New constraints on the galactic halo magnetic field using rotation measures of extragalactic sources toward the outer galaxy

Abstract

We present a study of the Milky Way disk and halo magnetic field, determined from observations of Faraday rotation measure (RM) towards 641 polarized extragalactic radio sources in the Galactic longitude range 100◦-117◦, within 30◦ of the Galactic plane. For |b| < 15◦, we observe a symmetric RM distribution about the Galactic plane. This is consistent with a disk field in the Perseus arm of even parity across the Galactic midplane. In the range 15◦<|b| < 30◦, we find median rotation measures of −15±4 rad m−2 and −62±5 rad m−2 in the northern and southern Galactic hemispheres, respectively. If the RM distribution is a signature of the large-scale field parallel to the Galactic plane, this suggests that the halo magnetic field toward the outer Galaxy does not reverse direction across the mid-plane. The variation of RM as a function of Galactic latitude in this longitude range is such that RMs become more negative at larger |b|. This is consistent with an azimuthal magnetic field of strength 2 µG (7µG) at a height 0.8-2 kpc above (below) the Galactic plane between the local and the Perseus spiral arm. We propose that the Milky Way could possess spiral-like halo magnetic fields similar to those observed in M51. Show more