paper

Magnetic fields in barred galaxies. V. Modelling NGC 1365

arXiv:astro-ph/0701277 · doi:10.1051/0004-6361:20066222

Abstract

We present a model of the global magnetic field in the barred galaxy NGC 1365 based jointly on the large-scale velocity field of interstellar gas fitted to HI and CO observations of this galaxy and on mean-field dynamo theory. The aim of the paper is to present a detailed quantitative comparison of a galactic dynamo model with independent radio observations. We consider several gas dynamical and nonlinear dynamo models that include plausible variations of parameters that are poorly known. Models of cosmic ray distribution in the galaxy are introduced to produce synthetic radio polarization maps allowing direct comparison with those observed at 3.5cm and 6.2cm. We show that the dynamo model is robust in that the most important magnetic features are controlled by the relatively well established properties of the density distribution and gas velocity field. The optimal agreement between the synthetic polarization maps and observations is obtained when a uniform cosmic ray distribution is adopted. We find some indirect evidence for enhanced turbulence in the regions of strong velocity shear and within 1-2kpc of the galactic centre. We confirm that magnetic stresses can drive an inflow of gas into the inner 1kpc of the galaxy at a rate of a few solar masses per year. The dynamo models are successful to some extent in modelling the large scale regular magnetic field in this galaxy. Our results demonstrate that dynamo models and synthetic polarization maps can provide information about both the gas dynamical models and conditions in the interstellar medium. We demonstrate that the dynamical effects of magnetic fields cannot be everywhere ignored in galaxy modelling.

14 pages, 25 figures, Accepted for publication in A&A

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