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An upper limit to polarized submillimetre emission in Arp 220

Michael Seiffert·Colin Borys·Douglas Scott·Mark Halpern
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Abstract

We report the results of pointed observations of the prototypical ultra-luminous infrared galaxy (ULIRG) Arp 220 at 850 microns using the polarimeter on the SCUBA instrument on the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope. We find a Bayesian 99 per cent confidence upper limit on the polarized emission for Arp 220 of 1.54 per cent, averaged over the 15 arcsec beam-size. Arp 220 can serve as a proxy for other, more distant such galaxies. This upper limit constrains the magnetic field geometry in Arp 220 and also provides evidence that polarized ULIRGs will not be a major contaminant for next-generation cosmic microwave background polarization measurements.

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Michael Seiffert, Colin Borys, Douglas Scott, Mark Halpern. 2006-10-16. An upper limit to polarized submillimetre emission in Arp 220. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2966.2006.11186.x

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