Hans Publishers, Astronomy & Astrophysics, (568), p. A83
DOI: 10.1051/0004-6361/201424192
Full text: Unavailable
We employ an analytical model that incorporates both wavelength-dependent and wavelength-independent depolarization to describe radio polarimetric observations of polarization at $λ λ λ \, 3.5, 6.2, 20.5$ cm in M51 (NGC 5194). The aim is to constrain both the regular and turbulent magnetic field strengths in the disk and halo, modeled as a two- or three-layer magneto-ionic medium, via differential Faraday rotation and internal Faraday dispersion, along with wavelength-independent depolarization arising from turbulent magnetic fields. A reduced chi-squared analysis is used for the statistical comparison of predicted to observed polarization maps to determine the best-fit magnetic field configuration at each of four radial rings spanning $2.4 - 7.2$ kpc in $1.2$ kpc increments. We find that a two-layer modeling approach provides a better fit to the observations than a three-layer model, where the near and far sides of the halo are taken to be identical, although the resulting best-fit magnetic field strengths are comparable. This implies that all of the signal from the far halo is depolarized at these wavelengths. We find a total magnetic field in the disk of approximately $18~μ$G and a total magnetic field strength in the halo of $∼ 4-6~μ$G. Both turbulent and regular magnetic field strengths in the disk exceed those in the halo by a factor of a few. About half of the turbulent magnetic field in the disk is anisotropic, but in the halo all turbulence is only isotropic. ; Comment: Accepted for publication in Astronomy & Astrophysics, 10 pages, 5 figures, 5 tables