Polarization maps of Cygnus A at 23 gigahertz

Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astrophysics

Scientific paper

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Astronomical Maps, Extragalactic Radio Sources, Microwave Emission, Polarization Characteristics, Depolarization, Electron Density (Concentration), Linear Polarization, Luminous Intensity, Relativistic Plasmas, Synchrotron Radiation

Scientific paper

Polarization maps with 6.4 x 10.7 arcsec resolution are presented. The total intensity distribution is dominated by the compact heads. The flux of the central source is 0.8 plus or minus 0.15 Jy. The polarization distributions of the two lobes are quite similar. For both, the tails show smooth, large-scale structure and reach at least 30% linear polarization in places. Comparison with a 5 GHz map shows that the spectral index varies from -1 on the heads to less than -1.7 inward along the tails. This gradient is interpreted in terms of synchrotron losses occurring in the relativistic plasma as it flows out from the heads. For the NW component, comparison of the position angles of the polarized emission at 5 GHz with our maps shows changes in the amount of rotation of plus or minus 45 deg with angular scales of about 1 arcsec, but little depolarization at 5 GHz. The latter suggests that the thermal electron density within this lobe is at most 0.001/cu cm. The SE tail is highly depolarized at 5 GHz.

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