Detection of linear polarization in the radio remnant of supernova 1987A

Zanardo, G., Staveley-Smith, L., Gaensler, B. M., Indebetouw, R., Ng, C. -Y., Matsuura, Mikako ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5529-5593 and Tzioumis, A. K. 2018. Detection of linear polarization in the radio remnant of supernova 1987A. Astrophysical Journal 861 (1) , L9.

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Abstract

Supernova 1987A in the Large Magellanic Cloud has proven a unique laboratory to investigate particle acceleration in young supernova remnants. Here we report the �rst detection of linear polarization of the supernova's synchrotron emission from imaging observations at frequencies spanning from 20 to 50GHz, carried out with the Australia Telescope Compact Array between October 2015 and May 2016. The direction of the radio polarization, corrected for Faraday rotation, points to a primarily radial magnetic �eld across the inner ring, encompassing both the reverse and forward shocks. The magnetic eld strength peaks over the high-emissivity eastern sites, where e�cient cosmic ray acceleration likely takes place under quasi-parallel shocks at high Mach numbers. The mean fraction of polarized emission in the brightest sites is 2:7 � 0:2% at 22 GHz and 3:5 � 0:7% at 44 GHz. In the inner remnant, non-radial components of the polarized emission appear to be more prevalent. However, the low signi�cance detection in the central regions limits interpretation.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	Published
Schools:	Physics and Astronomy
Subjects:	Q Science > QB Astronomy
Publisher:	American Astronomical Society
ISSN:	0004-637X
Related URLs:	https://arxiv.org/abs/1806.04741
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	15 June 2018
Date of Acceptance:	12 June 2018
Last Modified:	16 Nov 2024 14:45
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/112485

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