Using Red Clump Stars to Decompose the Galactic Magnetic Field with Distance

TL;DR

This paper introduces a novel method using red clump stars as standard candles to decompose and map the large-scale structure of the Galactic magnetic field across different distances, revealing complex magnetic geometries.

Contribution

It presents the first technique to analyze the line-of-sight structure of the Galactic magnetic field using red clump stars, enabling continuous or discrete magnetic field orientation estimates over kiloparsec scales.

Findings

Continuous magnetic field orientation in the Outer Galaxy shows warp perturbations.

Evidence of magnetic field reversals in the Inner Galaxy consistent with existing models.

A new method for identifying intrinsically polarized stars is proposed.

Abstract

A new method for measuring the large-scale structure of the Galactic magnetic field is presented. The Galactic magnetic field has been probed through the Galactic disk with near-infrared starlight polarimetry, however the distance to each background star is unknown. Using red clump stars as near-infrared standard candles, this work presents the first attempt to decompose the line of sight structure of the sky-projected Galactic magnetic field. Two example lines-of-sight are decomposed: toward a field with many red clump stars and toward a field with few red clump stars. A continuous estimate of magnetic field orientation over several kiloparsecs of distance is possible in the field with many red clump stars, while only discrete estimates are possible in the sparse example. toward the Outer Galaxy, there is a continuous field orientation with distance that shows evidence of perturbation by the Galactic warp. toward the Inner Galaxy, evidence for a large-scale change in the magnetic field geometry is consistent with models of magnetic field reversals, independently derived from Faraday rotation studies. A photo-polarimetric method for identifying candidate intrinsically polarized stars is also presented. The future application of this method to large regions of the sky will begin the process of mapping the Galactic magnetic field in a way never before possible.