Faraday Screen and Reversal of Rotation Measure in the Local Supercluster Plane

摘要

I investigate the possible existence, strength, and structure of magnetic fields in intergalactic space, within the Local Supercluster of galaxies (LSC), centered on the Virgo Cluster, at a distance of about 18 Mpc from us. The LSC medium has no obvious effect on the intrinsic position angle (IPA) of the polarized radio emission from more distant objects located behind it. There does not seem statistically (at the 1.6 σ level) to be a different averaged IPA for objects in different redshift ranges. I find a tantalizing structure (at the 5.5 σ level), which is like a foreground Faraday screen acting on the radio waves coming from more distant objects, in the rotation measure (RM) along the LSC plane, up to a radius of about 20° (0.35 radians, or about 6 Mpc), and this may extend to a similar distance along the line of sight. Defining the central meridian (CM) as the longitude crossing the LSC plane through the center of the Virgo Cluster of galaxies (LSC longitude lV = 0°), I find a mean RM ≈ 0 within 5° (half a bin) of the CM. Going east of the CM, one finds a mean RM ≈ +10 rad m-2 at lV ≈ 15° (LSC magnetic field is moving toward us). Going west of the CM, one finds an RM ≈ -10 rad m-2 at lV ≈ -15° (magnetic field is moving away from us), indicating a parity reversal in RM (same shape on both sides, but opposite in sign). The same RM structure shape can be seen in adjacent redshift ranges. For this RM, I infer a regular magnetic field of ≈0.3 μG in the LSC or randomly oriented cells of magnetic field of ≈2 μG (for cell sizes of about 100 kpc). Preliminary modeling suggests that the patchy 2 μG field is the likely scenario, and I speculate that the 2 μG patchy field may extend all the way to the Sun.