arXiv subjects

Jeroen M. Stil

Publications and source records attributed to Jeroen M. Stil.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Small-scale Magnetic Fields in the Milky Way and Nearby Galaxies

Magnetic fields in galaxies span decades in physical scale, from the coherent magnetic fields on galactic scales (> kpc) to the random magnetic fields from 100 pc to the resistive scale of the galactic plasma (i.e. ~1e6 cm). While many radio studies to date have placed more emphasis on the large-scale galactic magnetic fields than the small-scale counterparts, the emerging SKA will greatly facilitate accurate, detailed studies of the small-scale (< 100 pc) galactic magnetic fields. In this Chapter, we highlight the importance of understanding the small-scale galactic magnetic fields in furthering our understanding of star formation, galaxy evolution, and the fundamental physics of magnetohydrodynamics. Furthermore, we discuss some open questions in the research field and outline several possible large observation programmes with the SKA Array Assembly 4 (AA4).

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arXiv2025

RM jitter: Wavelength-dependent Scatter in Rotation Measure Related to Faraday Complexity

The relation between Faraday Rotation Measure (RM) and differential Faraday rotation by unresolved structure of a turbulent plasma is investigated for extragalactic radio sources. The RM scatter of a sample of sources affected by turbulent Faraday screens with identical power spectra of Faraday depth structure, is referred to as RM jitter. For fixed amplitude and slope of the power spectrum, the range of possible RMs depends on the wavelength coverage of the survey. RM jitter is independent of Faraday depth resolution as it results from the true Faraday depth dispersion and effects of wavelength-dependent depolarization. RM jitter for a flux density limited sample is sensitive to the power law index gamma of the power spectrum of Faraday depth structure. Assuming depolarization by a turbulent Faraday screen for all sources, a simulated flux-density-limited sample can reproduce the high RM scatter found by Vanderwoude et al. (2024) for sources that are less than 3% polarized. RM jitter of sources that are more than 3% polarized, is found to be smaller than the observed scatter, indicating that plasma other than the near-source environment dominates the RM scatter for the more polarized sources. The significance of RM jitter for applications of the RM grid is discussed.

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arXiv2024

Spectrum and polarization of the Galactic center radio transient ASKAP J173608.2-321635 from THOR-GC and VLITE

The radio transient ASKAP J173608.2-321735, at the position (l,b)= (356.0872,-0.0390), was serendipitously observed by The HI/OH/Recombination Line Survey of the Galactic Center (THOR-GC) at three epochs in March 2020, April 2020 and February 2021. The source was detected only on 2020 April 11 with flux density 20.6 +/- 1.1 mJy at 1.23 GHz and in-band spectral index alpha = -3.1 +/- 0.2. The commensal VLA Low-band Ionsophere and Transient Experiment (VLITE) simultaneously detected the source at 339 MHz with a flux density 122.6 +/- 20.4 mJy, indicating a spectral break below 1 GHz. The rotation measure in April 2020 was 63.9 +/- 0.3rad/m2, which almost triples the range of the variable rotation measure observed by Wang et al. (2021) to ~130 rad/m2. The polarization angle, corrected for Faraday rotation, was 97 +/- 6 degrees. The 1.23 GHz linear polarization was 76.7% +/- 3.9% with wavelength-dependent depolarization indicating Faraday depth dispersion sigma_phi = 4.8^{+0.5}_{-0.7} rad/m2. We find an upper limit to circular polarization |V|/I < 10.1%. Interpretation of the data in terms of diffractive scattering of radio waves by a plasma near the source indicates electron density and line-of-sight magnetic field strength within a factor 3 of n_e ~2 cm^{-3} and B_par ~2 x 10^5 microgauss. Combined with causality limits to the size of the source, these parameters are consistent with the low-frequency spectral break resulting from synchrotron self-absorption, not free-free absorption. A possible interpretation of the source is a highly supersonic neutron star interacting with a changing environment.

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arXiv2022

Polarized Emission From Four Supernova Remnants In The THOR Survey

We present polarization and Faraday rotation for the supernova remnants (SNRs) G46.8-0.3, G43.3-0.2, G41.1-0.3, and G39.2-0.3 in L-band (1-2 GHz) radio continuum in The HI/OH/Recombination line (THOR) survey. We detect polarization from G46.8-0.3, G43.3-0.2 and G39.2-0.3 but find upper limits at the 1% level of Stokes I for G41.1-0.3. For G46.8-0.3 and G39.2-0.3 the fractional polarization varies on small scales from 1% to ~6%. G43.3-0.2 is less polarized with fractional polarization <~3%. We find upper limits at the 1% level for the brighter regions in each SNR with no evidence for associated enhanced Faraday depolarization. We observe significant variation in Faraday depth and fractional polarization on angular scales down to the resolution limit of 16". Approximately 6% of our polarization detections from G46.8-0.3 and G39.2-0.3 exhibit two-component Faraday rotation and 14% of polarization detections in G43.3-0.2 are multi-component. For G39.2-0.3 we find a bimodal Faraday depth distribution with a narrow peak and a broad peak for all polarization detections as well as for the subset with two-component Faraday rotation. We identify the narrow peak with the front side of the SNR and the broad peak with the back side. Similarly, we interpret the observed Faraday depth distribution of G46.8-0.3 as a superposition of the distributions from the front side and the back side. We interpret our results as evidence for a partially filled shell with small-scale magnetic field structure and internal Faraday rotation.

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arXiv2021

Properties of Compact Faint Radio Sources as a Function of Angular Size from Stacking

The polarization properties of radio sources powered by an Active Galactic Nucleus (AGN) have attracted considerable attention because of the significance of magnetic fields in the physics of these sources, their use as probes of plasma along the line of sight, and as a possible contaminant of polarization measurements of the cosmic microwave background. For each of these applications, a better understanding of the statistics of polarization in relation to source characteristics is crucial. In this paper, we derive the median fractional polarization, $Π_{0, \rm med}$, of large samples of radio sources with 1.4 GHz flux density $6.6 < S_{1.4} < 70$ mJy, by stacking 1.4 GHz NVSS polarized intensity as a function of angular size derived from the FIRST survey. Five samples with deconvolved mean angular size 1.8" to 8.2" and two samples of symmetric double sources are analyzed. These samples represent most sources smaller than or near the median angular size of the mJy radio source population We find that the median fractional polarization $Π_{0,\rm med}$ at 1.4 GHz is a strong function of source angular size less than ~5" and a weak function of angular size for larger sources up to ~8". We interpret our results as depolarization inside the AGN host galaxy and its circumgalactic medium. The curvature of the low-frequency radio spectrum is found to anti-correlate with $Π_{0,\rm med}$, a further sign that depolarization is related to the source.

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arXiv2020

Synthetic observations of spiral arm tracers of a simulated Milky Way analog

Context: The Faraday rotation measure (RM) is often used to study the magnetic field strength and orientation within the ionized medium of the Milky Way. Observations indicate a RM in the spiral arms that exceeds the commonly assumed range. This raises the question of under what conditions spiral arms create such strong RM. Aims: We investigate the effect of spiral arms on Galactic RMs through shock compression of the interstellar medium (ISM). It has recently been suggested that the Sagittarius spiral arm creates a strong peak in RM where the line of sight (LOS) is tangent to the arm, and that enhanced RM follows along an intersecting LOS. We seek to understand the physical conditions that give rise to this effect and the role of viewing geometry. Methods: We apply a MHD simulation of the multi-phase ISM in a Milky Way type spiral galaxy disk in combination with radiative transfer to evaluate different tracers of spiral arm structures. For observers embedded in the disk, dust intensity, synchrotron emission and the kinematics of molecular gas observations are derived to identify spiral arm tangents. RMs are calculated through the disk and evaluated for different observer positions. The observer's perspective is related to the parameters of the local bubble surrounding the observer. Results: We reproduce a scattering of tangent points for different tracers of about $6^\circ$ per spiral arm similar to the Milky Way. As for the RM, the model shows that compression of the ISM and associated amplification of the magnetic field in spiral arms enhances RM by a few hundred rad $m^{-2}$ on top of the mean contribution of the disk. The arm-inter-arm contrast in RM along the LOS is approximately 10 in the inner Galaxy, fading to ~2 in the outer Galaxy. We identify a shark-fin like pattern in the RM Milky Way observations as well as the synthetic data that is characteristic for spiral arms.

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arXiv2020

Magnetism Science with the Square Kilometre Array

The Square Kilometre Array (SKA) will answer fundamental questions about the origin, evolution, properties, and influence of magnetic fields throughout the Universe. Magnetic fields can illuminate and influence phenomena as diverse as star formation, galactic dynamics, fast radio bursts, active galactic nuclei, large-scale structure, and Dark Matter annihilation. Preparations for the SKA are swiftly continuing worldwide, and the community is making tremendous observational progress in the field of cosmic magnetism using data from a powerful international suite of SKA pathfinder and precursor telescopes. In this contribution, we revisit community plans for magnetism research using the SKA, in the light of these recent rapid developments. We focus in particular on the impact that new radio telescope instrumentation is generating, thus advancing our understanding of key SKA magnetism science areas, as well as the new techniques that are required for processing and interpreting the data. We discuss these recent developments in the context of the ultimate scientific goals for the SKA era.

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arXiv2020

CHANG-ES XXII: Coherent Magnetic Fields in the Halos of Spiral Galaxies

Context. The magnetic field in spiral galaxies is known to have a large-scale spiral structure along the galactic disk and is observed as X-shaped in the halo of some galaxies. While the disk field can be well explained by dynamo action, the 3-dimensional structure of the halo field and its physical nature is still unclear. Aims. As first steps towards understanding the halo fields, we want to clarify whether the observed X-shaped field is a wide-spread pattern in the halos of spiral galaxies and whether these halo fields are just turbulent fields ordered by compression or shear (anisotropic turbulent fields), or have a large-scale regular structure. Methods. The analysis of the Faraday rotation in the halo is the tool to discern anisotropic turbulent fields from large-scale magnetic fields. This, however, has been challenging until recently because of the faint halo emission in linear polarization. Our sensitive VLA broadband observations C-band and L-band of 35 spiral galaxies seen edge-on (called CHANG-ES) allowed us to perform RM-synthesis in their halos and to analyze the results. We further accomplished a stacking of the observed polarization maps of 28 CHANG-ES galaxies at C-band. Results. Though the stacked edge-on galaxies were of different Hubble types, star formation and interaction activities, the stacked image clearly reveals an X-shaped structure of the apparent magnetic field. We detected a large-scale (coherent) halo field in all 16 galaxies that have extended polarized intensity in their halos. We detected large-scale field reversals in all of their halos. In six galaxies they are along lines about vertical to the galactic midplane (vertical RMTL) with about 2 kpc separation. Only in NGC 3044 and possibly in NGC 3448 we observed vertical giant magnetic ropes (GMRs) similar to those detected recently in NGC 4631.

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arXiv2016

Magnetic field strength in an intermediate-velocity ionized filament in the First Galactic Quadrant

We investigate the magnetic field in an intermediate-velocity filament for which the H$α$ intensity in the WHAM survey correlates with excess Faraday rotation of extragalactic radio sources over the length of the filament from b ~ 20 degr. to b ~ 55 degr. The density-weighted mean magnetic field is 2.8 +/- 0.8 microgauss, derived from rotation measures and an empirical relation between H-alpha emission measure and dispersion measure from Berkhuijsen et al. (2006). In view of the uncertainties in the derived magnetic field strength, we propose an alternative use of the available data, rotation measure and emission measure, to derive a lower limit to the Alfven speed, weighted by electron density n_e^1.5. We find lower limits to the Alfven speed that are comparable to, or larger than the sound speed in a 10^4 K plasma, and conclude that the magnetic field is dynamically important. We discuss the role of intermediate-velocity gas as a locus of Faraday rotation in the interstellar medium, and propose this lower limit to the Alfven speed may also be applicable to Faraday rotation by galaxy clusters.

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arXiv2015

A Global View of Molecule-Forming Clouds in the Galaxy

We have mapped cold atomic gas in 21cm line HI self-absorption (HISA) at arcminute resolution over more than 90% of the Milky Way's disk. To probe the formation of H2 clouds, we have compared our HISA distribution with CO J=1-0 line emission. Few HISA features in the outer Galaxy have CO at the same position and velocity, while most inner-Galaxy HISA has overlapping CO. But many apparent inner-Galaxy HISA-CO associations can be explained as chance superpositions, so most inner-Galaxy HISA may also be CO-free. Since standard equilibrium cloud models cannot explain the very cold HI in many HISA features without molecules being present, these clouds may instead have significant CO-dark H2.

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arXiv2015

Estimating extragalactic Faraday rotation

(abridged) Observations of Faraday rotation for extragalactic sources probe magnetic fields both inside and outside the Milky Way. Building on our earlier estimate of the Galactic contribution, we set out to estimate the extragalactic contributions. We discuss the problems involved; in particular, we point out that taking the difference between the observed values and the Galactic foreground reconstruction is not a good estimate for the extragalactic contributions. We point out a degeneracy between the contributions to the observed values due to extragalactic magnetic fields and observational noise and comment on the dangers of over-interpreting an estimate without taking into account its uncertainty information. To overcome these difficulties, we develop an extended reconstruction algorithm based on the assumption that the observational uncertainties are accurately described for a subset of the data, which can overcome the degeneracy with the extragalactic contributions. We present a probabilistic derivation of the algorithm and demonstrate its performance using a simulation, yielding a high quality reconstruction of the Galactic Faraday rotation foreground, a precise estimate of the typical extragalactic contribution, and a well-defined probabilistic description of the extragalactic contribution for each data point. We then apply this reconstruction technique to a catalog of Faraday rotation observations. We vary our assumptions about the data, showing that the dispersion of extragalactic contributions to observed Faraday depths is most likely lower than 7 rad/m^2, in agreement with earlier results, and that the extragalactic contribution to an individual data point is poorly constrained by the data in most cases.

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arXiv2013

Characterizing Magnetized Turbulence in M51

We use previously published high-resolution synchrotron polarization data to perform an angular dispersion analysis with the aim of charactering magnetized turbulence in M51. We first analyze three distinct regions (the center of the galaxy, and the northwest and southwest spiral arms) and can clearly discern the turbulent correlation length scale from the width of the magnetized turbulent correlation function for two regions and detect the imprint of anisotropy in the turbulence for all three. Furthermore, analyzing the galaxy as a whole allows us to determine a two-dimensional Gaussian model for the magnetized turbulence in M51. We measure the turbulent correlation scales parallel and perpendicular to the local mean magnetic field to be, respectively, delta_{para} = 98 +/- 5 pc and delta_{perp} = 54 +/- 3 pc, while the turbulent to ordered magnetic field strength ratio is found to be Bt/B0 = 1.01 +/- 0.04. These results are consistent with those of Fletcher et al. (2011), who performed a Faraday rotation dispersion analysis of the same data, and our detection of anisotropy is consistent with current magnetized turbulence theories.

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arXiv2011

Probing magnetic fields with GALFACTS

GALFACTS is a large-area spectro-polarimetric survey on the Arecibo Radio telescope. It uses the seven-beam focal plane feed array receiver system (ALFA) to carry out an imaging survey project of the 12,700 square degrees of sky visible from Arecibo at 1.4 GHz with 8192 spectral channels over a bandwidth of 300 MHz sampled at 1 millisecond. The aggregate data rate is 875 MB/s. GALFACTS observations will create full-Stokes image cubes at an angular resolution of 3.5' with a band-averaged sensitivity of 90 $μ$Jy, allowing sensitive imaging of polarized radiation and Faraday Rotation Measure from both diffuse emission and extragalactic sources. GALFACTS is a scientific pathfinder to the SKA in the area of cosmic magnetism. Key to magnetism science with the SKA is the technique of RM synthesis. The technique of RM synthesis is introduced and we discuss practical aspects of RM synthesis including efficient computational techniques and detection thresholds in the resulting Faraday spectrum. We illustrate the use of the technique by presenting the current development of the RM synthesis pipeline for GALFACTS and present early results.

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arXiv2011

Detection Thresholds and Bias Correction in Polarized Intensity

Detection thresholds in polarized intensity and polarization bias correction are investigated for surveys where the polarization information is obtained from RM synthesis. Considering unresolved sources with a single rotation measure, a detection threshold of $8 σ_{QU}$ applied to the Faraday spectrum will retrieve the RM with a false detection rate less than $10^{-4}$, but polarized intensity is more strongly biased than Ricean statistics suggest. For a detection threshold of $5 σ_{QU}$, the false detection rate increases to ~4%, depending also on $λ^2$ coverage and the extent of the Faraday spectrum. Non-Gaussian noise in Stokes Q and U due to imperfect imaging and calibration can be represented by a distribution that is the sum of a Gaussian and an exponential. The non-Gaussian wings of the noise distribution increase the false detection rate in polarized intensity by orders of magnitude. Monte-Carlo simulations assuming non-Gaussian noise in Q and U, give false detection rates at $8 σ_{QU}$ similar to Ricean false detection rates at $4.9 σ_{QU}$.

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arXiv2011

Polarized Radio Sources: A Study of Luminosity, Redshift and Infrared Colors

The Dominion Radio Astrophysical Observatory Deep Field polarization study has been matched with the Spitzer Wide-Area Infrared Extragalactic survey of the European Large Area Infrared Space Observatory Survey North 1 field. We have used VLA observations with a total intensity rms of 87 microJy beam^-1 to match SWIRE counterparts to the radio sources. Infrared color analysis of our radio sample shows that the majority of polarized sources are elliptical galaxies with an embedded active galactic nucleus. Using available redshift catalogs, we found 429 radio sources of which 69 are polarized with redshifts in the range of 0.04 < z <3.2. We find no correlation between redshift and percentage polarization for our sample. However, for polarized radio sources, we find a weak correlation between increasing percentage polarization and decreasing luminosity.

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arXiv2010

Detection of Large-Scale Cosmic Magnetic Fields

Observational evidence for the existence of cosmic magnetic fields in intergalactic space coherent over Mpc scales is presented. Using an unprecedentedly large sample of Faraday rotation measures of radio sources from the NRAO VLA Sky Survey data and the photometric redshift galaxy catalog from the sixth Data Release of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS), we measure the cross-correlations between the rotation measures and the galaxy density field distributed along the source sightlines. It is shown that the rotation measures for sightlines passing through high density regions at separation r >= 1 Mpc/h from the locations of background radio sources are significantly enhanced. We discuss possible generators of this enhancement and interpret it to be intergalactic magnetic fields coherent over 1 Mpc/h with mean field strength B~30 nG.

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arXiv2010

Visualizing the Invisible using Polarisation Observations

An electromagnetic wave can be uniquely characterized by the four Stokes parameters: I, Q, U, and V. Typical observations in astronomy rely solely on total intensity measurements of the incoming radiation (Stokes I). However, a significant amount of information both about the emitting region and the propagation path is carried in the remaining Stokes parameters. These data provide a means to observe parts of the interstellar medium which remain invisible in Stokes I, at any wavelength. For example, when an electromagnetic wave propagates through a region containing free electrons and a magnetic field, the plane of polarisation of the wave will rotate - an effect recorded only in Stokes Q and U. The interstellar medium of the Galaxy is such a region, containing free electrons (observed as HII) and a magnetic field of a few microgauss. By imaging in Stokes Q and U we are able to observe signatures of magnetic field perturbations from the small scale (tens of pc) to the large scale (kpc). In this paper, we review the status of Canadian polarisation studies of cosmic magnetic fields and discuss the leading role Canada is playing in polarsation studies around the world.

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arXiv2008

The Integrated Polarization of Spiral Galaxy Disks

We present integrated polarization properties of nearby spiral galaxies at 4.8 GHz, and models for the integrated polarization of spiral galaxy disks as a function of inclination. Spiral galaxies in our sample have observed integrated fractional polarization in the range < 1% to 17.6%. At inclinations less than 50 degrees, the fractional polarization depends mostly on the ratio of random to regular magnetic field strength. At higher inclinations, Faraday depolarization associated with the regular magnetic field becomes more important. The observed degree of polarization is lower (<4%) for more luminous galaxies, in particular those with L_{4.8} > 2 x 10^{21} W/Hz. The polarization angle of the integrated emission is aligned with the apparent minor axis of the disk for galaxies without a bar. In our axially symmetric models, the polarization angle of the integrated emission is independent of wavelength. Simulated distributions of fractional polarization for randomly oriented spiral galaxies at 4.8 GHz and 1.4 GHz are presented. We conclude that polarization measurements, e.g. with the SKA, of unresolved spiral galaxies allow statistical studies of the magnetic field in disk galaxies using large samples in the local universe and at high redshift. As these galaxies behave as idealized background sources without internal Faraday rotation, they can be used to detect large-scale magnetic fields in the intergalactic medium.

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