Faraday rotation: effect of magnetic field reversals

Abstract

The standard formula for the rotation measure, RM, which determines the position angle, $\psi =\mathrm{RM}{\lambda }^2$, due to Faraday rotation, includes contributions only from the portions of the ray path where the natural modes of the plasma are circularly polarized. In small regions of the ray path where the projection of the magnetic field on the ray path reverses sign (called QT regions) the modes are nearly linearly polarized. The neglect of QT regions in estimating RM is not well justified at frequencies below a transition frequency where mode coupling changes from strong to weak. By integrating the polarization transfer equation across a QT region in the latter limit, I estimate the additional contribution $\Delta \psi$ needed to correct this omission. In contrast with a result proposed by \cite{BB10}, $\Delta \psi$ is small and probably unobservable. I identify a new source of circular polarization, due to mode coupling in an asymmetric QT region. I also identify a new circular-polarization-dependent correction to the dispersion measure at low frequencies.

25 pages 1 figure, accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal

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