No Arabic abstract
We observed the starburst galaxy M82 in 850$mu$m polarised light with the POL-2 polarimeter on the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope (JCMT). We interpret our observed polarisation geometry as tracing a two-component magnetic field: a poloidal component aligned with the galactic superwind, extending to a height $sim 350$ pc above and below the central bar; and a spiral-arm-aligned, or possibly toroidal, component in the plane of the galaxy, which dominates the 850$mu$m polarised light distribution at galactocentric radii $gtrsim 2$ kpc. Comparison of our results with recent HAWC+ measurements of the field in the dust entrained by the M82 superwind suggests that the superwind breaks out from the central starburst at $sim 350$ pc above the plane of the galaxy.
Galactic outflows driven by starbursts can modify the galactic magnetic fields and drive them away from the galactic planes. Here, we quantify how these fields may magnetize the intergalactic medium. We estimate the strength and structure of the fields in the starburst galaxy M82 using thermal polarized emission observations from SOFIA/HAWC+ and a potential field extrapolation commonly used in solar physics. We modified the Davis-Chandrasekhar-Fermi method to account for the large-scale flow and the turbulent field. Results show that the observed magnetic fields arise from the combination of a large-scale ordered potential field associated with the outflow and a small-scale turbulent field associated with bow-shock-like features. Within the central $900$ pc radius, the large-scale field accounts for $53pm4$% of the observed turbulent magnetic energy with a median field strength of $305pm15$ $mu$G, while small-scale turbulent magnetic fields account for the remaining $40pm5$% with a median field strength of $222pm19$ $mu$G. We estimate that the turbulent kinetic and turbulent magnetic energies are in close equipartition up to $sim2$ kpc (measured), while the turbulent kinetic energy dominates at $sim7$ kpc (extrapolated). We conclude that the fields are frozen into the ionized outflowing medium and driven away kinetically. The magnetic field lines in the galactic wind of M82 are `open, providing a direct channel between the starburst core and the intergalactic medium. Our novel approach offers the tools needed to quantify the effects of outflows on galactic magnetic fields as well as their influence on the intergalactic medium and evolution of energetic particles.
Recent high-resolution interferometric images of submillimetre galaxies (SMGs) reveal fascinatingly complex morphologies. This raises a number of questions: how does the relative orientation of a galaxy affect its observed submillimetre emission, and does this result in an `orientation bias in the selection and analysis of such galaxies in flux-limited cosmological surveys? We investigate these questions using the Simba cosmological simulation paired with the dust radiative transfer code Powderday. We select eight simulated SMGs ($S_{850}gtrsim2$ mJy) at $z = 2$, and measure the variance of their `observed emission over 50 random orientations. Each galaxy exhibits significant scatter in its emission close to the peak of the thermal dust emission, with variation in flux density of up to $sim$50 mJy at the peak. This results in an appreciable dispersion in the inferred dust temperatures and infrared luminosities ($16^{mathrm{th}}-84^{mathrm{th}}$ percentile ranges of 5 K and 0.1 dex, respectively) and therefore a fundamental uncertainty in derived parameters such as dust mass and star formation rate ($sim$30% for the latter using simple calibrations). Using a Monte Carlo simulation we also assess the impact of orientation on flux-limited surveys, finding a bias in the selection of SMGs towards those with face-on orientations, as well as those at lower redshifts. We predict that the orientation bias will affect flux-limited single-dish surveys, most significantly at THz frequencies, and this bias should be taken into account when placing the results of targeted follow-up studies in a statistical context.
We present optical and near infrared (NIR) observations of the nearby Type Ia SN 2014J. Seventeen optical and twenty-three NIR spectra were obtained from 10 days before ($-$10d) to 10 days after (+10d) the time of maximum $B$-band brightness. The relative strengths of absorption features and their patterns of development can be compared at one day intervals throughout most of this period. Carbon is not detected in the optical spectra, but we identify CI $lambda$ 1.0693 in the NIR spectra. We find that MgII lines with high oscillator strengths have higher initial velocities than other MgII lines. We show that the velocity differences can be explained by differences in optical depths due to oscillator strengths. The spectra of SN 2014J show it is a normal SN Ia, but many parameters are near the boundaries between normal and high-velocity subclasses. The velocities for OI, MgII, SiII, SII, CaII and FeII suggest that SN 2014J has a layered structure with little or no mixing. That result is consistent with the delayed detonation explosion models. We also report photometric observations, obtained from $-$10d to +29d, in the $UBVRIJH$ and $K_s$ bands. SN 2014J is about 3 magnitudes fainter than a normal SN Ia at the distance of M82, which we attribute to extinction in the host. The template fitting package SNooPy is used to interpret the light curves and to derive photometric parameters. Using $R_V$ = 1.46, which is consistent with previous studies, SNooPy finds that $A_V = 1.80$ for $E(B-V)_{host}=1.23 pm 0.01$ mag. The maximum $B$-band brightness of $-19.19 pm 0.10$ mag was reached on February 1.74 UT $ pm 0.13$ days and the supernova had a decline parameter of $Delta m_{15}=1.11 pm 0.02$ mag.
Optical stellar polarimetry in the Perseus molecular cloud direction is known to show a fully mixed bi-modal distribution of position angles across the cloud (Goodman et al. 1990). We study the Gaia trigonometric distances to each of these stars and reveal that the two components in position angles trace two different dust clouds along the line of sight. One component, which shows a polarization angle of -37.6 deg +/- 35.2 deg and a higher polarization fraction of 2.0 +/- 1.7%, primarily traces the Perseus molecular cloud at a distance of 300 pc. The other component, which shows a polarization angle of +66.8 deg +/- 19.1 deg and a lower polarization fraction of 0.8 +/- 0.6%, traces a foreground cloud at a distance of 150 pc. The foreground cloud is faint, with a maximum visual extinction of < 1 mag. We identify that foreground cloud as the outer edge of the Taurus molecular cloud. Between the Perseus and Taurus molecular clouds, we identify a lower-density ellipsoidal dust cavity with a size of 100 -- 160 pc. This dust cavity locates at l = 170 deg, b = -20 deg, and d = 240 pc, which corresponds to an HI shell generally associated with the Per OB2 association. The two-component polarization signature observed toward the Perseus molecular cloud can therefore be explained by a combination of the plane-of-sky orientations of the magnetic field both at the front and at the back of this dust cavity.
Several observations of astrophysical jets show evidence of a structure in the direction perpendicular to the jet axis, leading to the development of spine & sheath models of jets. Most studies focus on a two-component jet consisting of a highly relativistic inner jet and a slower - but still relativistic - outer jet surrounded by an unmagnetized environment. These jets are believed to be susceptible to a relativistic Rayleigh-Taylor-type instability, depending on the effective inertia ratio of the two components. We extend previous studies by taking into account the presence of a non-zero toroidal magnetic field. Different values of magnetization are examined, to detect possible differences in the evolution and stability of the jet. We find that the toroidal field, above a certain level of magnetization $sigma$, roughly equal to 0.01, can stabilize the jet against the previously mentioned instabilities and that there is a clear trend in the behaviour of the average Lorentz factor and the effective radius of the jet when we continuously increase the magnetization. The simulations are performed using the relativistic MHD module from the open source, parallel, grid adaptive, MPI-AMRVAC code.