Magnetic fields in our Galaxy: How much do we know?

Abstract

The large scale magnetic fields of our Galaxy have been mostly revealed by rotation measures ($RM$s) of pulsars and extragalactic radio sources. In the disk of our Galaxy, the average field strength over a few kpc scale is about 1.8 $μ$G, while the total field, including the random fields on smaller scales, has a strength of about 5 $μ$G. The local regular field, if it is part of the large scale field of a bisymmetric form, has a pitch angle of about $-8\degr$. There are at least three, and perhaps five, field reversals from the Norma arm to the outer skirt of our Galaxy.