The Faraday rotation measure of the M87 jet at 3.5mm with the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array

TL;DR

This study uses ALMA observations to map the Faraday rotation measure of the M87 jet at 3.5mm, revealing magnetic field structures and their potential origins near the SMBH, with implications for jet morphology.

Contribution

First high-resolution ALMA RM map of M87 jet at 3.5mm, showing detailed magnetic field configurations and frequency-dependent RM behavior.

Findings

RM of M87 core is approximately 4.5×10^4 rad/m^2.

RM gradient in the jet suggests a helical magnetic field structure.

RM varies with frequency, indicating complex jet geometry.

Abstract

Faraday rotation is an important probe of the magnetic fields and magnetized plasma around active galactic nuclei (AGN) jets. We present a Faraday rotation measure image of the M87 jet between 85.2 GHz and 101.3 GHz with a resolution of ~2" with the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA). We found that the rotation measure (RM) of the M87 core is $\rm (4.5\pm 0.4)\times10^{4}\ rad\ m^{-2}$ with a low linear polarization fraction of $\rm (0.88\pm 0.08)\%$. The spatial RM gradient in the M87 jet spans a wide range from $\sim -2\times10^4\rm~rad\ m^{-2}$ to $\sim 3\times10^4\rm~rad\ m^{-2}$ with a typical uncertainty of $0.3\times10^4\rm~rad\ m^{-2}$. A comparison with previous RM measurements of the core suggests that the Faraday rotation of the core may originate very close to the super massive black hole (SMBH). Both an internal origin and an external screen with a rapidly varying emitting source could be possible. As for the jet, the RM gradient indicates a helical configuration of the magnetic field that persists up to kpc scale. Combined with the kpc-scale RM measurements at lower frequencies, we found that RM is frequency-dependent in the jet. One possible scenario to explain this dependence is that the kpc-scale jet has a trumpet-like shape and the jet coil unwinds near its end.