The sino-german 6cm polarization survey of the galactic plane: A summary

TL;DR

This paper presents a comprehensive 6cm polarization survey of the Galactic plane, revealing new insights into the interstellar medium and discovering new supernova remnants and Hii regions.

Contribution

It provides the first high-sensitivity polarization maps of the Galactic plane, uncovering new properties and objects in the interstellar medium.

Findings

Discovered two new supernova remnants G178.2-4.2 and G25.3-2.1.

Revealed new properties of the diffuse magnetized interstellar medium.

Identified multiple new Hii regions.

Abstract

We have finished the 6cm polarization survey of the Galactic plane using the Urumqi 25m radio telescope. It covers 10deg<l<230deg in Galactic longitude and |b| <5deg in Galactic latitude. The new polarization maps not only reveal new properties of the diffuse magnetized interstellar medium, but also are very useful for studying individual objects such as Hii regions, which may act as Faraday screens with strong regular magnetic fields inside, and supernova remnants for their polarization properties and spectra. The high sensitivity of the survey enables us to discover two new SNRs G178.2-4.2 and G25.3-2.1 and a number of Hii regions.