Extragalactic Magnetism with SOFIA (SALSA Legacy Program). VII. A Tomographic View of Far-infrared and Radio Polarimetric Observations through MHD Simulations of Galaxies

Sergio Martin-Alvarez; Enrique Lopez-Rodriguez; Tara Dacunha; Susan E. Clark; Alejandro S. Borlaff; Rainer Beck; Francisco Rodríguez Montero; Seoyoung L. Jung; Julien Devriendt; Adrianne Slyz; Julia Christine Roman-Duval; Evangelia Ntormousi; Mehrnoosh Tahani; Kandaswamy Subramanian; Daniel A. Dale; Pamela M. Marcum; Konstantinos Tassis; Ignacio del Moral-Castro; Le Ngoc Tram; Matt J. Jarvis

doi:10.3847/1538-4357/ad2e9e

The Astrophysical Journal (Jan 2024)

Extragalactic Magnetism with SOFIA (SALSA Legacy Program). VII. A Tomographic View of Far-infrared and Radio Polarimetric Observations through MHD Simulations of Galaxies

Sergio Martin-Alvarez,
Enrique Lopez-Rodriguez,
Tara Dacunha,
Susan E. Clark,
Alejandro S. Borlaff,
Rainer Beck,
Francisco Rodríguez Montero,
Seoyoung L. Jung,
Julien Devriendt,
Adrianne Slyz,
Julia Christine Roman-Duval,
Evangelia Ntormousi,
Mehrnoosh Tahani,
Kandaswamy Subramanian,
Daniel A. Dale,
Pamela M. Marcum,
Konstantinos Tassis,
Ignacio del Moral-Castro,
Le Ngoc Tram,
Matt J. Jarvis

Affiliations

Sergio Martin-Alvarez: ORCiD; Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics & Cosmology (KIPAC), Stanford University , Stanford, CA 94305, USA
Enrique Lopez-Rodriguez: ORCiD; Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics & Cosmology (KIPAC), Stanford University , Stanford, CA 94305, USA
Tara Dacunha: ORCiD; Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics & Cosmology (KIPAC), Stanford University , Stanford, CA 94305, USA
Susan E. Clark: ORCiD; Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics & Cosmology (KIPAC), Stanford University , Stanford, CA 94305, USA; Department of Physics, Stanford University , Stanford, CA 94305, USA
Alejandro S. Borlaff: ORCiD; NASA Ames Research Center , Moffett Field, CA 94035, USA; Bay Area Environmental Research Institute , Moffett Field, CA 94035, USA
Rainer Beck: ORCiD; Max-Planck-Institut für Radioastronomie , Auf dem Hügel 69, D-53121, Bonn, Germany
Francisco Rodríguez Montero: ORCiD; Sub-department of Astrophysics, University of Oxford , Keble Road, Oxford, OX1 3RH, UK
Seoyoung L. Jung: ORCiD; Sub-department of Astrophysics, University of Oxford , Keble Road, Oxford, OX1 3RH, UK; Research School of Astronomy & Astrophysics, The Australian National University , Canberra ACT 2611, Australia
Julien Devriendt: ORCiD; Sub-department of Astrophysics, University of Oxford , Keble Road, Oxford, OX1 3RH, UK
Adrianne Slyz: Sub-department of Astrophysics, University of Oxford , Keble Road, Oxford, OX1 3RH, UK
Julia Christine Roman-Duval: ORCiD; Space Telescope Science Institute , 3700 San Martin Drive, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA
Evangelia Ntormousi: ORCiD; Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa , Piazza dei Cavalieri 7, 56126 Pisa, Italy
Mehrnoosh Tahani: ORCiD; Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics & Cosmology (KIPAC), Stanford University , Stanford, CA 94305, USA
Kandaswamy Subramanian: ORCiD; IUCAA , Post Bag 4, Ganeshkhind, Pune 411007, India; Department of Physics, Ashoka University , Rajiv Gandhi Education City, Rai, Sonipat 131029, Haryana, India
Daniel A. Dale: ORCiD; Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Wyoming , Laramie, WY 82071, USA
Pamela M. Marcum: NASA Ames Research Center , Moffett Field, CA 94035, USA
Konstantinos Tassis: ORCiD; Department of Physics, and Institute for Theoretical and Computational Physics, University of Crete , Voutes University campus, GR-70013 Heraklion, Greece; Institute of Astrophysics , Foundation for Research and Technology-Hellas, N. Plastira 100, Vassilika Vouton, GR-71110 Heraklion, Greece
Ignacio del Moral-Castro: ORCiD; Kapteyn Astronomical Institute, University of Groningen , PO Box 800, 9700 AV Groningen, The Netherlands; Facultad de Física, Universidad de La Laguna , Avda. Astrofísico Fco. Sánchez s/n, 38200, La Laguna, Tenerife, Spain; Instituto de Astrofísica, Facultad de Física, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile , Campus San Joaquín, Av. Vicuña Mackenna 4860, Macul, 7820436, Santiago, Chile
Le Ngoc Tram: ORCiD; Max-Planck-Institut für Radioastronomie , Auf dem Hügel 69, D-53121, Bonn, Germany
Matt J. Jarvis: ORCiD; Subdepartment of Astrophysics, University of Oxford , Keble Road, Oxford, OX1 3RH, UK; Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of the Western Cape , Robert Sobukwe Road, 7535 Bellville, Cape Town, South Africa

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ad2e9e
Journal volume & issue: Vol. 966, no. 1
p. 43

Abstract

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The structure of magnetic fields in galaxies remains poorly constrained, despite the importance of magnetism in the evolution of galaxies. Radio synchrotron and far-infrared (FIR) polarization and polarimetric observations are the best methods to measure galactic scale properties of magnetic fields in galaxies beyond the Milky Way. We use synthetic polarimetric observations of a simulated galaxy to identify and quantify the regions, scales, and interstellar medium (ISM) phases probed at FIR and radio wavelengths. Our studied suite of magnetohydrodynamical cosmological zoom-in simulations features high-resolutions (10 pc full-cell size) and multiple magnetization models. Our synthetic observations have a striking resemblance to those of observed galaxies. We find that the total and polarized radio emission extends to approximately double the altitude above the galactic disk (half-intensity disk thickness of h _I radio ∼ h _PI radio = 0.23 ± 0.03 kpc) relative to the total FIR and polarized emission that are concentrated in the disk midplane ( h _I FIR ∼ h _PI FIR = 0.11 ± 0.01 kpc). Radio emission traces magnetic fields at scales of ≳300 pc, whereas FIR emission probes magnetic fields at the smallest scales of our simulations. These scales are comparable to our spatial resolution and well below the spatial resolution (<300 pc) of existing FIR polarimetric measurements. Finally, we confirm that synchrotron emission traces a combination of the warm neutral and cold neutral gas phases, whereas FIR emission follows the densest gas in the cold neutral phase in the simulation. These results are independent of the ISM magnetic field strength. The complementarity we measure between radio and FIR wavelengths motivates future multiwavelength polarimetric observations to advance our knowledge of extragalactic magnetism.

Published in The Astrophysical Journal

ISSN: 1538-4357 (Online)
Publisher: IOP Publishing
Country of publisher: United Kingdom
LCC subjects: Science: Astronomy: Astrophysics
Website: https://iopscience.iop.org/journal/0004-637X

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