic nuclei (AGN) jets to illustrate the significant differences in field strengths that FR measurements from radio frequency measurements. Complementarily, using galaxy cluster core plasmas as examples, we discuss how plasma composition can be constrained if independent measurements of the field strength and number density are available and combined with FR.
Faraday Conversion and Rotation In Uniformly Magnetized Relativistic Plasmas
给出了均匀磁化相对论等离子体中法拉第转换系数和旋转系数的精确拟合公式。该公式可直接应用于旋转测量和圆极化(CP)生产的喷流和热吸积流。我们展示了任意各向同性粒子分布的配方和结果,特别是热和幂律。精确的法拉第转换系数被发现随着粒子能量的增加接近零。法拉第转换系数和旋光系数的非线性校正是保证Sgr A ~* CP解释可靠性的必要条件。
Spectropolarimetric detection of baryonic mass loading in a transient relativistic jet: application to the black hole X-ray binary Swift J1727.8$-$1613
The PICO-Cluster Project: presenting the galaxy cluster sample and studying magnetic field growth, Faraday rotation and Braginskii heating
Niels Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen(尼尔斯·玻尔学院,哥本哈根大学);Leibniz-Institut für Astrophysik Potsdam (AIP)(波茨坦莱布尼茨天体物理研究所);Max-Planck Institute for Astrophysics(马克斯·普朗克天体物理研究所)
Helical radio jets as probes of magnetised cluster environments: Periodic Faraday Rotation Revealed in the Corkscrew Galaxy by POSSUM
Australian National University(澳大利亚国立大学);CSIRO Space & Astronomy(联邦科学与工业研究组织空间与天文部门);SKA Observatory(平方公里阵列望远镜观测站);Max-Planck-Institut für Radioastronomie(马克斯·普朗克射电天文研究所);University of Minnesota(明尼苏达大学);Universidad Complutense de Madrid(马德里康普顿斯大学)
研究利用ASKAP Band 2对螺旋尾状射电星系进行极化观测,通过检测法拉第旋转量振荡及相关分析,探究其能否揭示主导法拉第旋转介质,结果表明螺旋射流结构有望探测磁化星系团环境。
Understanding the Geometry of Astrophysical Magnetic Fields
法拉第旋转测量为测量天体物理磁化等离子体的性质提供了一种宝贵的技术。不幸的是,典型的观测只提供了平行于视线的磁场分量的密度加权平均值的信息。结果,沿着视线的磁场几何形状,以及在许多情况下甚至旋转材料的位置,受到很差的约束。通常,法拉第旋转观测的解释取决于被探测的磁场的基础模型(例如,均匀、湍流、均分)。然而,我们发现,在足够低的频率下,特别是在大约13(RM/rad m ^-2)^(1/4)(B/G)^(1/2)MHz以下,法拉第旋转的特性发生了变化,进入了我们所说的"超绝热状态",在这种状态下,旋转测度与场的视线分量的积分绝对值成正比。因此,将高频率下的旋转测量与这种新机制下的旋转测量进行比较,可以提供有关沿视线的磁场几何形状的直接信息。此外,定义到该新状态的转变的频率nu_SA直接取决于局部电子密度和磁场强度,其中磁场垂直于视线,从而允许在发射区域内和发射区域前方的法拉第旋转之间的明确区分。nu_SA的典型值的范围从10 kHz到10 GHz,这取决于法拉第旋转环境的细节。特别是,对于已解析的活动星系核,包括银河系中心的黑洞(Sgr A *)和M81,nu_SA的范围约为10 MHz至10 GHz,因此可以通过现有的和即将到来的地面射电天文台进行探测。