Detection of polarized Fermi-bubble synchrotron and dust emission
High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
2026-04-24 v2 Astrophysics of Galaxies
Abstract
The elusive polarized microwave signal from the Fermi bubbles is disentangled from the more extended polarized lobes, which similarly emanate from the Galactic plane but stretch farther west of the bubbles. The projected ~20% synchrotron polarization reveals magnetic fields preferentially parallel to the bubble edges, as expected downstream of a strong shock. The projected ~20% polarization of thermal dust emission is similarly oriented, constraining grain alignment in an extreme environment. We argue that the larger lobes arise from an older Galactic-center, likely supermassive black-hole, outburst.
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Cite
@article{arxiv.2401.00933,
title = {Detection of polarized Fermi-bubble synchrotron and dust emission},
author = {Uri Keshet},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2401.00933},
year = {2026}
}
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