Rotation measure and turbulent structure of Tycho's supernova remnant, G120+1.4.
Abstract
Summary. We have derived both the spatial correlation function and associated power spectrum for the Faraday rotation across Tycho's supernova remnant (SNR). We find that (i) the average gradient of rotation measure (RM) across Tycho's SNR is essentially perpendicular to the galactic plane, and (ii) a scale length approximately equal to the radius of Tycho's SNR can be identified in both the correlation function and the power spectrum. Faraday rotation by the magnetic field and diffuse electrons of the interstellar medium, integrated over the entire path length to Tycho's SNR, can satisfactorily account for the mean RM and its gradient. A theoretical assessment of the Rayleigh-Taylor instability within Tycho's SNR yields a scale length similar to that observed in the RM. This instability may therefore account for the smallscale structure in RM, in which case we have for the first time a quantitative measure of the scale of the turbulent structure in a supernova remnant. Key words: supernova remnant - Faraday rotation - turbulence
- Publication:
-
Astronomy and Astrophysics
- Pub Date:
- August 1979
- Bibcode:
- 1979A&A....77..117L
- Keywords:
-
- Faraday Effect;
- Power Spectra;
- Supernova Remnants;
- Turbulence;
- Correlation;
- Hydrogen Atoms;
- Interstellar Matter;
- Shock Fronts;
- Taylor Instability;
- Astrophysics;
- Supernova Remnants;
- Supernova Remnants:Structure