Helical radio jets as probes of magnetised cluster environments: Periodic Faraday Rotation Revealed in the Corkscrew Galaxy by POSSUM

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ID: 319787
2026
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Abstract
Abstract Jets from active galactic nuclei (AGN) that exhibit regular plane-of-sky oscillations may provide a probe of magnetised plasma within the jets and their local intracluster medium (ICM). If such morphologies trace three-dimensional helices, path length differences between near and far sides of the flow might imprint quasi-periodic signatures in Faraday rotation. We present ASKAP Band 2 (1296–1440 MHz) polarimetric observations of a helical-tailed radio galaxy (the ‘Corkscrew Galaxy’) from early science data from the POlarisation Sky Survey of the Universe’s Magnetism (POSSUM), and test whether its quasi-periodic morphology produces signatures in Faraday rotation. We detect significant RM oscillations with a spatial period of (342 ± 101) arcsec, consistent within the Rayleigh resolution limit with the jet’s lateral deviations ((290 ± 72) arcsec). Cross-correlation analysis reveals systematic variation along the jet: the eastern section shows alignment between jet deviation and RM, consistent with a jet-associated or sheath-like Faraday screen, while the western section exhibits a phase shift, indicating a transition in the dominant Faraday-rotating medium and possible contribution from the local ICM. These results demonstrate that quasi-periodic RM signatures can disentangle the dominant Faraday-rotating medium in AGN jets, and show that in some embedded radio galaxies the dominant RM contribution arises near the source rather than the cluster foreground. We also outline reliability criteria required to avoid false positive detections and inadequate sampling. Helical jet structures therefore show strong promise as probes of magnetised cluster environments, a capability that will expand in the SKA era.
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Authors Sarah N Bradbury, C. S. Anderson, N M McClure-Griffiths, Yik Ki, A J M Thomson, L. Rudnick, S P O’Sullivan, B M Gaensler, B S Koribalski, E L Alexander, Takuya Akahori, L Baidoo, E. Carretti, G Heald, H Sakemi, Tessa Vernstrom, J West
Journal monthly notices of the royal astronomical society
Year 2026
DOI
10.1093/mnras/stag1269
URL
https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stag1269
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