X. P. You, W. A. Coles, G. B. Hobbs, R. N. Manchester
The magnetic field of the solar wind near the Sun is very difficult to
measure directly. Measurements of Faraday rotation of linearly polarized radio
sources occulted by the solar wind provide a unique opportunity to estimate
this magnetic field, and the technique has been widely used in the past.
However Faraday rotation is a path integral of the product of electron density
and the projection of the magnetic field on the path. The electron density near
the Sun can be measured by several methods, but it is quite variable. Here we
show that it is possible to measure the path integrated electron density and
the Faraday rotation simultaneously at 6-10 $R_\odot$ using millisecond pulsars
as the linearly polarized radio source. By analyzing the Faraday rotation
measurements with and without the simultaneous electron density observations we
show that these observations significantly improve the accuracy of the magnetic
field estimates.
View original:
http://arxiv.org/abs/1202.2263
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