A grand-design spiral galaxy with an ordered magnetic field at redshift 2.6 as resolved with ALMA and gravitational lensing

Fuente: arXiv
Guardado en:
Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: de Roo, W., Vegetti, S., Powell, D. M., Ndiritu, S. W., Pakmor, R., McKean, J. P.
Formato: Preprint
Publicado: 2024
Materias:
Acceso en línea:
Etiquetas: Agregar Etiqueta
Sin Etiquetas, Sea el primero en etiquetar este registro!
_version_ 1866909559102111744
author de Roo, W.
Vegetti, S.
Powell, D. M.
Ndiritu, S. W.
Pakmor, R.
McKean, J. P.
author_facet de Roo, W.
Vegetti, S.
Powell, D. M.
Ndiritu, S. W.
Pakmor, R.
McKean, J. P.
contents Magnetic fields play an important role in the evolution of galaxies and in shaping the dynamics of their inter-stellar medium. However, the formation history of magnetic fields from initial seed-fields to well-ordered systems is not clear. Favoured scenarios include a turbulent dynamo that amplifies the field, and a mean-field dynamo that organizes it. Such a model can be tested through observing the magnetic-field structure of galaxies in the early Universe given the relative formation time-scales involved. Here, we combine the high angular resolution of the Atacama Large Milli-metre Array (ALMA) and gravitational lensing to resolve the magnetic field structure of a 4-kpc in extent grand-design spiral when the Universe was just 2.6 Gyr old. We find that the spiral arm structure, as traced by the heated dust emission, is coincident with the linearly polarized emission, which is consistent with a highly ordered magnetic field. The time-scale needed to produce such an ordered field is likely within at least several rotations of the disk. Our study highlights the importance of combining the long baselines of ALMA and gravitational lensing to resolve the structure of galaxies at cosmologically interesting epochs.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2412_08705
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle A grand-design spiral galaxy with an ordered magnetic field at redshift 2.6 as resolved with ALMA and gravitational lensing
de Roo, W.
Vegetti, S.
Powell, D. M.
Ndiritu, S. W.
Pakmor, R.
McKean, J. P.
Astrophysics of Galaxies
Magnetic fields play an important role in the evolution of galaxies and in shaping the dynamics of their inter-stellar medium. However, the formation history of magnetic fields from initial seed-fields to well-ordered systems is not clear. Favoured scenarios include a turbulent dynamo that amplifies the field, and a mean-field dynamo that organizes it. Such a model can be tested through observing the magnetic-field structure of galaxies in the early Universe given the relative formation time-scales involved. Here, we combine the high angular resolution of the Atacama Large Milli-metre Array (ALMA) and gravitational lensing to resolve the magnetic field structure of a 4-kpc in extent grand-design spiral when the Universe was just 2.6 Gyr old. We find that the spiral arm structure, as traced by the heated dust emission, is coincident with the linearly polarized emission, which is consistent with a highly ordered magnetic field. The time-scale needed to produce such an ordered field is likely within at least several rotations of the disk. Our study highlights the importance of combining the long baselines of ALMA and gravitational lensing to resolve the structure of galaxies at cosmologically interesting epochs.
title A grand-design spiral galaxy with an ordered magnetic field at redshift 2.6 as resolved with ALMA and gravitational lensing
topic Astrophysics of Galaxies
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2412.08705