The Galactic Faraday rotation sky 2020
Astronomy and Astrophysics, vol. 657, pp. A43
Abstract
Aims. This work provides an update to existing reconstructions of the Galactic Faraday rotation sky by processing almost all Faraday rotation data sets available at the end of the year 2020. Observations of extra-Galactic sources in recent years have further illuminated the previously underconstrained southern celestial sky, as well as parts of the inner disc of the Milky Way, along with other regions. This has culminated in an all-sky data set of 55 190 data points, thereby comprising a significant expansion on the 41 330 used in previous works. At the same time, this novelty makes an updated separation of the Galactic component a promising enterprise. The increased source density allows us to present our results in a resolution of about 1.3 × 10−2 deg2 (46.8 arcmin2), which is a twofold increase compared to previous works. Methods. As for previous Faraday rotation sky reconstructions, this work is based on information field theory, namely, a Bayesian inference scheme for field-like quantities that handles noisy and incomplete data. Results. In contrast to previous reconstructions, we find a significantly thinner and pronounced Galactic disc with small-scale structures exceeding values of several thousand rad m−2. The improvements can mainly be attributed to the new catalog of Faraday data, but are also supported by advances in correlation structure modeling within numerical information field theory. We also provide a detailed discussion on the statistical properties of the Faraday rotation sky and we investigate correlations with other data sets.
Authors 37
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Radboud University Nijmegen · Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics · Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München
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Department of Astrophysics/IMAPP, Radboud University, PO Box 9010, 6500 GL Nijmegen, The Netherlands
Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Geschwister-Scholl-Platz 1, 80539 Munich, Germany
Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics, Karl-Schwarzschildstr. 1, 85741 Garching, Germany
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National Radio Astronomy Observatory
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Jansky fellow of the National Radio Astronomy Observatory, 1003 Lopezville Rd, Socorro, NM 87801 USA
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University of Massachusetts Amherst
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Department of Astronomy, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, 710 North Pleasant Street, Amherst, MA 01003, USA
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Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Academia Sinica · Academia Sinica
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Academia Sinica Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics, 645 N. A’ohoku Place, Hilo, HI 96720, USA
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Affiliation as printed
Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Calgary, 2500 University Drive NW, Calgary AB T2N 1N4, Canada
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Affiliation as printed
Hamburger Sternwarte, Universiät Hamburg, Gojenbergsweg 112, 21029 Hamburg, Germany
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Istituto di Radioastronomia di Bologna
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INAF – Istituto di Radioastronomia, via P. Gobetti 101, 40129 Bologna, Italy
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United States Naval Research Laboratory
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U.S. Naval Research Lab, 4555 Overlook Ave., SW Washington, DC 20375, USA
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Affiliation as printed
Google LLC, 1900 Reston Metro Plaza, Reston, VA 20190, USA
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Affiliation as printed
Department of Astronomy, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA 22904, USA
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Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence · University of California, Berkeley
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Radio Astronomy Lab, 501 Campbell Hall #3411, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
SETI Institute, 189 N Bernardo Ave #200, Mountain View, CA 94043, USA
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Affiliation as printed
Dunlap Institute for Astronomy and Astrophysics, University of Toronto, 50 St. George Street, Toronto, ON M5S 3H4, Canada
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Affiliation as printed
Dunlap Institute for Astronomy and Astrophysics, University of Toronto, 50 St. George Street, Toronto, ON M5S 3H4, Canada
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Universität Hamburg · Istituto di Radioastronomia di Bologna
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Hamburger Sternwarte, Universiät Hamburg, Gojenbergsweg 112, 21029 Hamburg, Germany
INAF – Istituto di Radioastronomia, via P. Gobetti 101, 40129 Bologna, Italy
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Affiliation as printed
Department of Astrophysics/IMAPP, Radboud University, PO Box 9010, 6500 GL Nijmegen, The Netherlands
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Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation
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CSIRO Astronomy and Space Science, PO Box 1130, Bentley WA 6102, Australia
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Atacama Large Millimeter Submillimeter Array · National Astronomical Observatory of Japan
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Joint ALMA Observatory, Alonso de Córdova 3107, Vitacura, Santiago, Chile
National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, NAOJ Chile, Alonso de Córdova 3788, Office 61B, 7630422, Vitacura, Santiago, Chile
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Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Academia Sinica · Academia Sinica
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Academia Sinica Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics, ASMAB, NTU, No.1, Roosevelt Rd., Sec. 4, Taipei 10617, Taiwan, ROC
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Curtin University · International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research
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International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research (ICRAR), Curtin University, Bentley, WA 6102, Australia
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Dominion Astrophysical Observatory · National Research Council Canada
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Dominion Radio Astrophysical Observatory, National Research Council of Canada, Box 248, Penticton, BC, V2A 6J9, Canada
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California Institute of Technology
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Department of Astronomy and Owens Valley Radio Observatory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena CA 91125, USA
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Australian National University · Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy
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Max-Planck-Institut für Radioastronomie, Auf dem Hügel 69, 53121 Bonn, Germany
Research School of Astronomy & Astrophysics, Australian National University, Canberra, ACT 2611, Australia
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University of California, Berkeley
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Radio Astronomy Lab, 501 Campbell Hall #3411, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
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Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy
Affiliation as printed
Max-Planck-Institut für Radioastronomie, Auf dem Hügel 69, 53121 Bonn, Germany
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Istituto di Radioastronomia di Bologna · University of Bologna
Affiliation as printed
Dipartimento di Fisica e Astronomia, Università degli Studi di Bologna, via P. Gobetti 93/2, 40129 Bologna, Italy
INAF – Istituto di Radioastronomia, via P. Gobetti 101, 40129 Bologna, Italy
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National Centre for Radio Astrophysics
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National Centre for Radio Astrophysics, TIFR, Pune University Campus, Pune, India
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Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Calgary, 2500 University Drive NW, Calgary AB T2N 1N4, Canada
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Leiden University · Leiden Observatory · Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy
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ASTRON, Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy, Oude Hoogeveensedijk 4, 7991 PD, Dwingeloo, The Netherlands
Leiden Observatory, Leiden University, PO Box 9513, 2300 RA Leiden, The Netherlands
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Affiliation as printed
Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Calgary, 2500 University Drive NW, Calgary AB T2N 1N4, Canada
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Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation
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CSIRO Astronomy and Space Science, PO Box 1130, Bentley WA 6102, Australia
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Affiliation as printed
School of Physical Sciences and Centre for Astrophysics & Relativity, Dublin City University, Glasnevin D09 W6Y4, Ireland
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Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique · Rhodes University · Observatoire de Paris · Galaxies, Etoiles, Physique et Instrumentation · Université Paris Diderot
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Centre for Radio Astronomy Techniques and Technologies, Department of Physics and Electronics, Rhodes University, Grahamstown 6140, South Africa
GEPI&USN, Observatoire de Paris, CNRS, Université Paris Diderot, 5 place Jules Janssen, 92190 Meudon, France
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Osservatorio Astronomico di Cagliari
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INAF – Osservatorio Astronomico di Cagliari, Via della Scienza 5, 09047 Selargius (CA), Italy
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Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation
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CSIRO Astronomy and Space Science, PO Box 1130, Bentley WA 6102, Australia
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Center for Astrophysics Harvard & Smithsonian
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Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, 60 Garden St. MS-20, Cambridge, MA 01238, USA
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University of California, Berkeley
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Radio Astronomy Lab, 501 Campbell Hall #3411, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
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Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics · Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München
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Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Geschwister-Scholl-Platz 1, 80539 Munich, Germany
Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics, Karl-Schwarzschildstr. 1, 85741 Garching, Germany
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