Astrophysics
[Submitted on 29 Nov 2007 (v1), last revised 24 Apr 2008 (this version, v2)]
Title:Galactic Dynamos and Galactic Winds
View PDFAbstract: Spiral galaxies host dynamically important magnetic fields which can affect gas flows in the disks and halos. Total magnetic fields in spiral galaxies are strongest (up to 30 \muG) in the spiral arms where they are mostly turbulent or tangled. Polarized synchrotron emission shows that the resolved regular fields are generally strongest in the interarm regions (up to 15 \muG). Faraday rotation measures of radio polarization vectors in the disks of several spiral galaxies reveal large-scale patterns which are signatures of coherent fields generated by a mean-field dynamo. -- Magnetic fields are also observed in radio halos around edge-on galaxies at heights of a few kpc above the disk. Cosmic-ray driven galactic winds transport gas and magnetic fields from the disk into the halo. The magnetic energy density is larger than the thermal energy density, but smaller than the kinetic energy density of the outflow. The orientation of field lines allows to estimate the wind speed and direction. There is no observation yet of a halo with a large-scale coherent dynamo pattern. A global wind outflow may prevent the operation of a dynamo in the halo. -- Halo regions with high degrees of radio polarization at very large distances from the disk are excellent tracers of interaction between galaxies or ram pressure of the intergalactic medium. The observed extent of radio halos is limited by energy losses of the cosmic-ray electrons. -- Future low-frequency radio telescopes like LOFAR and the SKA will allow to trace halo outflows and their interaction with the intergalactic medium to much larger distances.
Submission history
From: Gabriele Breuer [view email][v1] Thu, 29 Nov 2007 12:32:39 UTC (338 KB)
[v2] Thu, 24 Apr 2008 14:25:43 UTC (356 KB)
References & Citations
Bibliographic and Citation Tools
Bibliographic Explorer (What is the Explorer?)
Connected Papers (What is Connected Papers?)
Litmaps (What is Litmaps?)
scite Smart Citations (What are Smart Citations?)
Code, Data and Media Associated with this Article
alphaXiv (What is alphaXiv?)
CatalyzeX Code Finder for Papers (What is CatalyzeX?)
DagsHub (What is DagsHub?)
Gotit.pub (What is GotitPub?)
Hugging Face (What is Huggingface?)
Papers with Code (What is Papers with Code?)
ScienceCast (What is ScienceCast?)
Demos
Recommenders and Search Tools
Influence Flower (What are Influence Flowers?)
CORE Recommender (What is CORE?)
IArxiv Recommender
(What is IArxiv?)
arXivLabs: experimental projects with community collaborators
arXivLabs is a framework that allows collaborators to develop and share new arXiv features directly on our website.
Both individuals and organizations that work with arXivLabs have embraced and accepted our values of openness, community, excellence, and user data privacy. arXiv is committed to these values and only works with partners that adhere to them.
Have an idea for a project that will add value for arXiv's community? Learn more about arXivLabs.