Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astrophysics
Scientific paper
2004-03-29
Astrophys.J. 609 (2004) 776-784
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astrophysics
16 pages, 8 figures, accepted by ApJ. High-resolution version of Figure 1 available at http://hea-www.harvard.edu/~marijke/fil
Scientific paper
10.1086/421341
We present an analysis of rotation measure (RM) fluctuations from the Test Region of the Southern Galactic Plane Survey (SGPS), along with emission measure (EM) fluctuations in the same field taken from the Southern H-Alpha Sky Survey Atlas. The structure function of RM fluctuations shows a relatively steep slope at small scales (1-5 arcmin), a break in slope to a flatter structure function at intermediate scales (5-60 arcmin), and a systematic variation of the strength of fluctuations as a function of position angle on the sky at the largest scales (60-200 arcmin). The structure function of EM fluctuations shows similar behavior, although the lower resolution of the data prevents detection of a possible break in the spectrum. We interpret the anisotropy in RM/EM structure on large scales as resulting from a large-scale gradient in electron density (and possibly magnetic field) across the region. The break in the slope of the RM structure function at scales of about 5 arcmin can be explained by contributions from two spatially distinct magneto-ionized screens, most likely in the Local and Carina spiral arms. The observed structure function then implies that the outer scale of RM fluctuations in these screens is about 2 pc. We conclude that we have identified an additional source of enhanced turbulence, injected on scales of a few pc, possibly seen only in the Galactic plane. The most likely source of such turbulence is individual HII regions from relatively low-mass stars, whose characteristic scale size is similar to the outer scale of turbulence inferred here. These sources may be the dominant source of density and velocity fluctuations in warm ionized gas in the Galactic plane.
Dickey John M.
Gaensler Bryan M.
Green Andrew J.
Haverkorn Marijke
McClure-Griffiths Naomi M.
No associations
LandOfFree
Magnetic Fields and Ionized Gas in the inner Galaxy: An Outer Scale for Turbulence and the Possible Role of HII Regions does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this scientific paper.
If you have personal experience with Magnetic Fields and Ionized Gas in the inner Galaxy: An Outer Scale for Turbulence and the Possible Role of HII Regions, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Magnetic Fields and Ionized Gas in the inner Galaxy: An Outer Scale for Turbulence and the Possible Role of HII Regions will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-240636