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# K-essence and the coincidence problem

## I Introduction

The search for an explanation for the observed acceleration of the Universe acce  is one of the most important challenges in contemporary cosmology. One usually assumes the existence of a dark energy component which breaks the strong energy condition, and the simplest model that one can build is that of introducing a cosmological constant. Yet, in order to obtain its domination today it has to be precisely set to an extremely small and so far unexplained value, one manifestation of the cosmological constant problem W89 . More generally, the fact that the dark energy overtakes dark matter at a recent epoch ($`z<1`$) when we cosmologists are able to observe it is known as the coincidence problem.

Allowing the dark energy to be dynamical may help to solve this issue. In this respect, a light scalar field, known as quintessence quin ; trac , has been proposed. The field is meant to slow-roll down its potential, with its potential energy acting analogously to that of early Universe inflation. A wide class of tracker models trac  feature an attractor solution which roughly mimics the behaviour of the dominant component of the Universe, rendering the evolution of the field fairly independent of its initial conditions. Unfortunately, in order to obtain quintessence domination today, the parameters of the potentials so far discussed also need a fine-tuning, and so as yet those models have not led to a compelling resolution of the coincidence problem.

More recently, models based on scalar fields with non-canonical kinetic energy kinf , dubbed as k-essence COY ; AMS1 ; AMS2 , have emerged. A subclass of models AMS1 ; AMS2  feature a tracker behaviour during radiation domination, and a cosmological-constant-like behaviour shortly after the transition to matter domination. As long as this transition seems to occur generically for purely dynamical reasons, these models are claimed to solve the coincidence problem without fine-tuning.

In this paper we will analyze the models given in the literature so far AMS1 ; AMS2 . We will study the size of the basin of attraction of their tracker solutions and comment on the fine-tuning of the parameters. We will also look at the behaviour of a general k-essence field close to singularities corresponding to a diverging sound speed.

Throughout this article a prime denotes a derivative with respect to the argument of the function to which it is applied, and a dot denotes a derivative with respect to proper time. We assume $`3/8\pi G=1`$.

## II K-essence formalism

In general k-essence is defined as a scalar field with non-canonical kinetic energy, but usually the models are restricted to the Lagrangian

$$_\mathrm{k}K(\varphi )\stackrel{~}{p}(X),$$
(1)
where $`K(\varphi )>0`$ and $`X=\frac{1}{2}_\mu \varphi ^\mu \varphi `$. We note that the definition includes quintessence models (in this paper meaning scalar fields with canonical kinetic term). Using the perfect fluid analogy, the pressure and the energy density are given by

$`p_\mathrm{k}(\varphi ,X)`$ $`=`$ $`K(\varphi )\stackrel{~}{p}(X),`$ (2)
$`\epsilon _\mathrm{k}(\varphi ,X)`$ $`=`$ $`K(\varphi )\stackrel{~}{\epsilon }(X),`$ (3)
where

$$\stackrel{~}{\epsilon }(X)=2X\stackrel{~}{p}^{}(X)\stackrel{~}{p}(X).$$
(4)
Following Refs. AMS1 ; AMS2 , we set $`K(\varphi )1/\varphi ^2`$, define a new variable $`y1/\sqrt{X}`$ and re-express $`\stackrel{~}{p}(X)`$ as $`\stackrel{~}{p}(X(y))g(y)/y`$. In this case the pressure and the energy density become

$`p_\mathrm{k}(\varphi ,y)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{g(y)}{\varphi ^2y}},`$ (5)
$`\epsilon _\mathrm{k}(\varphi ,y)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{g^{}(y)}{\varphi ^2}}.`$ (6)
We assume $`\epsilon _\mathrm{k}(\varphi ,y)>0`$, hence $`g^{}(y)<0`$. The equation of state parameter and the effective sound speed are given by

$`w_\mathrm{k}(y)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{g(y)}{yg^{}(y)}},`$ (7)
$`c_{\mathrm{sk}}^2(y)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{g(y)yg^{}(y)}{y^2g^{\prime \prime }(y)}}.`$ (8)
We also assume $`w_\mathrm{k}(y)>1`$ and $`c_{\mathrm{sk}}^2(y)>0`$ which implies $`g^{\prime \prime }(y)>0`$. As a result, $`g(y)`$ must be a convex and decreasing function of $`y`$.

From now on, we consider a flat Robertson–Walker Universe defined by the metric

$$\mathrm{d}s^2=\mathrm{d}t^2+a^2(t)\mathrm{d}𝐱^2.$$
(9)
In this case, the Euler–Lagrange equation for the k-essence field is

$$\stackrel{~}{\epsilon }^{}(X)\ddot{\varphi }+3H\stackrel{~}{p}^{}(X)\dot{\varphi }+\frac{K^{}(\varphi )}{K(\varphi )}\stackrel{~}{\epsilon }(X)=0,$$
(10)
where $`H=\dot{a}/a`$. Then, if the Universe is filled with another fluid with energy density $`\epsilon _\mathrm{f}`$ and equation of state parameter $`w_\mathrm{f}`$ constant one can find the following system of equations in terms of the independent variables $`y`$ and $`\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{k}`$

$`{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{d}y}{\mathrm{d}N}}`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{\sqrt{8g^{}(y)}\left(r(y)\sqrt{\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{k}}\right)}{yg^{\prime \prime }(y)}},`$ (11)
$`{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{d}\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{k}}{\mathrm{d}N}}`$ $`=`$ $`3\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{k}\left(1\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{k}\right)\left(w_\mathrm{f}w_\mathrm{k}(y)\right),`$ (12)
where $`N\mathrm{ln}(a/a_0)`$, $`\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{k}\epsilon _\mathrm{k}/(\epsilon _\mathrm{k}+\epsilon _\mathrm{f})`$ and

$$r(y)\frac{3\left(g(y)yg^{}(y)\right)}{\sqrt{8g^{}(y)}}>0.$$
(13)
Here, we have assumed that $`\dot{\varphi }>0`$. Therefore, for $`0<y`$ and $`0<\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{k}<1`$, the dynamics is completely described by trajectories in the $`y`$$`\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{k}`$ plane. As long as $`g^{\prime \prime }(y)0`$ the system is well defined. As we can see, $`(y_\mathrm{s},\mathrm{\Omega }_{\mathrm{ks}})`$ is a stationary point if $`w_\mathrm{k}(y_\mathrm{s})=w_\mathrm{f}`$ and $`r^2(y_\mathrm{s})=\mathrm{\Omega }_{\mathrm{ks}}`$. As shown in Ref. AMS2  this is a stable point — and therefore corresponds to a perfect tracking ($`w_\mathrm{k}=w_\mathrm{f}`$) of the dominant fluid — if $`c_{\mathrm{sk}}^2(y_\mathrm{s})>w_\mathrm{k}(y_\mathrm{s})`$.

## III Sound speed divergence

As we will see, for the particular class of models we will analyze, we have $`g^{\prime \prime }(y_\mathrm{c})=0`$ for some $`y_\mathrm{c}`$, which implies that $`\stackrel{~}{\epsilon }^{}(y_\mathrm{c})=0`$ and that the sound speed diverges at $`y_\mathrm{c}`$. In that case, from Eq. (11) we see that at $`y=y_\mathrm{c}`$ there is a unique possible value $`\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{k}=\mathrm{\Omega }_{\mathrm{kc}}`$ given by the constraint equation

$$\mathrm{\Omega }_{\mathrm{kc}}=r^2(y_\mathrm{c}).$$
(14)
This means that the phase space $`y`$$`\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{k}`$ is cut into (at least) two parts separated by the line $`y=y_\mathrm{c}`$ which is not allowed by the model except at $`𝐒_\mathrm{𝟎}(y_\mathrm{c},\mathrm{\Omega }_{\mathrm{kc}})`$. To study the dynamics close to this line we use the expansion $`y=y_\mathrm{c}+\delta y`$ with $`\delta y/y_\mathrm{c}1`$, compute Eq. (11) to $`𝒪(\delta y^2)`$ and find the equation

$$\frac{\mathrm{d}\delta y}{\mathrm{d}N}\frac{C_1}{\delta y}+C_2\delta y,$$
(15)
where

$`C_1`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{\sqrt{8g^{}(y_\mathrm{c})}\left(r(y_\mathrm{c})\sqrt{\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{k}}\right)}{y_\mathrm{c}g^{\prime \prime \prime }(y_\mathrm{c})}}`$ (16)
$`C_2`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{3\left(w_\mathrm{k}(y_\mathrm{c})1\right)}{4}}{\displaystyle \frac{2\left(r(y_\mathrm{c})\sqrt{\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{k}}\right)}{y_\mathrm{c}\sqrt{8g^{}(y_\mathrm{c})}}}.`$ (17)
If $`g^{\prime \prime \prime }(y_\mathrm{c})0`$, Eq. (15) allows us to study the behaviour of the field close to the line $`y=y_\mathrm{c}`$, and unless $`\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{k}=r^2(y_\mathrm{c})`$ the first term dominates. For the particular class of models we will analyze we have $`g^{\prime \prime \prime }(y_\mathrm{c})>0`$, and therefore if $`\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{k}<r^2(y_\mathrm{c})`$, hence $`C_1>0`$, the solution moves away from the line, whereas if $`\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{k}>r^2(y_\mathrm{c})`$ the solution ceases to exist (in that it hits the singularity $`y_\mathrm{c}`$) within a finite time $`\mathrm{\Delta }N\delta y^2/2\left|C_1\right|`$ as it approaches the line (this has been checked numerically). We define $`𝐒_+\{(y_\mathrm{c},\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{k})|\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{k}<r^2(y_\mathrm{c})\}`$ as the segment of the singularity from which some trajectories spontaneously emerge and $`𝐒_{}\{(y_\mathrm{c},\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{k})|\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{k}>r^2(y_\mathrm{c})\}`$ as the segment of the singularity on which some trajectories abruptly end. We can also use Eq. (15) to determine the nature of the perturbation $`\delta y`$ at the regular point $`𝐒_\mathrm{𝟎}=(y_\mathrm{c},\mathrm{\Omega }_{\mathrm{kc}})`$. In that case the equation simplifies to give

$$\frac{\mathrm{d}\delta y}{\mathrm{d}N}\frac{3}{4}(w_\mathrm{k}(y_\mathrm{c})1)\delta y.$$
(18)
Depending on the value of $`w(y_\mathrm{c})`$ this solution either grows or decreases exponentially fast. In the cases we will study here, we have $`w_\mathrm{k}(y_\mathrm{c})<1`$ and therefore $`\delta y`$ decreases.

The existence of this singular behaviour means that a diverging sound speed leads to serious problems. In some situations it may well be possible to argue that the theory is valid up to a certain cut-off which excludes the singularity, but as we will show this is not the case for the cosmologically-realistic models proposed so far AMS1 ; AMS2 . Instead, in these situations we must deal with the singular regions as we meet them.

## IV Analysis of two models

K-essence models can possess many different attractor solutions COY ; AMS1 ; AMS2 , especially trackers which perfectly mimic the dominant component of the Universe and attractors with negative equation of state leading to domination of the field. By choosing an appropriate function $`g(y)`$, it is possible to build a model with a certain number of attractor solutions which can feature some interesting dynamical properties. For instance, a stable tracker solution during radiation domination ($`𝐑`$) could render the late-time evolution of the field fairly independent of its initial conditions. Then, the lack of such a solution during matter domination would force the field to reach another pseudo-attractor with $`w_\mathrm{k}1`$ leading to the k-essence domination attractor ($`𝐊`$). This possibility was discussed in Refs. AMS1 ; AMS2  and in that sense it is possible to find a model which could solve the coincidence problem: we cosmologists would observe the acceleration of the Universe today because we happen to appear soon after the onset of matter domination which leads to the formation of structures — and human beings. In this section we analyze the models proposed so far which are built in order to fulfill this principle AMS1 ; AMS2 . We study their sensitivity to initial conditions and comment on the fine-tuning involved. Throughout the discussion we will refer to and make use of the parameters first introduced in Refs. AMS1 ; AMS2 .

### IV.1 Model 1 (Ref. )

Following the classification scheme introduced in Ref. AMS2 , this first model is of type $`(\mathrm{B}_r)`$. It is defined by

$$\stackrel{~}{p}(X)2.01+2\sqrt{1+X}+3\times 10^{17}X^310^{24}X^4.$$
(19)
As we will see, it appears to contain a number of problematic issues which on the face of it contradict what is stated in Ref. AMS1 . For example for some ranges of $`X`$ we see that it is possible to have $`\epsilon _\mathrm{k}<0`$, $`w_\mathrm{k}<1`$ and $`c_{\mathrm{sk}}^2<0`$. Moreover we find that $`c_{\mathrm{sk}}^2`$ and $`w_\mathrm{k}`$ diverge at $`X=X_c1.6\times 10^7`$ and $`X=X_w2.1\times 10^7`$ respectively. These properties are summarized in Table 1, where we have also introduced $`X_{}2.3\times 10^7`$ as the value of $`X`$ for which the sound speed vanishes. From Eqs. (7) and (8), this also corresponds to the value where the equation of state parameter $`w_\mathrm{k}=1`$.

In what follows we only analyze the dynamics for $`X<X_c`$, which corresponds to $`y>y_\mathrm{c}2.4\times 10^4`$, since in this case $`\epsilon _\mathrm{k}>0`$, $`w_\mathrm{k}>1`$ and $`c_{\mathrm{sk}}^2>0`$ and also the solution which “solves” the coincidence problem is in this region of the phase diagram.

Since our concern over the dependency on initial conditions really only relates to the period of radiation domination, we assume that the Universe is filled with radiation ($`w_\mathrm{f}=1/3`$). We have run simulations in order to determine the size of the basin of attraction of the tracker $`𝐑`$. In Fig. 1 we have plotted the phase diagram for the k-essence field during radiation domination. The solid and long-dashed lines are the limiting solutions which separate the different types of trajectories. The vertical dashed line is the singularity $`y=y_\mathrm{c}`$. As explained in section II, it can be divided in two parts: $`𝐒_+`$ (below $`𝐒_\mathrm{𝟎}`$) and $`𝐒_{}`$ (above $`𝐒_\mathrm{𝟎}`$). All the trajectories contained within the long-dashed line originate from the same point $`\mathrm{𝟎}`$ and the rest originate from segment $`𝐒_+`$. The solid lines separate the trajectories ending on $`𝐒_{}`$, the ones reaching the tracker solution $`𝐑`$ and the ones reaching the k-essence domination attractor $`𝐊`$. (Having a look at the trajectories plotted in Fig. 2 can be useful for understanding the dynamics, although this figure describes the model we study next.) As we can see, the basin of attraction of $`𝐑`$ (shaded region) is very small and most of the solutions reach $`𝐊`$. However as this is still during radiation domination, they reach the k-essence domination attractor too early (typically after about $`12`$ e-foldings, i.e. after an increase of the scale factor $`a(t)`$ by about a factor $`10^5`$) to be associated with the onset of matter–radiation equality and to be a candidate for dark energy. We also note that in a small region of the phase diagram the solutions cease to exist after a finite time as they reach $`𝐒_{}`$, the part of singularity $`y=y_\mathrm{c}`$ above $`𝐒_\mathrm{𝟎}`$.

Therefore, when analyzed in detail, this first model exhibits a rather different phase diagram structure from that sketched in Fig. 3 of Ref. AMS2  to generically describe models of class $`(\mathrm{B}_r)`$. Unfortunately a complete comparison is not possible as the precise equations used to generate that figure are not disclosed, so that we do not know to which k-essence model the figure corresponds (nor whether the model has an explicit lagrangian description or is only of a more phenomenological nature).

### IV.2 Model 2 (Ref. )

This second model is defined by

$$\stackrel{~}{p}(X)2.05+2\sqrt{1+f(X)},$$
(20)
where

$$\begin{array}{cc}\hfill f(X)& X10^8X^2+10^{12}X^310^{16}X^4\hfill \\ & +10^{20}X^510^{24}X^6/2^6.\hfill \end{array}$$
(21)
As in the previous example, this model is not always well defined. For $`X>X_{\mathrm{max}}6.3\times 10^5`$ we have $`1+f(X)<0`$ and therefore $`\stackrel{~}{p}(X)`$ becomes ill-defined. Moreover, for $`X<X_{\mathrm{max}}`$, this model has the same problems as those of the model we have analyzed above. As before, its properties are summarized in Table 1, where this time $`X_c3.9\times 10^5`$, $`X_w5.0\times 10^5`$ and $`X_{}5.3\times 10^5`$.

As in the first example, this is a model of type $`(\mathrm{B}_r)`$ and for $`y>y_\mathrm{c}1.6\times 10^3`$ its phase space has a similar structure to that shown in Fig. 1. In Fig. 2 we have plotted the basin of attraction of the tracker solution $`𝐑`$ during radiation domination for this second model. In order to help in understanding the dynamics a few trajectories have been added. Again, we see that for most of the initial conditions the field does not reach the tracker, but instead it reaches either an early k-essence domination solution $`𝐊`$ or the singularity on $`𝐒_{}`$. Therefore, this second model suffers the same fine-tuning as that of the first example.

## V Discussion

As introduced in Refs. AMS1 ; AMS2 , the idea of k-essence seems appealing. Current models of quintessence suffer in general because of the fine-tuning of the potential parameters to account for the fact that the field has only recently started dominating. K-essence was introduced as an extension of quintessence models by taking into account non-canonical kinetic terms. In a subclass of these models AMS1 ; AMS2  a tracker behaviour occurs during radiation domination, and a cosmological-constant-like behaviour shortly after the transition to matter domination. Since the k-essence field seems to change its behaviour generically for purely dynamical reasons, these models could be claimed to solve the coincidence problem without fine-tuning of the initial conditions. In that sense they are more natural than quintessence models which rely on a different, non-obvious, scale for the transition to occur.

In this short paper, we have addressed in a bit more detail the question over the nature of this attractor solution during radiation domination which is meant to avoid a fine-tuning of the initial conditions. We have numerically solved the evolution equations for the k-essence fields and written the results in terms of the physically motivated parameters $`y`$ and $`\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{k}`$, following Refs. AMS1 ; AMS2 . The key result we have found is that the basin of attraction for the tracker solution appears to be very small compared to the basin of attraction for the k-essence domination solution and therefore it cannot be seen as equivalent to that of quintessence models. In other words, for almost all initial conditions, the system would evolve rapidly into k-essence domination. It would have done so way before matter–radiation equality and in that sense, the required behaviour of k-essence can only hold for a specific subset of initial conditions. If these turn out to be an important set of conditions then k-essence can be thought of as providing an elegant way of obtaining the acceleration we see today. However, if there is no particular reason for choosing such initial conditions, then we believe that k-essence suffers from the same fine-tuning issues that plague quintessence models.

With regard to this issue, in Refs. AMS1 ; AMS2  the authors argue that the basin of attraction of the radiation attractor of the two models studied in this paper are compatible with equipartition. This particular initial condition may be the case should the k-essence or quintessence field be associated with one of the many fields produced at the end of a period of inflation. However, it need not be the case, and if it was not, equipartition would not help in choosing initial conditions. Indeed, equipartition is generally applied to systems where particle production occurs after the decay of the inflaton, whereas in the case of vacuum energy the initial condition may well have been set by early Universe physics (see for example Ref. ML ). In any case, both basins of attraction are so small that their main parts do not overlap and therefore there remains a fine-tuning issue even when assuming equipartition.

We have also shown that the models proposed so far feature a singularity associated with a diverging sound speed. This leads to problems like the sudden disappearance of some field trajectories. The presence of this singularity could be avoided by adding an extra term to the functions given by Eqs. (19) and (21), but our attempts to do so have led to the creation of a second radiation attractor which goes against the goal of having a model for which the late-time behaviour is independent of the initial conditions. Another way of solving this problem would be to argue that the theory is valid up to a certain cut-off which excludes the singularity, but as long as the radiation tracker is very close to the singularity this argument cannot be applied.

In this paper we have dealt with the specific lagrangians given in Refs. AMS1 ; AMS2  at face value. Those lagrangians have a complicated form which is not appealing, and it is disappointing that so far it has not proved possible to produce much simpler models, as one would expect to be able to if the desired triggering behaviour really is generic to k-essence. The particular nature of the models makes it hard to assess how difficult it is to build a working example, for instance quite how much fine-tuning is required to establish the time needed between matter–radiation equality and k-essence domination, and how easily one can avoid the presence of many different attractors during radiation domination. Unfortunately, we are not aware of any particular particle physics motivated models which would deliver the lagrangians of the two models, and, as with quintessence, we believe that a realistic model of k-essence remains a challenge which has to be met.

###### Acknowledgements.

M.M. was supported by the Fondation Barbour, the Fondation Wilsdorf, the Janggen-Pöhn-Stiftung and the ORS Awards Scheme, and A.R.L. in part by the Leverhulme Trust. We thank Mark Trodden for many discussions relating to k-essence.


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# Microscopic calculation of the spin-dependent neutron scattering lengths on ^"3"He

## Introduction

The scattering length is an easy way to compare low energy scattering data with calculations. Recently the spin-dependent scattering lengths for neutrons on tritons were calculated Viviani et al. (1998) with the correlated hyperspherical harmonics technique. The calculations displayed a weak dependence on the various nucleon-nucleon (NN) and three-nucleon (NNN) potentials used. Afterwards an resonating group model (RGM) calculation gave for a modest model space for the triton Pfitzinger et al. (2001) very close results for the Argonne $`v_{18}`$ (AV18) Wiringa et al. (1995) and AV18 + Urbana IX (UIX) Pudliner et al. (1997) potentials. Neutron scattering on 3He is much more difficult to handle. Since at the n-3He threshold the charge exchange channel is already open by about 700keV, the neutron absorption cross section is much higher than the elastic one for low energies. Therefore the scattering lengths become complex. The imaginary parts are rather well determined from the experiments by Als-Nielsen and Dietrich (1964). The real parts of the spin-dependent neutron scattering lengths of 3He were recently measured Zimmer et al. (2002) with much higher precision than before Kohlrausch (1996). These new results could only be compared to rather old theoretical approaches. Almost 30 years ago Kharchenko and Lebashew Kharchenko and Lebashev (1976) calculated the real parts of the scattering lengths $`a_0`$ = 7.52 fm and $`a_1`$ = 3.07 fm, neglecting the Coulomb force and using a simple separable S-wave potential. Sears and Khanna Sears and Khanna (1976) gave a Breit-Wigner estimate of the same values.

We organize the paper in the following way: The next section contains a brief discussion of the Resonating Group Model (RGM) calculation and the model spaces used. Then we compare $`R`$-matrix and RGM results of the neutron scattering length for various interactions with the data and discuss the effect of NNN-forces.

## I RGM and model space

We use the Resonating Group Model Hofmann (1987); Wildermuth and Tang (1977); Tang (1981) to compute the scattering in the 4He system using the Kohn-Hulthén variational principle Kohn (1948). The main technical problem is the evaluation of the many-body matrix elements in coordinate space. The restriction to a Gaussian basis for the radial dependencies of the wave function allows for a fast and efficient calculation of the individual matrix elements Hofmann (1987); Tang (1981). However, to use these techniques the potentials must also be given in terms of Gaussians. In this work we use suitably parametrized versions of the AV18 Wiringa et al. (1995) $`NN`$ potential and the UIX Pudliner et al. (1997) and $`V_3^{}`$ proposed in Canton and Schadow (2000) and used in Pfitzinger et al. (2001) $`NNN`$ potentials.

In the 4He system we use a model space with six two-fragment channels, namely the $`p^3`$H, the $`n^3`$He, the $`d^2`$H, the $`d^2`$H(S=0), the d -resonance, the d -\- d -and the $`(pp)(nn)`$ channels. The last three are an approximation to the three- and four-body breakup channels that cannot in practice be treated within the RGM. The 4He is treated as four clusters in the framework of the RGM to allow for the required internal orbital angular momenta of 3H, 3He or 2H.

For the scattering calculation we include all $`S`$, $`P`$ and $`D`$ wave contributions to the $`J^\pi =0^+,1^+,2^+,0^{},1^{}\text{ and }2^{}`$ channels. From the $`R`$-matrix analysis these channels are known to reproduce the low-energy experimental data. The full wave function for these channels contains over 100 different spin and orbital angular momentum configurations, hence it is too complicated to be given in detail. We started with the 29 - dimensional model space for 3H/3He as described in Pfitzinger et al. (2001), increased it to dimension 35 by adding components to the wave function with two $`D`$ \- waves on the internal coordinates of the triton, optimized for AV18 and UIX together. By this modest increase of the model space, we gained 650 keV binding energy. Since this change in model space resulted in noticable effects on observables Hofmann and Hale (2002) we aimed at an almost converged model space. Using a genetic algorithm Winkler and Hofmann (1997) for AV18 and UIX together allowing for $`S`$, $`P`$ and $`D`$ waves on all internal coordinates we found a triton binding energy of -8.460 MeV for dimension 70. This result compares favourably with the numerically exact one of Nogga Nogga et al. (2000) of -8.478 MeV. Since the Gaussian width parameters were optimized for $`NN`$ and $`NNN`$ \- interaction together, the agreement for the AV18 alone is only -7.57 MeV, compared to the exact one of -7.62 MeV. For the deuteron we used 5 width parameters for the S-wave and 3 for the D-wave, yielding -2.213 MeV, just 10 keV short of the experimental value. The binding energies and relative thresholds for the various potentials are given in table 1. For $`NN`$ and $`NNN`$ together the experimental binding energies and thresholds are very well reproduced.

This representation of 3H/3He , deuteron and the unbound $`NN`$ systems form the model space of the 4He scattering system. We get for the different $`J^\pi `$ values 5 to 10 physical channels, insufficient to find reasonable results. So-called distortion or pseudo-inelastic channels Tang (1981) without an asymptotic part have to be added to improve the description of the wave function within the interaction region. For this purpose all the configurations calculated for the physical channels but one per channel can be reused, keeping only those width parameters which describe the internal region. Recently Fonseca Fonseca (1999) pointed out that states having a negative parity $`J_3^{}`$ in the three-nucleon fragment increase the $`n^3`$H cross section noteably. Contrary to the neutron-triton system we found in the 4He system in the preliminary small model space calculations that the inclusion of such distortion states gave minor effects compared to adding UIX. Therefore in the converged calculation we did not allow for such states, in order to save computational resources, as we had anyhow to deal with sometimes more than a thousand channels.

## II R-matrix analysis

The charge-independent R-matrix analysis of the 4He system from which the $`n+^3`$He scattering lengths are obtained in this paper is similar to the one described in Section 3 of our previous publication Hofmann and Hale (1997). The isospin-1 R-matrix parameters were determined separately from an analysis of p+3He scattering data, checked by limited comparisons with $`n+^3`$H data, and used essentially fixed in the analysis of the 4He system data in which the isospin-0 parameters were allowed to vary. New data have been added in most of the reactions, but those relevant for determining the $`n+^3`$He scattering lengths include the neutron total cross sections of refs. Als-Nielsen and Dietrich (1964); Physics and Groups (1959); Haesner et al. (1983); Keith and Snow (2003), the elastic scattering cross sections of Alfimenkov et al. (1981), and the $`t(p,n)`$ reaction cross-section measurements of Gibbons and Macklin (1959); Brune et al. (1999). Charge independence relates the reduced-width amplitudes in the $`p+t`$ and $`n+^3`$He channels, imposing additional constraints on the neutron scattering lengths from the $`p+t`$ scattering data at proton energies near 1 MeV.

## III Determination of the scattering length

The standard approach to the scattering length starts from the partial wave expansion of the scattering amplitude

$$f(\mathrm{\Theta })=\frac{1}{2ik}\underset{\mathrm{}=0}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}(2\mathrm{}+1)(\mathrm{exp}(2i\delta _{\mathrm{}})1)P_{\mathrm{}}(\mathrm{cos}\mathrm{\Theta })$$
(1)
with $`k`$ the neutron wave-vector. For thermal neutrons only the S-wave survives so that

$$f(\mathrm{\Theta })=\frac{1}{2ik}(\mathrm{exp}(2i\delta _0)1)=\frac{1}{2ik}(S_01)=(k\mathrm{cot}\delta _0ik)^1$$
(2)
Since $`\delta _0`$ is an odd function of $`k`$, one can expand

$$k\mathrm{cot}\delta _0=1/a+1/2r_ek^2+O(k^4)$$
(3)
in which $`a`$ is the scattering length and $`r_e`$ the effective range parameter. Suppressing from now on the subscript on $`\delta _0`$, we obtain in lowest order that $`a=\mathrm{tan}\delta /k`$.

For neutron - 3He scattering the proton - triton channel is already open, with a large neutron absorption cross section; hence, $`a`$ has to be complex. For thermal neutron scattering ($`ka1`$), the total scattering and absorption cross section are given (for example in ref. Sears (1984)) by $`\sigma _s=4\pi |a|^2`$ and $`\sigma _a=4\pi a^{\prime \prime }/k`$ with $`a^{\prime \prime }`$ the negative imaginary part of $`a`$. Unfortunately, due to numerical limitations, the RGM approach cannot be used at energies low enough that terms of order $`ka`$ can be neglected, and the expressions above need to be modified. Neglecting the effective range and higher order contributions in eq. (3), we can write eq. (2) as

$$(S1)/(2ik)=(1/aik)^1.$$
(4)
Solving for $`a`$ we find $`a=(1S)/(1+S)/(ik)`$ from which the real and imaginary part can be easily evaluated as

$$\mathrm{}a=\frac{|S|\mathrm{sin}(2\delta )}{2k}\frac{1}{4(1|S|)^2+|S|\mathrm{cos}^2\delta }$$
(5)
and

$$\mathrm{}a=\frac{(|S|^21)/k}{4(1|S|)^2+|S|\mathrm{cos}^2\delta }$$
(6)
Note that for $`|S|`$ = 1 the above expressions go to $`\mathrm{tan}\delta /k`$ and zero, respectively, as they should. In the case of the R-matrix analysis, however, the scattering lengths are obtained directly from the zero-energy limit of eq. (4),

$$a=\underset{k0}{lim}\frac{1S}{2ik}.$$
(7)
Before we discuss the calculation of the scattering length in the actual case, let us first compare the standard neutron cross section 3He(n,p)3H. In fig. 1 the evaluated standard cross section Carlson et al. (1983) is compared to various calculations. This standard total neutron cross section is a bit over-predicted by the AV18 NN-force alone, a bit on the lower side for AV18 + UIX and severly under-predicted by AV18 + Urbana IX + $`V_3^{}`$, see fig. 1. At the lowest energy calculated the S-matrix elements are used to determine the scattering lengths according to eq. (5) and (6).

For n - 3He scattering S-waves occur as singlet in $`J^\pi =0^+`$ and as triplet in the $`J^\pi =1^+`$ channels. At low neutron energies the $`0^+`$ channel is dominated by the well known resonance Tilley et al. (1992), leading to a strong coupling between the two charge conjugate channels. At 5 keV neutron energy this coupling S-matrix element is about 0.5, the triplet and the P-wave $`0^{}`$ ones are about a factor 20 smaller, all others at least another order of magnitude smaller, except for the $`{}_{}{}^{1}\mathrm{P}_{1}^{}`$ matrix element,which is only another factor of 4 smaller. Therefore we can for every $`J^\pi `$ consider only a two-channel S-matrix. We calculated according to eqs. (5) and (6) the real and imaginary parts of $`a_0`$ and $`a_1`$ for various potentials. In table 2 the results are compared to data and the results of the R-matrix analysis.

The numbers in brackets on the calculated values indicate the uncertainty of the scattering lengths, due to higher order effects. We calculate $`a`$ for a center-of-mass energy $`E_0`$ of a few keV. Since for this energy $`ka`$ is of the order of a few percent, higher order contributions might yield changes in $`a`$ also of this order. By calculating $`a`$ also at $`E_0`$ +5 keV and $`E_0`$ +10 keV we estimate the uncertainty.

The real parts of $`a`$ agree within 5 percent with the data and are rather insensitive to the changes in the potentials. The imaginary parts are very sensitive to these changes, so they are means to learn about the $`NNN`$-forces. Comparing the table of scattering lengths with the standard neutron cross section we find the clear relation, that the imaginary parts of $`a_0`$ just mirror the ratio of calculated versus evaluated cross sections. When the curve in fig. 1 is above the data, also the scattering length is larger than the data and vice versa. Since we are always dealing with effective two channel systems, unitarity relates $`\mathrm{}a`$ to the coupling matrix element squared, hence, the $`NNN`$-interaction reduces this coupling appreciably. Since the 3N-bound states are rather dense, a possible conclusion might be that the short range repulsion in UIX is too strong and also the longer range attraction, which can be seen in the $`{}_{}{}^{1}S_{0}^{}`$ proton-triton phase shifts being too attractive for AV18 + UIX, see ref. Hofmann and Hale (2002), thus indicating that the radial dependence of attraction and repulsion should be changed.

###### Acknowledgements.

This work is supported by the BMBF (contract 06ER926) and used resources at several computer centers (RRZE Erlangen, SSC Karlsruhe and HLRB München). We want to thank G. Wellein and G. Hager at the RRZE for their help. The U. S. Department of Energy supported the work of G. M. H. on this study.


text:
# Tipping the balances of a small world

## Acknowledgments

Acknowledgments: I would like to thank N. D. Antunes, J.-P. Bouchaud, D. Kaiser, L. M. Rocha and B. Svetitsky for useful discussions. This work is supported in part by the Department of Energy under cooperative research agreement $`\mathrm{\#}`$DF-FC02-94ER40818.


text:
# Multi-frequency polarimetry of the Galactic radio background around 350 MHz: II. A region in Horologium around l = 137°, b = 7°

## 1 Introduction

Observation of the diffuse polarized background of our Galaxy at radio frequencies provides a unique way to observe features in the ISM that are otherwise invisible. In this paper we report and analyze the detection in radio polarization of a remarkable circular structure with a radius of $`1.4\mathrm{°}`$. The observed radiation is synchrotron radiation, originating from relativistic cosmic ray electrons in interaction with the Galactic magnetic field. The linearly polarized component of the synchrotron radiation is modulated by several mechanisms, among which Faraday rotation, viz. the birefringence of left- and right-handed circularly polarized radiation in a medium which contains a magnetic field and free electrons. For linear polarization, this results in a rotation of the angle of polarization $`\varphi `$ in passage through a magneto-ionized medium. This rotation is proportional to the square of the wavelength where the proportionality constant is the rotation measure ($`RM`$). The $`RM`$ depends on the magnetic field component parallel to the line of sight $`B_{}`$, weighted by the thermal electron density $`n_e`$, integrated over the line of sight. Thus multi-wavelength observations of linear polarization yield directly the electron-density-weighted value of the interstellar magnetic field.

The circular structure we have observed at $`(l,b)(137\mathrm{°},7\mathrm{°})`$ in the constellation Horologium is located in the middle of a region of very high polarization extending over many degrees as described by e.g. Brouw & Spoelstra (1976).

Bingham & Shakeshaft (1967) were the first to observe the circular structure in this region in a map of $`RM`$ that they constructed from surveys by Berkhuijsen et al. (1963, 1964) at 408 MHz and 610 MHz, by Wielebinski & Shakeshaft (1964) at 408 MHz and by Bingham (1966) at 1407 MHz. The $`RM`$ map of Bingham & Shakeshaft shows a circular structure of about the size of their beam ($`2\mathrm{°}`$) where $`RM5`$ rad m-2, in a region where $`RM`$s are $`1`$ rad m-2 $`RM0`$ rad m-2. Verschuur (1968) reobserved this region at higher angular resolution ($``$ 40′) with the 250ft MkI telescope at Jodrell Bank at 408 MHz. Verschuur found that it is a ring-like structure of low polarized intensity (50% less than in its surroundings) with a radius of a few degrees, and with a small region (about one beam) of almost zero polarization at the southwestern edge of the ring. Verschuur suggests that the region is connected to the B2Ve star HD20336 which is located close to the center of the ring.

In a later paper, Verschuur (1969) presents H i measurements obtained with the 300ft Green Bank telescope which show an deficiency in H i along the trajectory of the star HD20336. He explains this by assuming the star is moving through the neutral medium, expelling the H i and ionizing the remaining small fraction of neutral material. He does not mention the ring-like structure.

The ring-like structure, which is mainly visible in Stokes $`Q`$ and $`U`$ and in polarization angle, was noticed in polarization maps produced as a by-product of the Westerbork Northern Sky Survey (WENSS, Rengelink et al. 1997, Schnitzeler et al. 2003). In 1995/1996, the region was reobserved with the Westerbork Synthesis Radio Telescope (WSRT) at 8 frequencies by T. Spoelstra, who kindly allowed us to analyze his observations.

In Sect. 2, we discuss the observations, while in Sect. 3 the observational results are given. Section 4 presents some observed properties of the ring-like structure, that are subsequently interpreted in Sect. 5. Possible connections of the ring structure to other observed features in the Galaxy are presented in Sect. 6. In Sect. 7, the ring is described as a magnetic structure. In Sect. 8, we discuss remarkable structure in the field unrelated to the ring, and Sect. 9 presents our conclusions.

## 2 The observations

The Westerbork Synthesis Radio Telescope (WSRT) was used to observe an area of approximately $`7\mathrm{°}\times 7\mathrm{°}`$, centered around $`(l,b)(137\mathrm{°},7\mathrm{°})`$ in the constellation of Horologium. Data were taken in 8 frequency bands simultaneously, each with a band width of 5 MHz, but 3 frequency bands contain no usable data due to radio interference. The 5 bands which contain good data are centered at 341 MHz, 349 MHz, 355 MHz, 360 MHz, and 375 MHz. The maximum resolution of the WSRT array is $``$ 1′, but the data were smoothed using a Gaussian taper to obtain a 5.0′$`\times `$5.0′ cosec $`\delta =5.0\mathrm{}\times 5.5\mathrm{}`$ resolution. The derived maps of linearly polarized intensities Stokes $`Q`$ and $`U`$ were used to compute the polarized intensity $`P`$ and polarization angle $`\varphi `$. The noise in Stokes $`Q`$ and $`U`$ was derived from the rms signal in (empty) Stokes $`V`$ maps at 5.0′ resolution and was $`\sigma `$ 5 mJy/beam for all bands, see Table 1. The computation of the average polarized intensity from $`Q`$ and $`U`$ is biased because $`P`$ is a positive definite quantity. It can be debiased to first order as $`P_{debias}=\sqrt{(Q_{obs}^2+U_{obs}^2)\sigma ^2}`$ (for $`P>\sigma `$). Here, $`P`$ generally has a S/N $`>45`$, for which the debiasing does not alter the data by more than 2 - 3%. Therefore, no debiasing was applied.

To obtain a large field of view, and to reduce off-axis instrumental polarization, the mosaicking technique was used. The telescope cycled through a grid of pointing positions during the 12hr observation, integrating 50 seconds per pointing, so that every pointing position was observed many times per 12hr period. The mosaic was constructed from $`5\times 5`$ pointings, where the distance between the pointing centers is 1.25°. The edges of the mosaic far away from any pointing center display high instrumental polarization, and these were not used in the analysis.

The data were reduced with the newstar reduction package, using the unpolarized calibrator sources 3C48, 3C147 and 3C286, and the polarized calibrators 3C345 and 3C303. The absolute flux scale at 325 MHz is based on a flux density of 26.93 Jy for 3C286 (Baars et al. 1977). For details on the data reduction procedure, see Haverkorn (2002).

To avoid radio interference from the Sun, the observations were taken mostly or completely at night, as shown in Table 1. Because the observations were done in winter, and during a solar minimum, the total electron content (TEC) of the ionosphere is low. These observing conditions minimize the ionospheric Faraday rotation. We can estimate the $`RM`$ contribution of the ionosphere from the TEC of the ionosphere and the earth magnetic field. The TEC of the ionosphere above Westerbork at night, in a solar minimum, and in winter is minimal: TEC $`\mathrm{2.2\hspace{0.33em}10}^{16}`$ electrons cm-2 (Campbell, private communication). Assuming a vertical component of the earth magnetic field of 4.5 G down wards, and a path length through the ionosphere of 300 km, the $`RM`$ caused by the ionosphere is –0.25 rad m-2 at hour angle zero. At larger hour angles, this is even less. So we expect the rotation measure values given in this paper not to be affected by ionospheric Faraday rotation by more than 0.5 rad m-2.

### 2.1 Missing large scale structure

An interferometer is insensitive to structure on large angular scales due to missing short spacings. The smallest baseline attainable with the WSRT of 36m means that scales above approximately a degree are attenuated sufficiently as to be undetectable. The $`Q`$ and $`U`$ maps are constructed so that in each mosaic pointing, the map integrals of $`Q`$ and $`U`$ are zero. This leads to missing large-scale components in $`Q`$ and $`U`$, and therefore erroneous determinations of $`P`$, $`\varphi `$ and $`RM`$. However, if the variation in $`RM`$ is large enough within one pointing, the variation in polarization angle is so large that the average $`Q`$ and $`U`$ are close to zero. In this case, missing large-scale components are negligible.

In the field of observation discussed here, $`\sigma _{\mathrm{RM}}`$ $`>1.8`$ rad m-2 in most pointings, which means that in these pointings missing large-scale components cannot account to more than a few percent of the small-scale signal. The 25 pointing centers are shown in Fig. 1. In four pointings $`\sigma _{\mathrm{RM}}`$ $`1.8`$ rad m-2, which means that offsets could amount to 15 - 30% of the signal. These pointings are numbers 9, 10, 12 and 24, and the $`\sigma _{\mathrm{RM}}`$ in those pointings are $``$ 1.6, $``$ 1.7, $``$ 1.7 and $``$ 1.3 respectively. All $`\sigma _{\mathrm{RM}}`$ are computed only at positions where $`P>20`$ mJy/beam and reduced $`\chi ^2`$ of the linear $`\varphi (\lambda ^2)`$-relation $`\chi _{red}^2<2`$ (see Sect. 3.5). So, care must be exercised in interpreting the polarization data from these pointing centers. On the other hand, polarization angles show a linear variation over frequency in a large part of the data, yielding good $`RM`$ determinations, which would not be possible if large-scale offsets dominate. See Haverkorn et al. (2003a) for an extended discussion of this point.

## 3 Observational results

### 3.1 Stokes $`Q`$ and $`U`$

The observed Stokes $`Q`$ and $`U`$ intensities at the 5′ resolution are shown in Fig. 2. The distributions of $`Q`$ and $`U`$ values in the field are approximately Gaussian, centered around zero, and have a width of 20 to 25 mJy/beam (equivalent to polarized brightness temperatures $`T_{b,pol}`$ of 2.9 - 3.7 K) for the five frequencies. The ring structure is clearly visible in $`Q`$ and $`U`$. To emphasize the perfect circularity of the ring, a circle of radius 1.44° and centered on $`(\alpha ,\delta )=(48.05\mathrm{°},65.73\mathrm{°})`$, which was fitted by eye to the ring-like structure in $`Q`$ and $`U`$, is superimposed in both maps.

### 3.2 Polarized intensity $`P`$

The maps of polarized intensity $`P`$ derived from the Stokes $`Q`$ and $`U`$ maps are shown in Fig. 3 for all 5 frequencies. White denotes the highest intensity, and intensities above 110 mJy/beam (equal to $`T_{b,pol}=16`$ K) are saturated. The maximum intensities in the 5 frequency bands are 141, 122, 107, 120, and 143 mJy/beam, respectively. Superimposed are lines of constant Galactic latitude $`b=`$3°, 5°, 7°, 9°, and 11°, and the superimposed circle is the same as the one in Fig. 2. Several regions of different topology of polarized intensity are present in the field:

1. The most conspicuous feature is the ring in the center of the field. Although it is not as distinct as in polarization angle and Stokes $`Q`$ and $`U`$, the ring is still clearly visible in $`P`$ over most of its circumference. Only in the southwest, the ring is not well defined. At 375 MHz, the ring seems to be more blurred than at the other frequencies.
2. A linear structure of high polarized intensity extends from the center of the ring towards the northwest, and is approximately aligned with Galactic latitude. We discuss this elongated structure of high $`P`$ in Sect. 8.1.
3. The southwestern corner of the field shows a filamentary pattern of “canals” of low $`P`$ running from southeast to northwest, approximately along lines of constant Galactic latitude, that are remarkably straight over many degrees and always one beam width wide. This pattern is also visible in angle (Fig. 4) and Stokes $`Q`$ and $`U`$ (Fig. 2). The southwestern part of the ring appears deformed in the direction of the filaments, but this deformation can be caused by averaging over the line of sight, so that the ring and filaments are not necessarily located at the same distance. Across the canals, there is an angle difference of 90° (or 270°, 450° etc.).

### 3.3 Total intensity $`I`$

In the lower right plot of Fig. 3 a map of total intensity $`I`$ at 349 MHz is shown, from which point sources $`>5`$ mJy/beam are removed. The map has the same resolution of 5.0′$`\times `$5.5′ and the same brightness scaling as the $`P`$ maps in the other panels of the same figure.

No structure in total intensity $`I`$ is visible, although there is abundant structure in polarization. The circular structure in the upper left corner of the $`I`$ map is artificial and caused by a very bright unpolarized extragalactic source at that position. As an interferometer acts as a high-pass filter, the map integral $`I`$ over the field is set to zero by lack of information about its true level. From the single dish survey of Haslam et al. (1981, 1982) at 408 MHz, the total brightness temperature at 408 MHz at this position is approximately 44.5 K with a temperature uncertainty of $``$ 10% and including 2.7 K from the cosmic microwave background. To obtain the brightness temperature of the diffuse emission at 350 MHz, the contribution of 2.7 K from the CMBR is subtracted, as well as the contribution of 25% from discrete sources, derived from source counts (Bridle et al. 1972), assuming the spectral index of the Galactic background and the extragalactic sources to be identical. The intensities from the Haslam survey were scaled to our frequencies with a temperature spectral index of $``$2.7. We thus estimate the total brightness temperature at $``$ 350 MHz to be 47 K. The apparent degree of polarization $`p`$ ($`=P/I`$) is mostly above 100%. This indicates that $`I`$ is uniform on the scales that the WSRT is sensitive to, and therefore the measured $`I`$ is close to zero. Small-scale structure in polarization due to Faraday rotation and depolarization causes higher $`P`$ than $`I`$, resulting in $`p>100`$%.

### 3.4 Polarization angle

In Fig. 4 we show a grey scale plot of polarization angle in the Horologium region at 349 MHz. The range in angle is \[–90°, 90°\], so that white denotes the same angle as black. The ring-like structure is well visible, and is close to circular everywhere except on the southwestern side.

The variation of polarization angle across the ring is shown in Fig. 5, where the grey scale is $`P`$ at a frequency of 349 MHz and the polarization (pseudo-)vectors are superimposed. The length of the vectors is proportional to $`P`$. The superimposed contours are contours of polarization angle, and the circle is the same circle as in Fig. 2. The polarization angle is almost perfectly constant over the surface of the ring, and only disturbed in the southwest.

### 3.5 Rotation measure

Rotation measures were calculated by linearly fitting the observed polarization angle $`\varphi `$ as a function of $`\lambda ^2`$. The polarization vectors have an $`n180\mathrm{°}`$ ambiguity, but the derived rotation measures are so small that this ambiguity does not play a rôle in our observations: $`|RM|10`$ rad m-2, which means an angle change over the full frequency range of 341 MHz to 375 MHz $`\mathrm{\Delta }\varphi 75\mathrm{°}`$. Therefore, we calculate the $`RM`$ values straightforwardly with angle differences minimized.

There are various mechanisms that can destroy the linear relation between $`\varphi `$ and $`\lambda ^2`$ and make $`RM`$ determination unreliable, such as depolarization (see Sect. 5) and the insensitivity to large-scale structure (see Sect. 2.1). We have only taken into account those $`RM`$ values for which the linear $`\varphi (\lambda ^2)`$-relation has reduced $`\chi ^2<2`$ and where the polarized intensity averaged over all wavelengths $`P>20`$ mJy/beam ($``$$`\sigma `$). About 62% of the polarized intensity data has $`P>20`$ mJy/beam, and approximately 29% of these data (i.e. $``$ 18% of he total) also has a reduced $`\chi ^2<2`$. The resulting $`RM`$ map is given in Fig. 6. The circles denote valid $`RM`$ values according to the above definition, where the diameter of the circle is proportional to the magnitude of the $`RM`$. Filled circles denote positive rotation measures. For clarity, only one out of two independent beams in both directions is shown.

In the area enclosed by the ring all the $`RM`$s are negative, decreasing towards the center of the ring to $`RM8`$ rad m-2. Further away from the center of the ring, $`RM`$s increase up to a positive $`RM`$ of a few rad m-2 at the edges of the field. These values are in agreement with earlier measurements at lower resolution. In rotation measure maps produced by Bingham & Shakeshaft (1967) and by Spoelstra (1984), $`|RM|3`$ rad m-2 outside the ring. They presented values of $`RM`$ inside the ring of $`RM<5`$ rad m-2 and $`RM<3`$ rad m-2, respectively.

### 3.6 Extragalactic sources

Twelve polarized extragalactic sources were detected in the field. The properties of the extragalactic sources were measured in maps with a resolution of 1′. All selected sources have a polarized intensity greater than 4 mJy/beam in each frequency band (the noise in the 1′ resolution data is about 1 mJy/beam) and a degree of polarization greater than 1%. Near the outer edge of the outermost pointing centers, instrumental polarization increases considerably, and sources in that region were excluded. The characteristics of the polarized extragalactic sources are shown in Table 2, the $`\varphi (\lambda ^2)`$-fits in Fig. 7, and the positions of the sources in Fig. 8.

The brightest polarized source in the field with high polarization is the giant double lobed radio galaxy WNB 0313+683 at $`(\alpha ,\delta )=(3^h13^m,68\mathrm{°}20^m)`$ (Schoenmakers et al. 1998). In our analysis this extended source was detected in four separate maxima, viz. sources 5, 6, 7, and 8, all located at approximately the same position in Fig. 8. The high resolution measurements of Schoenmakers et al. (15′′ in the $`RM`$ map) show an average $`RM`$ = $``$10.64 rad m-2, which they argue is Galactic, and a residual $`RM`$ of about 2 rad m-2 in each of the lobes. In our 1′ resolution observations at 350 MHz, this would result in a variation in polarization angle within the beam. Depolarization due to this variation in polarization angle can destroy the linear relation between $`\varphi `$ and $`\lambda ^2`$ and result in the relatively high $`\chi ^2`$ values in sources 5 and 8.

Source no. 3 is the only source with a positive $`RM`$, which is derived from a good fit with $`\chi _{red}^2=0.84`$. As a check, taking into account the $`n\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}180}\mathrm{°}`$ ambiguity could not yield a $`RM`$ value closer to that of the other sources. The next best fit has $`\chi _{red}^2=220`$, so $`RM`$ = 1.6 rad m-2 is indeed the only acceptable $`RM`$ determination for this source.

## 4 Observed properties of the ring-like structure

The northeastern half of the ring is very regular in polarized intensity, polarization angle and $`RM`$, whereas the southwestern part appears to be influenced by the linear structure aligned with Galactic latitude. Therefore, in analyzing the ring structure, we study azimuthal averages of $`P`$, $`\varphi `$ and $`RM`$ over position angles (N through E) $`20\mathrm{°}<\theta <135`$°, i.e. the undisturbed part of the ring. The azimuthal averages are centered on $`(\alpha ,\delta )=(3^h12.2^m,65\mathrm{°}44^m)`$, which is the center of the ring superimposed in Fig. 2.

In Fig. 9, we show the azimuthal averages of $`I`$, $`P`$, $`RM`$ and $`\varphi `$. The top panel shows $`P`$ and $`I`$ at 5 frequencies. The peak in $`P`$ at a radius of about 1.4° coincides with the position of the ring. The polarized brightness temperature $`T_{b,pol}`$ at that radius is approximately 8 K, $`T_{b,pol}`$ inside the ring is about 3.8 K, and outside the ring about 3 K. The total intensity $`I`$ is completely uncorrelated with $`P`$, and hardly exceeds the noise. Note that the position and width of the peak in $`P`$ is frequency-independent, while inside the ring the $`P`$ distribution does vary with frequency.

The middle panel in Fig. 9 shows the weighted azimuthal average of the polarization angle plotted as a function of radius, again at 5 frequencies. The angles in each bin were chosen as close as possible ($`\pm `$ n180°) to the mean angle value of the bin. Then, the mean value was recalculated and the procedure was repeated until the mean angle converged to a single value. The error bars indicate standard deviations of the angle distribution, given for independent beams only in the 341 MHz frequency band. The angle gradient is remarkably linear between a radius of 0.6° and 1.7°, with some structure at a radius of $``$ 1°. Whereas $`P`$ has a maximum at $``$ 1.4°, the linear increase of polarization angle with radius continues to at least 1.7°. This indicates that the structure or feature responsible for the ring in $`P`$ may be actually larger than the apparent size of the ring.

The bottom panel gives the azimuthally averaged observed $`RM`$ (only values with $`\chi _{red}^2<2`$ and $`P>20`$ mJy/beam) and the standard deviations of the distribution of $`RM`$ over each interval. The $`RM`$ does not vary much over the region at which the peak in $`P`$ occurs. At radii larger than 1.7°, the $`RM`$ is slightly positive: $`0RM2`$ rad m-2. At smaller radii, $`RM`$ is negative, decreasing to $`RM8`$ rad m-2 in the center, with a small increase around a radius $`r=0.7`$°. This disk of negative $`RM`$ in an environment of positive $`RM`$ is also observed in earlier studies (Bingham & Shakeshaft 1967, Spoelstra 1984). Although the general shape of the $`RM`$ curve corresponds well to the shape of the polarization angle curve, the shapes are different in detail, which we attribute to an imperfect linear relation between $`\varphi `$ and $`\lambda ^2`$.

The observations in $`I`$, $`P`$, $`\varphi `$ and $`RM`$ impose stringent constraints on the nature of the ring. The distribution of $`RM`$ provides the strongest constraint: $`RM`$ is positive outside the ring, negative inside and the most negative at the center. The positive $`RM`$ at large radii from the center of the ring is not necessarily connected to the ring, but could also denote a background magnetic field, of which the parallel component is directed towards the observer. Although $`RM`$ structure is created by a combination of structure in thermal electron density and magnetic field, a change in sign of $`RM`$ always indicates a reversal of the parallel component of the magnetic field. So the magnetic field configuration that causes the ring must reverse direction from outside to inside the ring, and the magnetic field and/or electron density has to be the highest at the center. Furthermore, the lack of correlated $`I`$-structure implies that the ring in $`P`$ cannot have been produced by emission. In the next section, we first discuss what processes can cause the observed distributions of $`P`$, $`\varphi `$ and $`RM`$ in the ring. Subsequently, we shall describe in Sect. 6 some known structures and objects in the ISM, and discuss whether these are related to the ring structure.

## 5 The nature of the ring in $`P`$, $`\varphi `$ and $`RM`$

From comparison of the $`I`$ and $`P`$ maps in Fig. 9, it is clear that the structure in $`P`$ cannot, even in part, be caused by structure in $`I`$. Structure in $`P`$ can also be created by missing large-scale structure in $`Q`$ and/or $`U`$, but in Sect. 2.1 we have shown that in these observations missing large-scale structure cannot dominate. Therefore, the ring in $`P`$ is most likely due to a lack of depolarization. Several depolarization mechanisms can contribute to create the ring in $`P`$. We shall discuss briefly the different depolarization mechanisms thought to be of importance (for details see Haverkorn et al. 2003a,b).

### 5.1 Depth depolarization

Depth depolarization is defined as all depolarization processes occurring along the line of sight and can be due to different physical processes. First, if the magnetic field in a synchrotron emitting medium has small-scale structure, then the emitted (intrinsic) polarization angle of the synchrotron radiation will vary along the line of sight, causing wavelength independent depolarization. Secondly, if the medium also contains thermal electrons, the polarization angle of the radiation will be modulated by Faraday rotation as well, which causes additional depolarization (internal Faraday dispersion). So small-scale structure in (parallel) magnetic field and/or thermal electron density within the synchrotron emitting medium causes small-scale depolarization. These processes were described analytically by Sokoloff et al. (1998) for several different geometries of the medium, and numerically in Haverkorn et al. (2003b) using observational constraints.

We modeled the effect of depth depolarization in the observations of the ring-structure using simple distributions of electron density $`n_e`$ and magnetic field $`B`$ on a rectangular grid. These distributions are not self-consistent, but the only goal of this simple model is to obtain a $`P`$ and $`\varphi `$ distribution that is similar to the observations, i.e. approximately linear in $`\varphi `$ and ring-like in $`P`$. Synchrotron radiation of emissivity $`\epsilon B_{}^2`$ is emitted in the regions where $`B_{}`$ is non-zero, and is Faraday-rotated while propagating through the medium, depending on the local $`B_{}`$ and $`n_e`$ distributions. Furthermore, a polarized background contribution $`P_b`$ is added, which is also Faraday-rotated. Both magnetic field components, parallel and perpendicular to the line of sight, and the electron density distribution were assumed to decrease as a power law outwards. The specific values of the power law indices were chosen so that the observed $`\varphi `$ and $`RM`$ distributions were approximately reproduced (Fig. 10), i.e. the magnetic field decreases as $`r^5`$ (only at $`r>r_0`$, where $`r_0`$ is a free parameter too) and the electron density decreases as $`r^{0.4}`$.

This figure shows the model output $`P`$ and $`\varphi `$ at 5 frequencies, and $`RM`$. We have chosen $`B_{}=3.5\mu `$G, $`B_{}=2\mu `$G, $`n_e=0.2`$ cm-3, and $`P_b=4`$ K. This reproduces the shape and magnitude of $`\varphi `$ and $`RM`$ reasonably well, but the $`P`$ distribution is very different from the observed one. First, the predicted $`P`$ at the center is much larger than is observed. However, this discrepancy could be explained by assuming a chaotic magnetic field component at the center of the circle (without worrying yet what this could mean physically). This would result in depolarization and a lower observed $`P`$ in the center of the modeled circle.

However, a more severe problem is posed by the wavelength dependence of the model predictions. Although our models have very different $`B`$ and $`n_e`$ distributions and either spherical or cylindrical symmetry, they all show a distinct wavelength dependence of the peak in $`P`$, as in Fig. 10. But from the observations, the position of the peak in $`P`$ does not change with wavelength, see Fig. 9. The wavelength dependence of $`P`$ appears to be a generic property of all models involving depolarization due to depth depolarization. However, the mechanism that can create wavelength independent depolarization, viz. tangled magnetic fields, yields structure in $`I`$, contrary to what is observed. Therefore we conclude that depth depolarization cannot be the main process that creates the ring in $`P`$, although we do expect depth depolarization to be present, e.g. in depolarizing the background.

### 5.2 Beam depolarization

Beam depolarization, i.e. the averaging out of polarization vectors within one synthesized beam, is significant in the field. As there is structure in $`RM`$ on beam scales, it is likely that $`RM`$ varies on scales smaller than the beam as well. Furthermore, at the positions of the depolarization canals, the influence of beam depolarization is clearly visible, see Sect. 8.3. (Partial) beam depolarization can destroy the linear $`\varphi (\lambda ^2)`$-relation, but does not necessarily do so. At low polarized intensities, the influence of beam depolarization can be considerable, and observed $`RM`$ values at low polarized intensity should be used with care, as they can deviate from the true $`RM`$ value.

Beam depolarization, due to chaotic structure in polarization angle on scales smaller than the beam, can arise due to tangled magnetic fields and/or small-scale variations in thermal electron density. A possible explanation for the lack of $`P`$ in the central part of the ring could be a chaotic magnetic field in the center, while the outer parts of the ring must exhibit very coherent magnetic fields and electron density. However, although $`P`$ drops towards the center of the ring, polarization angles are coherent over the whole structure, indicating that beam depolarization due to chaotic sub-beam-scale structure does not dominate.

Beam depolarization can also be due to a spatial gradient in $`RM`$. For a gradient $`dRM/dr`$ over many beams, the depolarization factor $`p`$ is (Gaensler et al. 2001)

$$p=\frac{P_{\mathrm{observed}}}{P_{\mathrm{original}}}=\mathrm{exp}\left[\frac{1}{\mathrm{ln}2}\left(\frac{dRM}{dr}\right)^2\lambda ^4\right]$$
(1)
where $`dRM/dr`$ is the gradient of $`RM`$ over the beam and $`r`$ is the radius of the ring, expressed in the number of beams. In the upper panel of Fig. 11, we compare the observed radial gradient in $`RM`$ (solid line) with the theoretical $`RM`$ gradient from Eq. (1) (dotted line), using the observed polarized intensity $`P`$ at 341 MHz. Using $`P`$ from other frequency bands gives very similar results. The derivative of the observed $`RM`$ was computed after smoothing $`RM`$ by about 1.5 beams (lower panel). At the position of the ring, the modeled $`RM`$ gradient shows the same decrease as the observed gradient. Furthermore, at the position where the gradient in $`RM`$ increases, the depolarization also increases. This indicates that the high $`P`$ within the ring, as well as the decrease in $`P`$ at the inner and outer boundaries, can be caused by the gradient in $`RM`$. However, in the center of the ring, as well as outside the ring, the existence of a gradient in $`RM`$ would result in a lower depolarization than is observed. So both at the center and outside the ring, other depolarization mechanisms contribute significantly.

### 5.3 The nature of the ring

The distance to the ring-like structure is not constrained. Depth and beam depolarization introduce a Faraday depth or polarization horizon, because polarized radiation emitted at large distances is more likely to be depolarized than radiation emitted nearby. But because the foreground and background of the ring must be very uniform, the polarization horizon can be at very large distances. However, if the ring is located at large distances, say in or behind the Perseus arm, it would require a path length of more than 2 kpc with an unusually uniform magnetic field and electron density along the path length. Moreover, if the ring is in the Perseus arm, its size would be $`>100`$ pc, which is unlikely in view of the regular shape of the ring. Therefore, the ring is unlikely to be located in (or behind) the Perseus arm and is probably an inter-arm feature.

The reversal in the direction of the magnetic field from outside to inside the ring, and the $`RM`$ that becomes more negative towards the center, provides strong constraints for possible explanations for the ring, because they would not allow magnetic field configurations that have spherical symmetry (such as stellar winds or supernovae). This is because in those configurations, the $`RM`$ contribution from the front half of the structure compensates the (opposite) $`RM`$ contribution from the far end (e.g. radial fields in young supernovae, bubbles blown in a regular magnetic field perpendicular to the line of sight). Alternatively, the $`RM`$ would be higher at the edges of the ring than in the center (e.g. bubbles blown in a regular magnetic field parallel to the line of sight). Instead, the structure that creates the ring-like structure, must have a magnetic field directed away from us, in surroundings where the magnetic field has a small component towards us. Furthermore, the magnetic field strength and/or electron density must increase from the edge towards the center of the ring. These constraints make a connection of the ring with many known classes of objects unlikely. Below we discuss the plausibility that some known gaseous structures in the ISM could be responsible for the polarized ring.

## 6 Connection of the ring with known ISM objects

In this section, we discuss several known objects in the ISM to which the ring could possibly be connected. We conclude that the observed $`RM`$ structure makes a connection to any known ISM object unlikely.

#### Planetary nebula

The circular form of the ring structure suggests it might be due to a planetary nebula (PN). The radio emission from a PN is free-free emission, which is negligible at our low frequencies for any reasonable temperature. However, the ring has an angular diameter more than ten times as big as any other PN observed before. If the PN were 5 pc in size, about the size of the largest ancient PN known (Tweedy & Kwitter 1996), then it would be at a distance of about 100 pc and it is unlikely that it hasn’t been observed before. Furthermore, it is difficult to see how the magnetic field configuration needed to create the ring could be present in a PN. For these reasons we believe it unlikely that the ring structure is a planetary nebula.

#### Strömgren sphere from HD20336

Close to the projected center of the ring the B2V star HD20336 is located at a distance of 246 $`\pm `$ 37 pc (Hipparcos Catalogue, Perryman et al. 1997). Verschuur (1968) suggested that the ring could be related to this star. If the ring-structure in $`P`$ coincides with the Strömgren sphere of HD20336, its radius would be $`R_s`$ = 6 pc. The excitation parameter $`U=R_sn_e^{2/3}`$ is 2.6 pc cm-2 for a B2V star (Panagia 1973), which yields an electron density inside the Strömgren sphere of $`n_e0.1`$ cm-3. The emission measure $`EM=n_e^2𝑑l=2U^3/R_s^2`$ solely from the Strömgren sphere is 0.96 cm-6 pc ($``$ 2 R), which could have been detected in the Northern Sky Survey of the Wisconsin H$`\alpha `$ Mapper (WHAM, Haffner et al., in prep., Reynolds et al. 1998), but wasn’t (see Fig. 13). In addition, the Strömgren sphere explanation is unlikely because of the high proper motion of the star, viz. 18 mas/yr, which is equivalent to 5° in a Myr. The recombination time $`t_r(\alpha ^{(2)}n_e)^1`$, where the recombination coefficient to the second level of the hydrogen atom $`\alpha ^{(2)}1.4\times 10^{13}`$. So the recombination time is 8 Myr with $`n_e=0.1`$ cm-3. Due to the high proper motion of the star, we conclude that a circular Strömgren sphere cannot be maintained. Rather, the structure would be elongated in the opposite direction to the proper motion of the star. In addition, it is difficult to imagine a Strömgren sphere with a sufficiently asymmetric magnetic field structure to explain the observed $`RM`$, as described above. Hence, the ring is unlikely to be a Strömgren sphere around the star HD20336.

#### Stellar wind from HD20336

We use the interstellar wind-blown bubble model by Weaver et al. (1977) to estimate the time needed to blow a bubble of radius 6 pc with a stellar wind from a B2V star. Weaver et al. estimate the radius of a blown bubble as

$$R_s=26.5(L_{36}n_H^1t_6^{\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}3}})^{0.2}\text{ pc}$$

where $`L_{36}`$ is the mechanical energy of the stellar wind in units of 1036 erg s-1, $`n_H`$ is the original hydrogen particle density before passage of the shell, and $`t_6`$ is the elapsed time in Myrs. Assuming that $`L_{mech}=2.5\times 10^3L_{bol}`$ (Israel & van Driel 1990), and that the absolute luminosity of a B2V star is $`L=3.7L_{}`$ (Panagia 1973), then $`L_{36}=2.2\times 10^4`$ erg s-1. With $`R_s=6`$ pc and $`n_H=0.1`$ cm-3, the time needed to blow a bubble of the size of the ring is almost 5 Myr. If $`n_H`$ is ten times lower, $`t_6`$ would still be 2.2 Myr. Compared to the proper motion of the star, the time needed to blow a circular bubble is far too long to produce the observed structure. Therefore, the ring cannot be due to the effect of a stellar wind either.

#### Supernova remnant

For supernova remnants, a $`\mathrm{\Sigma }`$-D relation exists between brightness and distance. Using the non-detection of signal in $`I`$ as an upper limit for the emission of the ring structure, the $`\mathrm{\Sigma }`$-D relation of Case & Bhattacharya (1998) would imply a distance larger than 36 kpc if the ring was a SNR. Clearly the ring structure is much too faint in $`I`$ to be related to a supernova remnant.

#### Superbubble or chimney

Superbubbles that become chimneys as they blow out material from the spiral arm where they originate, have been observed in H i , not only into the Galactic halo, but also into the inter-arm region in the Galactic plane (McClure-Griffiths et al. 2002). The ring could be such a chimney blown away straight from the Sun. Galactic magnetic field frozen in in the plasma that is blown out can cause the observed high negative $`RM`$. However, if this is the case, one would expect the magnetic field to be maximal at the edges of the chimney, and a low electron density inside the chimney.

## 7 The ring as a magnetic structure

It is possible that the ring is created through bending of magnetic field lines. E.g. contraction and motion of a plasma cloud or an analogue to the Parker instability can enhance and reverse magnetic fields. The $`RM`$ plot in Fig. 9 shows an increase in $`RM`$ out to a radius of about 3°. If the azimuthal average over $`RM`$ is taken over 360°, $`RM`$ still increases slowly to 0 rad m-2 at $`r=3`$° and to 2 rad m-2 at $`r=4`$°. This behavior is more like a magnetic structure, with decreasing magnetic field over a large radius, than like a structure in thermal electron density which has more or less definite boundaries. We conclude that the ring-like structure in $`P`$ is most likely a funnel-shaped enhancement of magnetic field, directed straight away from us, possibly related to magnetic flux tubes (Parker 1992, Hanasz & Lesch 1993). A “magnetic anomaly” of a few degrees in size has been found in the direction $`\mathrm{}`$ 92°, $`b`$ 0° (Clegg et al. 1992, Brown & Taylor 2001) from $`RM`$s of extragalactic sources. However, $`RM`$s of extragalactic sources in the direction of the ring do not show a local magnetic field reversal (Fig. 8). Therefore we expect the ring-structure to be more localized or less strong than this magnetic anomaly. The magnetic ring-structure may very well be accompanied by an increase in electron density.

Although the distance and shape of the ring-structure are very uncertain, we can try to give estimates of the necessary magnetic field and electron density changes. An upper limit for the change in $`n_e`$ is given by the non-detection of the ring in the Northern Sky Survey of the Wisconsin H$`\alpha `$ Mapper (WHAM). The WHAM can detect an H$`\alpha `$ intensity of 0.05 R (1 R = 1 Rayleigh is equal to a brightness of $`10^6/4\pi `$ photons cm-2 s-1 ster-1, and corresponds to an emission measure $`EM`$ of about 2 cm-6 pc for gas with a temperature T = 10000 K). So

$$\mathrm{\Delta }(n_e^2dl)=2n_e\mathrm{\Delta }n_edl<0.1\mathrm{\Delta }n_edl<0.5$$
(2)
assuming a constant path length over the field and a background $`n_e=0.1`$ cm-3. The change in $`RM`$ is

$`\mathrm{\Delta }RM`$ $`=`$ $`0.81\mathrm{\Delta }(n_eB_{}dl)`$ (3)
$`=`$ $`0.81(n_e\mathrm{\Delta }B_{}dl+\mathrm{\Delta }n_eB_{}dl+\mathrm{\Delta }n_e\mathrm{\Delta }B_{}dl)`$
The change in $`RM`$ from inside to outside the ring is $`\mathrm{\Delta }RM8`$ rad m-2, and assuming that the background magnetic field $`B_{}1\mu `$G, combination of Eqs. (2) and (3) yields

$$\mathrm{\Delta }B_{}(dl+5)\text{ }>\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}100}$$
(4)
If $`D`$ is the distance to the ring, and $`f`$ is the axial ratio of the object with its major axis along the line of sight, then $`dl=Df\mathrm{tan}(3\mathrm{°})`$. Estimates of $`n_e`$ and minimum $`B_{}`$ for different $`D`$ and $`f`$ are given in Table 3.

If the ring is located at very large distances (say $`\text{ }>\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}500}`$ pc), its width becomes so large that the regularity of the ring becomes hard to explain. A nearby spherical structure ($`f=1`$) needs a large change in magnetic field, according to Table 3, whereas an elongated structure with a smaller magnetic field change can also accommodate for the observed $`RM`$ change. In any case, the change in electron density in the ring is small, due to the upper limit imposed by the non-detection of the ring in H$`\alpha `$.

### 7.1 Are there more ring-like structures?

There have been two earlier detections of elliptical structures in polarization angle and polarized intensity without correlated structure in total intensity published, both in single-frequency observations at 1420 MHz. The first detection by Gray et al. (1998) is an elliptical feature of about 2°$`\times `$1° in size, which shows a linear increase in polarization angle towards the center. Polarized intensity shows a ring-like behavior, and the regular structure in $`\varphi `$ extends to a larger radius than where $`P`$ peaks.

The “Polarization Lens” observed by Uyanıker & Landecker (2002) shows approximately similar characteristics: an approximately linear decrease of polarization angle towards the center, and a ring-like structure in $`P`$, although the regular structure in angle seems to trace an ellipse rather than a circle. The characteristics in $`P`$ and $`\varphi `$ are so similar for the three features, that it is tempting to consider them as members of the same class of objects.

However, although the appearance of the three rings is similar, the changes in $`RM`$ responsible for the angle changes are vastly different. Although the first two objects are only detected at one frequency, and therefore their $`RM`$ cannot be determined, a spatial variation in polarization angle is equivalent to a change in $`RM`$. For the first detection $`\mathrm{\Delta }RM110`$ rad m-2, $`\mathrm{\Delta }RM40`$ rad m-2 for the second, and $`\mathrm{\Delta }RM8`$ rad m-2 for the multi-frequency detection discussed here. If the objects are related, there are two explanations for the differences in $`RM`$. First, the range in $`\mathrm{\Delta }RM`$ could be due to a difference in magnetic field strength and/or electron density, which would imply that the contraction of magnetic fields and/or enhancement in electron density creating the ring must vary over a large range of scales. Secondly, the range in $`\mathrm{\Delta }RM`$ could be due to a difference in size over which the RM exhibits a linear gradient with equal $`\mathrm{\Delta }RM`$ per parsec for each ring. If we assume a distance for the ring detected by Gray et al. to be 1000 pc, then the first two objects would be consistent with a gradient of $``$ 3 rad m-2 per parsec across the plane of the sky. If our observed ring would be a feature similar to this, the size of the ring would be about 3 pc and its distance 60 pc. In this scenario, rings with similar magnetic field and electron density characteristics would show a range in size (35 pc, 12 pc and 3 pc).

The first two objects were interpreted to be mainly due to an increase of electron density. This explanation cannot apply to the ring discussed here, however, because we observe a change in sign in $`RM`$ from outside to inside the ring, implying that the cause of the structure must be at least partly magnetic.

The reason that Gray et al. and Uyanıker & Landecker assume that the rings reflect an increase in electron density are the following. First, if the structure was magnetic, the magnetic field enhancement $`\mathrm{\Delta }B_{}`$ would be $``$ 5 times the random component of the magnetic field. This high magnetic field, and a configuration with the magnetic field directed along the line of sight was considered to be very unlikely.

However, in their estimate of the $`\mathrm{\Delta }B_{}`$ that is necessary to produce the observed $`\mathrm{\Delta }RM`$, they assume that the ring-like structure is an oblate ellipse. If the magnetic field is funnel-shaped instead, the path length through the structure would increase enormously and lower $`\mathrm{\Delta }B_{}`$ values can account for the observed $`\mathrm{\Delta }RM`$. An alignment with the line of sight seems fortuitous, but it may well be that it is the only configuration that we can observe, because only such a configuration has a long path length through a strong $`B_{}`$, making $`RM`$s dominant over the background.

We conclude that the magnetic field must play an essential rôle in the shaping of the rings, although an increase in electron density is likely to also be of importance. The three detected ring-like structures could be similar objects, although they would need to exhibit a range in magnetic field and electron density, and/or size.

## 8 Structure outside the ring

### 8.1 The elongated structure of high $`P`$

The elongated structure of high $`P`$ extending from the center of the ring to the northwest can be explained with the scenario sketched by Verschuur (1969). Using the Green Bank 300ft telescope, he observed a filamentary deficit of H i , where the filament starts at the position of the B2V star discussed in Sect. 1, and extends in the direction opposite to the star’s proper motion, along the bar of high $`P`$ present in our observations. He argues that the star has tunneled through the H i and has blown the neutral material away. Radiation from the star could then have ionized the remaining low density material in the tunnel. This picture is consistent with the filament of high polarization that we see at the same position, from the center of the ring to the northwest.

However, the H i deficit seems to have the same topology as the ring on the eastern edge, i.e. the deficit is shaped as a semi-circle which coincides with the position of the ring. Then, it is probable that the ionization tunnel and the ring structure are at same distance (viz. $``$ 250 pc), although they do not necessarily have the same origin.

### 8.2 Uniform Galactic magnetic field

The coherence in $`\varphi `$, and to a lesser extent in $`P`$, over a large part of the ring indicates that the polarized foreground and background have to be uniform on the scale of the ring. If structure in $`RM`$ on smaller scales was present somewhere in the line of sight, be it in front of or behind the ring-like structure, the linearity of angle with radius would be destroyed. Small deviations from linearity are present (see e.g. the patch of less negative $`RM`$s at $`(\alpha ,\delta )=(3^h18^m,66\mathrm{°})`$), which indicates a change in $`RM`$ of a few rad m-2 somewhere along the line of sight. However, in general the medium must be very uniform to give such large coherent behavior in the polarization angle as observed in the ring.

The ring is located in the “fan region”, which is a region of high polarization even at low frequencies (Brouw & Spoelstra, 1976) and with very ordered polarization angles, located at about $`120\mathrm{°}\mathrm{}160\mathrm{°}`$, $`0\mathrm{°}b20\mathrm{°}`$. The high polarization in this region indicates less depolarization, and therefore the uniform magnetic field should dominate over the random magnetic field component. From external galaxies, there are indications that indeed the uniform magnetic field component is higher than the random component between the spiral arms (Beck & Hoernes 1996, Beck et al. 1996).

From Fig. 6, and the $`RM`$ determinations of Spoelstra (1984) and Bingham & Shakeshaft (1967), we derive that outside the ring, $`RM`$ $`6`$ rad m-2. Then, the parallel component of the magnetic field must be $`B_{}0.2\mu `$G, assuming a path length of the polarized radiation of 600 pc (Haverkorn et al. 2003b) and a thermal electron density of 0.08 cm-3 (Reynolds 1991). The path length is probably longer than 600 pc, which only reduces $`B_{}`$ further. This very low value of $`B_{}`$ is in agreement with the uniform magnetic field being mostly perpendicular to the line of sight in this direction.

### 8.3 The aligned depolarization canals

In the southwestern part of the field, long and straight depolarization canals exist that are approximately aligned with Galactic latitude and one synthesized beam wide, see Fig. 3. Fig. 12 shows the distribution of $`RM`$ and $`P`$ along and across the depolarization canals, i.e. approximately along Galactic longitude $`\mathrm{}`$ and latitude $`b`$. The top plot shows the $`RM`$ distribution as a function of “$`b`$”, and the bottom plot as a function of “$`\mathrm{}`$”, where the area used is indicated by the white box in the two left-hand figures. $`RM`$ and $`P`$ are averaged in the direction perpendicular to “$`\mathrm{}`$” and “$`b`$”, respectively. The symbols in the right figures denote $`RM`$, where the error bars give the standard error in the mean of $`RM`$ in each bin. The upper lines denote the $`P`$ distribution at 349 MHz, averaged over a bin. The main difference between the two plots is that the $`RM`$ along the filaments hardly changes, whereas the $`RM`$ across the filaments shows a gradient and/or stratification.

To investigate whether this $`RM`$ structure is due to magnetic fields and/or thermal electron density, we can use independent measurements of $`n_e`$, e.g. from H$`\alpha `$ observations. We use data from the WHAM Northern Sky survey (Haffner et al., in prep., Reynolds et al. 1998), as shown in Fig. 13. The H$`\alpha `$ intensity integrated over the velocity range $`v=10`$ km s-1 to $`v=50`$ km s-1 increases from $``$ 2.2 R to 30 R. This velocity range coincides with distances of 300 pc to 2.3 kpc using the rotation curve of Fich et al. (1989). If the H$`\alpha `$ increase is generated over a line of sight of 2 kpc, the necessary increase in thermal electron density is only from 0.055 cm-3 to 0.07 cm-3. If we take again the path length of the polarized radiation to be 600 pc, the change in $`RM`$ seen in Fig. 12, viz 7 rad m-2, can be made with a constant $`B_{}0.2\mu `$G, which agrees with the estimate made in Sect. 3.5 for the uniform magnetic field component.

Depolarization canals can have two possible causes. The first is beam depolarization, i.e. the canals denote boundaries between regions of different $`RM`$ so that $`\mathrm{\Delta }\varphi =90\mathrm{°}`$. $`RM`$ changes with different magnitudes are likely to exist as well, but these do not leave visible traces in $`P`$. The second cause for canals is depth depolarization. If the emitting and rotating medium is uniform, $`P=\mathrm{sin}(2RM\lambda ^2)/(2RM\lambda ^2)`$ so that “nulls” of minimum polarization exist at positions where $`2RM\lambda ^2=n\pi `$. However, there is no reason why depolarization canals would be one beam wide in this model, and low-$`P`$ canals only exist for a uniform medium. Furthermore, the second model predicts the position of the canals to shift with wavelength, which is not observed. Therefore we believe that the depolarization canals are predominantly the result of beam depolarization. For an extended discussion of the causes of depolarization canals, see Haverkorn et al. (2000, 2003a).

If the gradient in $`RM`$ is constant, depolarization canals due to beam depolarization would not be possible. So the $`RM`$ must increase discontinuously, as is visible in Fig. 12. If $`\mathrm{\Delta }RM`$ over one beam is between 2.1 and 2.5 rad m-2 (or between 6.3 and 7.5 rad m-2, etc.), depolarization canals occur. Fig. 14 shows $`P`$ and $`RM`$ over a narrow slit ($``$ 1.5′) across the canals plotted against $`b`$, located within the box in Fig. 12. The top panel shows plots for $`P`$ at all 5 frequencies, oversampled by a factor of 5. The central panel shows $`RM`$, where $`RM`$ values are only plotted for beams for which $`\chi _{red}^2<2`$ and $`P>20`$ mJy/beam. Polarization angle $`\varphi `$ is given in the bottom panel. The two sharpest depolarization canals visible at all frequencies, at pixel numbers 113 and 145 correspond to abrupt changes in $`RM`$ of about 2 rad m-2 and angle changes around 90°. Abrupt $`RM`$ changes with other magnitudes are present as well, but these do not create depolarization canals.

## 9 Conclusions

The ring-like structure in polarized intensity $`P`$ with a radius of about 1.4° shows a regular increase in polarization angle from its center out to $``$ 1.7°, suggesting that the structure is a disk instead of a ring, and extends to larger radii than the ring in $`P`$. The rotation measure is slightly positive outside the ring, reverses sign inside the ring and decreases almost continuously to $`RM8`$ rad m-2 at the center. This property rules out its production by any spherically symmetric structure, such as a supernova remnant or a wind-blown bubble. The $`RM`$ structure, and the observation that the coherence in angle slowly disappears beyond a radius of $``$ 1.7° indicates a magnetic origin for the polarization ring, probably accompanied by an electron density enhancement. We propose that the ring is produced by a predominantly magnetic funnel-like structure, in which the parallel magnetic field strength is maximal at the center and directed away from us. The enhancement in $`P`$ at radius $``$ 1.4° is caused by a lack of depolarization due to the relative constancy of $`RM`$ at that radius. A filamentary pattern of parallel, narrow depolarization canals indicates structure in $`RM`$ which is aligned with Galactic longitude. The depolarization canals are probably created by beam depolarization due to abrupt spatial gradients in $`RM`$.

###### Acknowledgements.

We are grateful to T. Spoelstra for allowing us to use his observations, and to R. Beck, E. Berkhuijsen and the anonymous referee for suggestions and comments on the manuscript. The Westerbork Synthesis Radio Telescope is operated by the Netherlands Foundation for Research in Astronomy (ASTRON) with financial support from the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO). The Wisconsin H-Alpha Mapper is funded by the National Science Foundation. MH is supported by NWO grant 614-21-006.