Fisher Analysis on Wide-Band Polarimetry for Probing the Intergalactic Magnetic Field

TL;DR

This paper evaluates the potential of upcoming wideband radio polarimetry to detect the intergalactic magnetic field through Faraday rotation measures using Fisher analysis on simulated polarization data.

Contribution

It introduces a Fisher analysis framework for estimating errors in Faraday rotation measurements from wideband polarimetry data, assessing the detectability of the IGMF.

Findings

QU-fitting can effectively constrain the IGMF in future surveys.

Detection of the IGMF requires specific source intensities and sensitivities.

Wideband polarimetry is promising for probing cosmic magnetic fields.

Abstract

We investigate the capability of ongoing radio telescopes for probing Faraday rotation measure (RM) due to the intergalactic magnetic field (IGMF) in the large-scale structure of the universe which is expected to be of order $O(1) {\rm rad/m^2}$. We consider polarization observations of a compact radio source such as quasars behind a diffuse source such as the Galaxy, and calculate Stokes parameters $Q$ and $U$ assuming a simple model of the Faraday dispersion functions with Gaussian shape. Then, we perform the Fisher analysis to estimate the expected errors in the model parameters from QU-fitting of polarization intensity, accounting for sensitivities and frequency bands of Australian Square Kilometer Array Pathfinder, Low Frequency Array, and the Giant Meterwave Radio Telescope. Finally, we examine the condition on the source intensities which are required to detect the IGMF. Our analysis indicates that the QU-fitting is promising for forthcoming wideband polarimetry to explore RM due to the IGMF in filaments of galaxies.