Exploring the magnetic field structure of the Milky Way with pulsars in the SKA era

TL;DR

This paper discusses how future pulsar observations with the SKA telescope will significantly enhance our understanding of the Milky Way's magnetic field structure, especially in previously under-sampled regions.

Contribution

It provides an overview of how upcoming SKA pulsar surveys will improve the mapping of the Galactic magnetic field in three dimensions.

Findings

SKA will triple the known pulsar count.

Polarization data will enable detailed magnetic field mapping.

Enhanced observations will cover the Galactic disk and halo.

Abstract

The magnetic field structure of the Milky Way can offer critical insights into the origin of galactic magnetic fields. Measurements of magnetic structures of the Milky Way are still sparse in far regions of the Galactic disk and halo. Pulsars are the best probes for the three-dimensional structure of the Galactic magnetic field, primarily owing to their highly polarized short-duration radio pulses, negligible intrinsic Faraday rotation compared to the contribution from the medium in front, and their widespread distribution throughout the Galaxy across the thin disk, spiral arms, and extended halo. In this article, we give an overview of Galactic magnetic field investigation using pulsars. The sensitive SKA1 design baseline (AA4) will increase the number of known pulsars by a factor of around three, and the initial staged delivery array (AA*) will probably double the total number of the current pulsar population. Polarization observations of pulsars with the AA* telescopes will give rotation measures along several thousand lines of sight, enabling detailed exploration of the magnetic structure of both the Galactic disk and the Galactic halo.