Spectral Polarization of the Redshifted 21 cm Absorption Line Toward 3C 286

TL;DR

This study re-analyzed the 21 cm absorption line toward 3C 286, correcting previous errors and providing new insights into the magnetic field, polarization features, and multi-component gas structure at high redshift.

Contribution

The paper corrects a software error in previous Zeeman splitting detection and models the absorption with multiple velocity components revealing detailed gas and polarization structures.

Findings

Upper limit on magnetic field strength is <17 microgauss.

Absorption features show velocity and polarization offsets indicating complex gas structure.

Gas components are low-temperature clouds (~200 K) with ~1 pc size.

Abstract

A re-analysis of the Stokes-parameter spectra obtained of the z=0.692 21 cm absorption line toward 3C 286 shows that our original claimed detection of Zeeman splitting by a line-of-sight magnetic field, B_los = 87 microgauss is incorrect. Because of an insidious software error, what we reported as Stokes V is actually Stokes U: the revised Stokes V spectrum indicates a 3-sigma upper limit of B_los < 17 microgauss. The correct analysis reveals an absorption feature in fractional polarization that is offset in velocity from the Stokes I spectrum by -1.9 km/s. The polarization position-angle spectrum shows a dip that is also significantly offset from the Stokes I feature, but at a velocity that differs slightly from the absorption feature in fractional polarization. We model the absorption feature with 3 velocity components against the core-jet structure of 3C 286. Our chisquare minimization fitting results in components with differing (1) ratios of H I column density to spin temperature, (2) velocity centroids, and (3) velocity dispersions. The change in polarization position angle with frequency implies incomplete coverage of the background jet source by the absorber. It also implies a spatial variation of the polarization position angle across the jet source, which is observed at frequencies higher than the 839.4 MHz absorption frequency. The multi-component structure of the gas is best understood in terms of components with spatial scales of ~100 pc comprised of hundreds of low-temperature (T < 200 K) clouds with linear dimensions of about 1 pc.