The Astrophysical Journal (Jan 2025)
An Investigation of Disk Thickness in M51 from Hα, Paα, and Mid-infrared Power Spectra
- Bruce G. Elmegreen,
- Daniela Calzetti,
- Angela Adamo,
- Karin Sandstrom,
- Daniel Dale,
- Varun Bajaj,
- Martha L. Boyer,
- Ana Duarte-Cabral,
- Ryan Chown,
- Matteo Correnti,
- Julianne J. Dalcanton,
- Bruce T. Draine,
- Brandt Gaches,
- John S. Gallagher III,
- Kathryn Grasha,
- Benjamin Gregg,
- Leslie K. Hunt,
- Kelsey E. Johnson,
- Robert Kennicutt Jr.,
- Ralf S. Klessen,
- Adam K. Leroy,
- Sean Linden,
- Anna F. McLeod,
- Matteo Messa,
- Göran Östlin,
- Mansi Padave,
- Julia Roman-Duval,
- J. D. Smith,
- Fabian Walter,
- Tony D. Weinbeck
Affiliations
- Bruce G. Elmegreen
- ORCiD
- Katonah , NY 10536, USA
- Daniela Calzetti
- ORCiD
- Department of Astronomy, University of Massachusetts Amherst , 710 North Pleasant Street, Amherst, MA 01003, USA
- Angela Adamo
- ORCiD
- Department of Astronomy, The Oskar Klein Centre, Stockholm University , AlbaNova, SE-10691 Stockholm, Sweden
- Karin Sandstrom
- ORCiD
- Department of Astronomy & Astrophysics, University of California, San Diego , 9500 Gilman Drive, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA
- Daniel Dale
- ORCiD
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Wyoming , Laramie, WY 82071, USA
- Varun Bajaj
- ORCiD
- Space Telescope Science Institute , 3700 San Martin Drive, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA
- Martha L. Boyer
- ORCiD
- Space Telescope Science Institute , 3700 San Martin Drive, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA
- Ana Duarte-Cabral
- ORCiD
- School of Physics and Astronomy, Cardiff University , The Parade, Cardiff, CF24 3AA, UK
- Ryan Chown
- ORCiD
- Department of Astronomy, The Ohio State University , 140 West 18th Avenue, Columbus, OH 43210, USA
- Matteo Correnti
- ORCiD
- INAF Osservatorio Astronomico di Roma , Via Frascati 33, 00078, Monteporzio Catone, Rome, Italy; ASI-Space Science Data Center , Via del Politecnico, I-00133, Rome, Italy
- Julianne J. Dalcanton
- ORCiD
- Astronomy Department, University of Washington , Seattle, WA 98195, USA; Center for Computational Astrophysics, Flatiron Institute , 162 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010, USA
- Bruce T. Draine
- ORCiD
- Department of Astrophysical Sciences, Princeton University , Princeton, NJ 08544, USA
- Brandt Gaches
- ORCiD
- Department of Space, Earth and Environment, Chalmers University of Technology , Gothenburg SE-412 96, Sweden; Faculty of Physics, University of Duisburg-Essen , Lotharstraße 1, 47057 Duisburg, Germany
- John S. Gallagher III
- ORCiD
- Department of Astronomy, University of Wisconsin-Madison , 475 North Charter Street, Madison, WI 53706, USA
- Kathryn Grasha
- ORCiD
- Research School of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Australian National University , Canberra, ACT 2611, Australia; ARC Centre of Excellence for All Sky Astrophysics in 3 Dimensions (ASTRO 3D) , Australia
- Benjamin Gregg
- ORCiD
- Department of Astronomy, University of Massachusetts Amherst , 710 North Pleasant Street, Amherst, MA 01003, USA
- Leslie K. Hunt
- ORCiD
- INAF—Osservatorio Astrofisico di Arcetri , Largo Enrico Fermi 5, 50125 Firenze, Italy
- Kelsey E. Johnson
- ORCiD
- Department of Astronomy, University of Virginia , Charlottesville, VA 22904, USA
- Robert Kennicutt Jr.
- ORCiD
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, Texas A&M University , 578 University Drive, College Station, TX 77843, USA; George P. and Cynthia W. Mitchell Institute for Fundamental Physics & Astronomy, Texas A&M University , 578 University Drive, College Station, TX 77843, USA; Department of Astronomy and Steward Observatory, University of Arizona , 933 North Cherry Avenue, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA
- Ralf S. Klessen
- ORCiD
- Universität Heidelberg , Zentrum für Astronomie, Institut für Theoretische Astrophysik, Albert-Ueberle-Str. 2, 69120 Heidelberg, Germany; Universität Heidelberg , Interdisziplinäres Zentrum für Wissenschaftliches Rechnen, Im Neuenheimer Feld 225, 69120 Heidelberg, Germany; Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics , 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA; Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Studies at Harvard University , 10 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA
- Adam K. Leroy
- ORCiD
- Department of Astronomy, The Ohio State University , 140 West 18th Avenue, Columbus, OH 43210, USA
- Sean Linden
- ORCiD
- Department of Astronomy and Steward Observatory, University of Arizona , 933 North Cherry Avenue, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA
- Anna F. McLeod
- ORCiD
- Centre for Extragalactic Astronomy, Department of Physics, Durham University , South Road, Durham, DH1 3LE, UK; Institute for Computational Cosmology, Department of Physics, Durham University , South Road, Durham, DH1 3LE, UK
- Matteo Messa
- ORCiD
- INAF-Osservatorio di Astrofisica e Scienza dello Spazio di Bologna , Via Gobetti 93/3, I-40129 Bologna, Italy
- Göran Östlin
- ORCiD
- Department of Astronomy, The Oskar Klein Centre, Stockholm University , AlbaNova, SE-10691 Stockholm, Sweden
- Mansi Padave
- ORCiD
- Department of Astronomy & Astrophysics, University of California, San Diego , 9500 Gilman Drive, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA
- Julia Roman-Duval
- ORCiD
- Space Telescope Science Institute , 3700 San Martin Drive, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA
- J. D. Smith
- ORCiD
- Ritter Astrophysical Research Center, University of Toledo , Toledo, OH 43606, USA
- Fabian Walter
- ORCiD
- Max-Planck-Institut für Astronomie , Königstuhl 17, D-69117, Heidelberg, Germany
- Tony D. Weinbeck
- ORCiD
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Wyoming , Laramie, WY 82071, USA
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/adcee6
- Journal volume & issue
-
Vol. 986,
no. 1
p. 13
Abstract
Power spectra (PS) of high-resolution images of M51 (NGC 5194) taken with the Hubble Space Telescope and the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) have been examined for evidence of disk thickness in the form of a change in slope between large scales, which map two-dimensional correlated structures, and small scales, which map three-dimensional correlated structures. Such a slope change is observed here in H α , and possibly Pa α , using average PS of azimuthal intensity scans that avoid bright peaks. The physical scale of the slope change occurs at ∼120 pc and ∼170 pc for these two transitions, respectively. A radial dependence in the shape of the H α PS also suggests that the length scale drops from ∼180 pc at 5 kpc, to ∼90 pc at 2 kpc, to ∼25 pc in the central ∼kpc. We interpret these lengths as comparable to the thicknesses of the star-forming disk traced by H ii regions. The corresponding emission measure is ∼100 times larger than what is expected from the diffuse ionized gas. The PS of JWST Mid-IR Instrument images in eight passbands have more gradual changes in slope, making it difficult to determine a specific value of the thickness for this emission.
Keywords
