Ettore Carretti (Istituto di Radioastronomia - Institute for Radioastronomy, Bologna)

The Parkes Galactic Meridian Survey: a glance at the Galactic polarized synchrotron emission- Dr Ettore Carretti colloquium

ATNF Marsfield Lecture Theatre

Abstract

The Parkes Galactic Meridian Survey (PGMS) is aimed at mapping the
polarized diffuse emission at 2.3-GHz along a Galactic meridian to
study its behaviour from the Galactic plane to the south Galactic
pole. The project is on going by the Parkes telescope and main goals
are: to study the limits of CMB polarization to detect the gravitational
waves (GW) emitted at the Inflation; the investigation of the Galactic
magnetic field.
The CMBP is one of the most powerfull tools to attempt the detection of
the GW background left by the Inflation. Main CMBP issue, however,
is its faint signal, so that Galactic foreground emissions can limit
the minimum detectable radiation. The PGMS is designed to study the
polarized synchrotron emission as a function of the Galactic latitude,
which is crucial to understand the effective capabilities of the CMBP
to search for GWs.
The second primary PGMS goal is to study the Galactic magnetic field
at medium and high Galactic latitudes and at the transition with the
Galactic disc. The Rotation Measure (RM) can be measured with high
sensitivity, allowing exploration of the component parallel to the
line of sight even at high latitudes. Moreover, position angles corrected
for RM give information about the direction perpendicular to the line
of sight.
In this colloquium the survey and its scientific aims are presented
together with some preliminary results.