A pioneering experiment combining single-antenna and aperture-synthesis data to measure Faraday rotation with GMIMS and the CGPS

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Main Authors: Ordog, Anna, Brown, Jo-Anne C., Landecker, T. L., Hill, Alex S., Kothes, Roland, West, Jennifer L., Dickey, John M., Haverkorn, Marijke, Carretti, Ettore, Thomson, Alec J. M., Bracco, Andrea, Del Rizzo, D. A., Ransom, Ryan R., Reid, Robert I.
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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author Ordog, Anna
Brown, Jo-Anne C.
Landecker, T. L.
Hill, Alex S.
Kothes, Roland
West, Jennifer L.
Dickey, John M.
Haverkorn, Marijke
Carretti, Ettore
Thomson, Alec J. M.
Bracco, Andrea
Del Rizzo, D. A.
Ransom, Ryan R.
Reid, Robert I.
author_facet Ordog, Anna
Brown, Jo-Anne C.
Landecker, T. L.
Hill, Alex S.
Kothes, Roland
West, Jennifer L.
Dickey, John M.
Haverkorn, Marijke
Carretti, Ettore
Thomson, Alec J. M.
Bracco, Andrea
Del Rizzo, D. A.
Ransom, Ryan R.
Reid, Robert I.
contents Structures in the magnetoionic medium exist across a wide range of angular sizes owing to large-scale magnetic fields coherent over the Galactic spiral arms combined with small-scale fluctuations in the magnetic field and electron density resulting from energy injection processes such as supernovae. For the first time, we produce diffuse Galactic synchrotron emission Faraday rotation maps covering all spatial scales down to $3'$ resolution for magnetic field studies. These maps complement total and polarized intensity maps combining single-antenna and interferometric data that have been produced, such as the Canadian Galactic Plane Survey (CGPS). Combined maps have sensitivity to large scales from the single-antenna component and angular resolution from the interferometric component. We combine Global Magneto-Ionic Medium Survey High-Band North single-antenna and CGPS aperture-synthesis polarization data after spatial filtering, producing Stokes $Q$ and $U$ maps for the four CGPS frequency channels. We calculate rotation measures (RMs) for all pixels using a linear fit to polarization angle versus wavelength squared. Smooth polarized emission regions require the large-scale sensitivity of the single-antenna to illuminate the Faraday rotation, while aperture synthesis reveals small-scale RM variability. While these maps show magnetic field structures on the full range of spatial scales they probe, the RM values should be interpreted with caution, as the narrow $λ^2$ coverage limits sensitivity to Faraday complexity. Despite this limitation of the CGPS 35 MHz bandwidth, we demonstrate that useful Faraday rotation information can be obtained from the combined dataset, highlighting the important synergy between future broadband interferometric and single-antenna polarization surveys.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2501_10623
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle A pioneering experiment combining single-antenna and aperture-synthesis data to measure Faraday rotation with GMIMS and the CGPS
Ordog, Anna
Brown, Jo-Anne C.
Landecker, T. L.
Hill, Alex S.
Kothes, Roland
West, Jennifer L.
Dickey, John M.
Haverkorn, Marijke
Carretti, Ettore
Thomson, Alec J. M.
Bracco, Andrea
Del Rizzo, D. A.
Ransom, Ryan R.
Reid, Robert I.
Astrophysics of Galaxies
Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics
Structures in the magnetoionic medium exist across a wide range of angular sizes owing to large-scale magnetic fields coherent over the Galactic spiral arms combined with small-scale fluctuations in the magnetic field and electron density resulting from energy injection processes such as supernovae. For the first time, we produce diffuse Galactic synchrotron emission Faraday rotation maps covering all spatial scales down to $3'$ resolution for magnetic field studies. These maps complement total and polarized intensity maps combining single-antenna and interferometric data that have been produced, such as the Canadian Galactic Plane Survey (CGPS). Combined maps have sensitivity to large scales from the single-antenna component and angular resolution from the interferometric component. We combine Global Magneto-Ionic Medium Survey High-Band North single-antenna and CGPS aperture-synthesis polarization data after spatial filtering, producing Stokes $Q$ and $U$ maps for the four CGPS frequency channels. We calculate rotation measures (RMs) for all pixels using a linear fit to polarization angle versus wavelength squared. Smooth polarized emission regions require the large-scale sensitivity of the single-antenna to illuminate the Faraday rotation, while aperture synthesis reveals small-scale RM variability. While these maps show magnetic field structures on the full range of spatial scales they probe, the RM values should be interpreted with caution, as the narrow $λ^2$ coverage limits sensitivity to Faraday complexity. Despite this limitation of the CGPS 35 MHz bandwidth, we demonstrate that useful Faraday rotation information can be obtained from the combined dataset, highlighting the important synergy between future broadband interferometric and single-antenna polarization surveys.
title A pioneering experiment combining single-antenna and aperture-synthesis data to measure Faraday rotation with GMIMS and the CGPS
topic Astrophysics of Galaxies
Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2501.10623