The extent of magnetic fields around galaxies out to z ~ 1
  Radio quasar sightlines with strong MgII absorption lines display
statistically enhanced Faraday Rotation Measures (RM) indicating the presence
of additional magneto-active plasma with respect to sightlines free of such
absorption. In this letter, we use multi-color optical imaging to identify the
likely galaxies hosting the magneto-active plasma, and to constrain the
location of the latter with respect to the putative parent halo. We find that
all of the sightlines with high |RM| pass within 50 kpc of a galaxy and that
the |RM| distribution for low impact parameters, D < 50 kpc, is significantly
different than for larger impact parameters. In addition, we find a decrease in
the ratio of the polarization at 21 cm and 1.5 cm, p_{21}/p_{1.5}, towards
lower D. These two effects are most likely related, strengthen the association
of excess |RM| with intervening galaxies, and suggest that intervening galaxies
operate as inhomogeneous Faraday screens. These results are difficult to
reconciliate with only a disk model for the magnetic field but are consistent
with highly magnetized winds associated with MgII systems. We infer strong
magnetic fields of a few tens of mikro Gauss, consistent with values required
by the lack of evolution of the FIR-radio correlation at high redshifts.
Finally, these findings lends support to the idea that the small scale helicity
bottleneck of alpha-Omega galactic dynamos can be significantly alleviated via
galatic winds.
