Testing a Dynamical Equilibrium Model of the Extraplanar Diffuse Ionized Gas in NGC 891

Abstract

The observed scale heights of extraplanar diffuse ionized gas (eDIG) layers exceed their thermal scale heights by a factor of a few in the Milky Way and other nearby edge-on disk galaxies. Here, we test a dynamical equilibrium model of the extraplanar diffuse ionized gas layer in NGC 891, where we ask whether the thermal, turbulent, magnetic field, and cosmic ray pressure gradients are sufficient to support the layer. In optical emission line spectroscopy from the SparsePak integral field unit on the WIYN 3.5-meter telescope, the H-alpha emission in position-velocity space suggests that the eDIG is found in a ring between galactocentric radii of R_min <= R <= 8 kpc, where R_min >= 2 kpc. We find that the thermal (sigma_th = 11 km/s) and turbulent (sigma_turb = 25 km/s) velocity dispersions are insufficient to satisfy the hydrostatic equilibrium equation given an exponential electron scale height of h_z = 1.0 kpc. Using a literature analysis of radio continuum observations from the CHANG-ES survey, we demonstrate that the magnetic field and cosmic ray pressure gradients are sufficient to stably support the gas at R >= 8 kpc if the cosmic rays are sufficiently coupled to the system (gamma_cr = 1.45). Thus, a stable dynamical equilibrium model is viable only if the extraplanar diffuse ionized gas is found in a thin ring around R = 8 kpc, and non-equilibrium models such as a galactic fountain flow are of interest for further study.

24 pages, 13 figures, accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journal

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Cited by in corpus (2)

• {\it HST}/COS Observations of the Warm Ionized Gaseous Halo of NGC 891
• Detection of Extraplanar Diffuse Ionized Gas in M83