A MeerKAT look at the polarization of 47 Tucanae pulsars: magnetic field implications

Abstract

We present the polarization profiles of 22 pulsars in the globular cluster 47 Tucanae using observations from the MeerKAT radio telescope at UHF-band (544-1088 MHz) and report precise values of dispersion measure (DM) and rotation measure (RM). We use these measurements to investigate the presence of turbulence in electron density and magnetic fields. The structure function of DM shows a break at $\sim 30$ arcsec ($\sim 0.6$ pc at the distance of 47 Tucanae) that suggests the presence of turbulence in the gas in the cluster driven by the motion of wind-shedding stars. On the other hand, the structure function of RM does not show evidence of a break. This non-detection could be explained either by the limited number of pulsars or by the effects of the intervening gas in the Galaxy along the line of sight. Future pulsar discoveries in the cluster could help confirm the presence and localise the turbulence.

Accepted for publication in MNRAS, 14 pages, 6 figures

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• A MeerKAT view of the pulsars in the globular cluster NGC 6522
• A new pulsar candidate in 47 Tucanae discovered with MeerKAT imaging
• Mining the time axis with TRON. I. Millisecond pulsars in Omega Centauri, Terzan 5 and 47 Tucanae detected through MeerKAT interferometric imaging
• A deep Chandra study verifies diffuse non-thermal X-ray emission from the globular cluster Terzan 5
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