CHANG-ES. XXX. 10 kpc Radio Lobes in the Sombrero Galaxy

Abstract

We report the discovery of the 10 kpc scale radio lobes in the Sombrero galaxy (NGC 4594), using data from the Continuum Halos in Nearby Galaxies—an Expanded Very Large Array Survey project. We further examine the balance between the magnetic pressure inside the lobes and the thermal pressure of the ambient hot gas. At the radii r of ∼(1–10) kpc, the magnetic pressure inside the lobes and the thermal pressure of the ambient hot gas are generally in balance. This implies that the jets could expand into the surroundings to at least r ∼ 10 kpc. The feedback from the active galactic nucleus jet responsible for the large-scale lobes may help to explain the unusually high X-ray luminosity of this massive quiescent isolated disk galaxy, although more theoretical work is needed to further examine this possibility.

Keywords

• Extragalactic magnetic fields
• Low-luminosity active galactic nuclei
• Radio jets
• Radio continuum emission