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Hauptverfasser: Vanderwoude, S., Osinga, E., Gaensler, B. M., West, J. L., van Weeren, R. J.
Format: Preprint
Veröffentlicht: 2026
Schlagworte:
Online-Zugang:https://arxiv.org/abs/2601.10361
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author Vanderwoude, S.
Osinga, E.
Gaensler, B. M.
West, J. L.
van Weeren, R. J.
author_facet Vanderwoude, S.
Osinga, E.
Gaensler, B. M.
West, J. L.
van Weeren, R. J.
contents The bending of radio galaxies in galaxy clusters is expected to be caused by interactions with the local environment. The physical processes responsible for jet bending, and their influence on the polarization properties of radio galaxies, remain poorly understood, leading to the question of whether jet properties in bent radio galaxies differ from those in linear radio galaxies. Using a sample of 24 polarized bent radio galaxies, observed with the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array at 1--2 GHz, we test for correlation of bending angle with polarization parameters measuring Faraday rotation, intrinsic fractional polarization, and Faraday rotation dispersion, used here as a measure of turbulence along the line of sight. We find no statistically significant correlations. At the spatial resolution of our dataset (3--46 kpc, median 18.4 kpc), our results indicate that we are primarily probing larger-scale intracluster medium effects not related to bending angle. The absence of a statistically significant correlation suggests that bent radio galaxies are reliable probes of intracluster magnetic fields, because their intrinsic properties do not appear to introduce systematic biases into measured polarization parameters. We do detect a preference for source magnetic field vectors to align with the direction of jet bending. Finally, we estimate that the POSSUM and SKA surveys will contain $\gtrsim$300 and $\gtrsim$1000 polarized radio galaxies, respectively, providing large future samples with a range of bending angles and similar redshift distribution and number of beams per source as in our sample, enabling our results to be tested with greater statistical power.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2601_10361
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Testing the correlation between bending angle and polarization properties of bent radio galaxies
Vanderwoude, S.
Osinga, E.
Gaensler, B. M.
West, J. L.
van Weeren, R. J.
Astrophysics of Galaxies
The bending of radio galaxies in galaxy clusters is expected to be caused by interactions with the local environment. The physical processes responsible for jet bending, and their influence on the polarization properties of radio galaxies, remain poorly understood, leading to the question of whether jet properties in bent radio galaxies differ from those in linear radio galaxies. Using a sample of 24 polarized bent radio galaxies, observed with the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array at 1--2 GHz, we test for correlation of bending angle with polarization parameters measuring Faraday rotation, intrinsic fractional polarization, and Faraday rotation dispersion, used here as a measure of turbulence along the line of sight. We find no statistically significant correlations. At the spatial resolution of our dataset (3--46 kpc, median 18.4 kpc), our results indicate that we are primarily probing larger-scale intracluster medium effects not related to bending angle. The absence of a statistically significant correlation suggests that bent radio galaxies are reliable probes of intracluster magnetic fields, because their intrinsic properties do not appear to introduce systematic biases into measured polarization parameters. We do detect a preference for source magnetic field vectors to align with the direction of jet bending. Finally, we estimate that the POSSUM and SKA surveys will contain $\gtrsim$300 and $\gtrsim$1000 polarized radio galaxies, respectively, providing large future samples with a range of bending angles and similar redshift distribution and number of beams per source as in our sample, enabling our results to be tested with greater statistical power.
title Testing the correlation between bending angle and polarization properties of bent radio galaxies
topic Astrophysics of Galaxies
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2601.10361