The Complex Large-scale Magnetic Fields in the First Galactic Quadrant as Revealed by the Faraday Depth Profile Disparity

TL;DR

This study used broadband spectro-polarimetric observations to measure Faraday depths of extragalactic sources, revealing magnetic field disparities in the Milky Way's Sagittarius arm and challenging existing Galactic magnetic field models.

Contribution

The paper provides new Faraday depth measurements with increased density, discovering magnetic field disparities and proposing improved models of the Milky Way's disk magnetic field.

Findings

Discovered disparity in Faraday depths across the Galactic mid-plane.

Suggested the Sagittarius arm hosts an odd-parity disk magnetic field.

Existing models do not match the new observational data.

Abstract

The Milky Way is one of the very few spiral galaxies known to host large-scale magnetic field reversals. The existence of the field reversal in the first Galactic quadrant near the Sagittarius spiral arm has been well established, yet poorly characterised due to the insufficient number of reliable Faraday depths (FDs) from extragalactic radio sources (EGSs) through this reversal region. We have therefore performed broadband (1-2 GHz) spectro-polarimetric observations with the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array (VLA) to determine the FD values of 194 EGSs in the Galactic longitude range of $20^\circ$-$52^\circ$ within $\pm 5^\circ$ from the Galactic mid-plane, covering the Sagittarius arm tangent. This factor of five increase in the EGS FD density has led to the discovery of a disparity in FD values across the Galactic mid-plane in the Galactic longitude range of $40^\circ$-$52^\circ$. Combined with existing pulsar FD measurements, we suggest that the Sagittarius arm can host an odd-parity disk field. We further compared our newly derived EGS FDs with the predictions of three major Galactic magnetic field models, and concluded that none of them can adequately reproduce our observational results. This has led to our development of new, improved models of the Milky Way disk magnetic field that will serve as an important step towards major future improvements in Galactic magnetic field models.