The Andromeda Galaxy (M31) is the nearest grand-design spiral galaxy. Thus far most studies in the radio regime concentrated on the 10 kpc ring. The central region of M31 has significantly different properties than the outer parts: The star formation
rate is low, and inclination and position angle are largely different from the outer disk. The existing model of the magnetic field in the radial range 6<=r<=14 kpc is extended to the innermost part r<=0.5 kpc to ultimately achieve a picture of the entire magnetic field in M31. We combined observations taken with the VLA at 3.6 cm and 6.2 cm with data from the Effelsberg 100-m telescope to fill the missing spacings of the synthesis data. The resulting polarization maps were averaged in sectors to analyse the azimuthal behaviour of the polarized intensity (PI), rotation measure (RM), and apparent pitch angle (phi_obs). We developed a simplified 3-D model for the magnetic field in the central region to explain the azimuthal behaviour of the three observables. Our 3-D model of a quadrupolar or dipolar dynamo field can explain the observed patterns in PI, RM, and phi_obs, while a 2-D configuration is not sufficient to explain the azimuthal behaviour. In addition and independent of our model, the RM pattern shows that the spiral magnetic field in the inner 0.5 kpc points outward, which is opposite to that in the outer disk, and has a pitch angle of about 33 degrees, which is much larger than that of 8-19 degrees in the outer disk. The physical conditions in the central region differ significantly from those in the 10 kpc ring. In addition, the orientation of this region with respect to the outer disk is completely different. The opposite magnetic field directions suggest that the central region is decoupled from the outer disk, and we propose that an independent dynamo is active in the central region.
Polarization measurements at low radio frequencies allow detection of small Faraday rotation measures caused by regular magnetic fields in galaxies and in the foreground of the Milky Way. The galaxy M31 was observed in two overlapping pointings with
the Westerbork Synthesis Radio Telescope (WSRT) resulting in ~4 resolution in total intensity and linearly polarized emission. The frequency range 310-376 MHz was covered by 1024 channels which allowed the application of RM synthesis. We derived a data cube in Faraday depth and compared two symmetric ranges of negative and positive Faraday depths. This new method avoids the range of high instrumental polarization and allows the detection of very low degrees of polarization. For the first time, diffuse polarized emission from a nearby galaxy is detected below 1 GHz. The degree of polarization is only 0.21 +/- 0.05 %, consistent with extrapolation of internal depolarization from data at higher radio frequency. A catalogue of 33 polarized sources and their Faraday rotation in the M31 field is presented. Their average depolarization is DP(90,20) = 0.14 +/- 0.02, 7 times stronger depolarized than at 1.4 GHz. We argue that this strong depolarization originates within the sources, e.g. in their radio lobes, or in intervening galaxies on the line of sight. On the other hand, the Faraday rotation of the sources is mostly produced in the foreground of the Milky Way and varies significantly across the ~9 square degree M31 field. As expected, polarized emission from M31 and extragalactic background sources is much weaker at low frequencies compared to the GHz range. Future observations with LOFAR, with high sensitivity and high angular resolution to reduce depolarization, may reveal diffuse polarization from the outer disks and halos of galaxies.
