Magnetic field strength from peaked synchrotron spectra

Abstract

Key diagnostics of non-thermal plasmas, such as the position of the synchrotron self-absorption turnover or the Faraday rotation optical depth, depend crucially on the unobserved low-energy electron spectrum. We investigate the effect of physically viable assumptions about the low-energy electron spectrum on the magnetic field strength as inferred from the position of the peak in the synchrotron spectrum marking the transition from optically thick to optically thin radiation. To this end the kinetic equations are written down and stationary solutions are given. In this context the inviability of the delta function approximation of the synchrotron power spectrum is discussed. Using two different approaches, we show that the field determination is independent of the assumptions about the low energy electron spectrum within an order of magnitude. As an example, we use our result to obtain a small correction to the limiting brightness temperature.