arXiv subjects

Ralf-Juergen Dettmar

Publications and source records attributed to Ralf-Juergen Dettmar.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2025

ASKAP discovery of a 30 kpc bipolar outflow from the edge-on disk of the nearby spiral galaxy ESO 130-G012

We present the discovery of a large-scale, limb-brightened outflow, extending at least 30 kpc above and below the star-forming disk of the edge-on galaxy ESO 130-G012 (D = 16.9 Mpc). Partially obscured by Galactic foreground stars and dust, this optically unremarkable, low-mass galaxy reveals one of the largest known hourglass-shaped outflows from the full extent of its bright stellar disk. The outflow was discovered in 944 MHz radio continuum images from the Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder (ASKAP) obtained as part of the "Evolutionary Map of the Universe" (EMU) project. Its height is at least 3x that of the stellar disk diameter (~10 kpc), while its shape and size most resemble the large biconical, edge-brightened FUV and X-ray outflows in the nearby starburst galaxy NGC 3079. The large-scale, hourglass-shaped outflow of ESO 130-G012 appears to be hollow and originates from the star-forming disk, expanding into the halo with speeds close to the escape velocity before likely returning to the disk. Given ESO 130-G012's modest star formation rate, the height of the outflow is surprising and unusual, likely made possible by the galaxy's relatively low gravitational potential. Follow-up observations are expected to detect hot gas inside the bipolar outflow cones and magnetic fields along the X-shaped outflow wings. Neutral gas may also be lifted above the inner disk by the outflow.

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arXiv2024

CHANG-ES XXXII: Spatially Resolved Thermal/Nonthermal Separation from Radio Data Alone -- New Probes into NGC 3044 and NGC 5775

We have carried out spatially resolved thermal/nonthermal separation on two edge-on galaxies, NGC~3044 and NGC~5775, using only radio data. Narrow-band imaging within a frequency band that is almost contiguous from 1.25 to 7.02 GHz (L-band, S-band and C-band) has allowed us to fit spectra and construct thermal, nonthermal, and nonthermal spectral index maps. This method does not require any ancillary H$α$ and infrared data, or reliance on dust corrections that are challenging in edge-on galaxies. For NGC~3044, at 15 arcsec resolution, we find a median thermal fraction of $\sim\, 13$\% with an estimated uncertainty in this fraction of $\sim\, 50$\% at 4.13 GHz. This compares well with the H$α$ mixture method results. We uncovered evidence for a vertical outflow feature reaching at least $z\,\sim\,3.5$ kpc in projection above the plane, reminiscent of M82's starburst wind. For the higher SFR galaxy, NGC~5775 at 12 arcsec resolution, we find a median thermal fraction of 44\% at 4.13 GHz with an estimated error on this fraction of 17\%. Both galaxies show a change of slope (flattening) in L-band. These results suggest that a radio-only method for separating thermal from nonthermal emission is not only feasible, but able to reveal new features that might otherwise be obscured in edge-on disks.

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arXiv2024

CHANG-ES. XXX. 10 kpc Radio Lobes in The Sombrero Galaxy

We report the discovery of the 10 kilo-parsec (kpc) scale radio lobes in the Sombrero galaxy (NGC 4594), using data from the Continuum Halos in Nearby Galaxies - an Expanded Very Large Array (VLA) Survey (CHANG-ES) project. We further examine the balance between the magnetic pressure inside the lobes and the thermal pressure of the ambient hot gas. At the radii $r$ of ~(1-10) kpc, the magnetic pressure inside the lobes and the thermal pressure of the ambient hot gas are generally in balance. This implies that the jets could expand into the surroundings at least to r ~ 10 kpc. The feedback from the active galactic nucleus (AGN) jet responsible for the large-scale lobes may help to explain the unusually high X-ray luminosity of this massive quiescent isolated disk galaxy, although more theoretical work is needed to further examine this possibility.

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arXiv2020

Wobbly discs -- corrugations seen in the dust lanes of edge-on galaxies

We report the detection of small scale bending waves, also known as corrugations, in the dust lanes of five nearby edge-on disc galaxies. This phenomenon, where the disc mid-plane bends to become wavy, just as in warps but on a smaller scale, is seen here for the first time, in the dust lanes running across the discs. Because they are seen in absorption, this feature must be present in the dust disc in the outskirts of these galaxies. We enhance the visibility of these features using unsharp masking, trace the dust mid-plane across the disc, measure the corrugation amplitude by eye and the corrugation wavelength using Fourier analysis. The corrugation amplitude is found to be in the range of 70 - 200 pc and the wavelengths lie between 1 - 5 kpc. In this limited sample, we find that the amplitude of the corrugations tends to be larger for lower mass galaxies, whereas the wavelength of corrugation does not seem to depend on the mass of host galaxies. Linear stability analysis is performed to find out the dynamical state of these dust discs. Based on WKB analysis, we find that the dust corrugations in about half of our sample are stable. Further analysis, on a larger sample would be useful to strengthen the above results.

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arXiv2019

CHANG-ES XX. High Resolution Radio Continuum Images of Edge-on Galaxies and their AGNs -- Data Release 3

The CHANG-ES galaxy sample consists of 35 nearby edge-on galaxies that have been observed using the VLA at 1.6 GHz and 6.0 GHz. Here we present the 3rd data release of our sample, namely the B-configuration 1.6 GHz sample. In addition, we make available the {\it band-to-band} spectral index maps between 1.6 GHz and 6.0 GHz, the latter taken in the matching resolution C-configuration. The images can be downloaded from https://www.queensu.ca/changes. These are our highest resolution images ($\approx$ 3 arcsec) and we examine the possible presence of low luminosity active galactic nuclei in the sample as well as some in-disk structure. New features can be seen in the spectral index maps that are masked in the total intensity emission, including hidden spiral arms in NGC~3448 and two previously unknown radio lobes on either side of the nucleus of NGC~3628. Our AGN detection rate, using only radio criteria, is 55\% which we take as a lower limit because some weaker embedded AGNs are likely present which could be revealed at higher resolution. Archival XMM-Newton data were used to search for further fingerprints of the AGNs in the studied sample. In galaxy disks, discrete regions of flat spectral index are seen, likely due to a thermal emission fraction that is higher than the global average.

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arXiv2019

CHANG-ES: XVIII---The CHANG-ES Survey and Selected Results

The CHANG-ES (Continuum Halos in Nearby Galaxies) survey of 35 nearby edge-on galaxies is revealing new and sometimes unexpected and startling results in their radio continuum emission. The observations were in wide bandwidths centered at 1.6 and 6.0 GHz. Unique to this survey is full polarization data showing magnetic field structures in unprecedented detail, resolution and sensitivity for such a large sample. A wide range of new results are reported here, some never before seen in any galaxy. We see circular polarization and variability in active galactic nuclei (AGNs), in-disk discrete features, disk-halo structures sometimes only seen in polarization, and broad-scale halos with reversing magnetic fields, among others. This paper summarizes some of the CHANG-ES results seen thus far. Released images can be found at https://www.queensu.ca/changes.

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arXiv2018

CHANG-ES XI: Circular Polarization in the Cores of Nearby Galaxies

We detect 5 galaxies in the CHANG-ES (Continuum Halos in Nearby Galaxies -- an EVLA Survey) sample that show circular polarization (CP) at L-band in our high resolution data sets. Two of the galaxies (NGC~4388 and NGC~4845) show strong Stokes $V/I\,\equiv\,m_C\,\sim\,2$\%, two (NGC~660 and NGC~3628) have values of $m_C\sim \,0.3$\%, and NGC~3079 is a marginal detection at $m_C\sim \,0.2$\%. The two strongest $m_C$ galaxies also have the most luminous X-ray cores and the strongest internal absorption in X-rays. We have expanded on our previous Faraday conversion interpretation and analysis and provide analytical expressions for the expected $V$ signal for a general case in which the cosmic ray electron energy spectral index can take on any value. We provide examples as to how such expressions could be used to estimate magnetic field strengths and the lower energy cutoff for CR electrons. Four out of our detections are {\it resolved}, showing unique structures, including a {\it jet} in NGC~4388 and a CP `conversion disk' in NGC~4845. The conversion disk is inclined to the galactic disk but is perpendicular to a possible outflow direction. Such CP structures have never before been seen in any galaxy to our knowledge. None of the galaxy cores show linear polarization at L-band. Thus CP may provide a unique probe of physical conditions deep into radio AGNs.

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arXiv2016

Advective and diffusive cosmic ray transport in galactic haloes

We present 1D cosmic ray transport models, numerically solving equations of pure advection and diffusion for the electrons and calculating synchrotron emission spectra. We find that for exponential halo magnetic field distributions advection leads to approximately exponential radio continuum intensity profiles, whereas diffusion leads to profiles that can be better approximated by a Gaussian function. Accordingly, the vertical radio spectral profiles for advection are approximately linear, whereas for diffusion they are of `parabolic' shape. We compare our models with deep ATCA observations of two edge-on galaxies, NGC 7090 and 7462, at $λλ$ 22 and 6 cm. Our result is that the cosmic ray transport in NGC 7090 is advection dominated with $V=150^{+80}_{-30}~\rm km\,s^{-1}$, and that the one in NGC 7462 is diffusion dominated with $D=3.0\pm 1.0 \times 10^{28}E_{\rm GeV}^{0.5}~\rm cm^2\,s^{-1}$. NGC 7090 has both a thin and thick radio disc with respective magnetic field scale heights of $h_{\rm B1}=0.8\pm 0.1$ kpc and $h_{\rm B2}=4.7\pm 1.0$ kpc. NGC 7462 has only a thick radio disc with $h_{\rm B2}=3.8\pm 1.0$ kpc. In both galaxies, the magnetic field scale heights are significantly smaller than what estimates from energy equipartition would suggest. A non-negligible fraction of cosmic ray electrons can escape from NGC 7090, so that this galaxy is not an electron calorimeter.

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arXiv2015

CHANG-ES IV: Radio continuum emission of 35 edge-on galaxies observed with the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array in D-configuration, Data Release 1

We present the first part of the observations made for the Continuum Halos in Nearby Galaxies, an EVLA Survey (CHANG-ES) project. The aim of the CHANG-ES project is to study and characterize the nature of radio halos, their prevalence as well as their magnetic fields, and the cosmic rays illuminating these fields. This paper reports observations with the compact D configuration of the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array (VLA) for the sample of 35 nearby edge-on galaxies of CHANG-ES. With the new wide bandwidth capabilities of the VLA, an unprecedented sensitivity was achieved for all polarization products. The beam resolution is an average of 9.6" and 36" with noise levels reaching approximately 6 and 30 microJy per beam for C- and L-bands, respectively (robust weighting). We present intensity maps in these two frequency bands (C and L), with different weightings, as well as spectral index maps, polarization maps, and new measurements of star formation rates (SFRs). The data products described herein are available to the public in the CHANG-ES data release available at www.queensu.ca/changes. We also present evidence of a trend among galaxies with larger halos having higher SFR surface density, and we show, for the first time, a radio continuum image of the median galaxy, taking advantage of the collective signal-to-noise ratio of 30 of our galaxies. This image shows clearly that a typical spiral galaxy is surrounded by a halo of magnetic fields and cosmic rays.

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arXiv2015

Magnetic Field Tomography in Nearby Galaxies with the Square Kilometre Array

Magnetic fields play an important role in shaping the structure and evolution of the interstellar medium (ISM) of galaxies, but the details of this relationship remain unclear. With SKA1, the 3D structure of galactic magnetic fields and its connection to star formation will be revealed. A highly sensitive probe of the internal structure of the magnetoionized ISM is the partial depolarization of synchrotron radiation from inside the volume. Different configurations of magnetic field and ionized gas within the resolution element of the telescope lead to frequency-dependent changes in the observed degree of polarization. The results of spectro-polarimetric observations are tied to physical structure in the ISM through comparison with detailed modeling, supplemented with the use of new analysis techniques that are being actively developed and studied within the community such as Rotation Measure Synthesis. The SKA will enable this field to come into its own and begin the study of the detailed structure of the magnetized ISM in a sample of nearby galaxies, thanks to its extraordinary wideband capabilities coupled with the combination of excellent surface brightness sensitivity and angular resolution.

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arXiv2012

Continuum Halos in Nearby Galaxies -- an EVLA Survey (CHANG-ES) -- I: Introduction to the Survey

We introduce a new survey to map the radio continuum halos of a sample of 35 edge-on spiral galaxies at 1.5 GHz and 6 GHz in all polarization products. The survey is exploiting the new wide bandwidth capabilities of the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array (i.e. the Expanded Very Large Array, or EVLA) in a variety of array configurations (B, C, and D) in order to compile the most comprehensive data set yet obtained for the study of radio halo properties. This is the first survey of radio halos to include all polarization products. In this first paper, we outline the scientific motivation of the survey, the specific science goals, and the expected improvements in noise levels and spatial coverage from the survey. Our goals include investigating the physical conditions and origin of halos, characterizing cosmic ray transport and wind speed, measuring Faraday rotation and mapping the magnetic field, probing the in-disk and extraplanar far-infrared - radio continuum relation, and reconciling non-thermal radio emission with high-energy gamma-ray models. The sample size allows us to search for correlations between radio halos and other properties, including environment, star formation rate, and the presence of AGNs. In a companion paper (Paper II) we outline the data reduction steps and present the first results of the survey for the galaxy, NGC 4631.

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arXiv2012

Continuum Halos in Nearby Galaxies -- an EVLA Survey (CHANG-ES) -- II: First Results on NGC 4631

We present the first results from the CHANG-ES survey, a new survey of 35 edge-on galaxies to search for both in-disk as well as extra-planar radio continuum emission. The motivation and science case for the survey are presented in a companion paper (Paper I). In this paper (Paper II), we outline the observations and data reduction steps required for wide-band calibration and mapping of EVLA data, including polarization, based on C-array test observations of NGC 4631. With modest on-source observing times (30 minutes at 1.5 GHz and 75 minutes at 6 GHz for the test data) we have achieved best rms noise levels of 22 and 3.5 $μ$Jy beam$^{-1}$ at 1.5 GHz and 6 GHz, respectively. New disk-halo features have been detected, among them two at 1.5 GHz that appear as loops in projection. We present the first 1.5 GHz spectral index map of NGC 4631 to be formed from a single wide-band observation in a single array configuration. This map represents tangent slopes to the intensities within the band centered at 1.5 GHz, rather than fits across widely separated frequencies as has been done in the past and is also the highest spatial resolution spectral index map yet presented for this galaxy. The average spectral index in the disk is $\barα_{1.5 GHz}\,=\,-0.84\,\pm\,0.05$ indicating that the emission is largely non-thermal, but a small global thermal contribution is sufficient to explain a positive curvature term in the spectral index over the band. Two specific star forming regions have spectral indices that are consistent with thermal emission. Polarization results (uncorrected for internal Faraday rotation) are consistent with previous observations and also reveal some new features. On broad scales, we find strong support for the notion that magnetic fields constrain the X-ray emitting hot gas.

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arXiv2010

Lopsidedness in WHISP galaxies

Observations of the stellar and gaseous components in disc galaxies often reveal asymmetries in the morphological and kinematic distribution. However, the origin of this effect is not well known to date, and quantitative studies are rare. Here, we present the first statistical investigation of a sample of 76 HI discs using the WHISP survey. We perform a Fourier analysis to study the morphological lopsidedness. This allows to trace the degree of asymmetry with radius. We further investigate the dependence on, e.g., the morphological type and the environment.

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arXiv2008

HST/ACS Observations of Star Formation Driven Outflows in Nearby Edge-on Spiral Galaxies: Dependence of Halo Morphology on Star Formation Activity

(Abridged). We present new high spatial resolution narrowband imaging observations of extraplanar diffuse ionized gas (eDIG) in four late-type, actively star forming edge-on spirals, obtained with ACS on-board HST. Our F658N (H-alpha) observations reveal a multitude of structures on both small and large scales. Whereas all four galaxies have been studied with ground-based telescopes before, here the small scale structure of the extended emission line gas is presented for the first time at a spatial resolution of 0.05", corresponding to 5.0 pc at the mean distance to the target galaxies. The eDIG morphology is very different for all four targets, probably as a result of their different levels of star formation activity. We find that the morphology of the eDIG, in particular the break-up of diffuse emission into filaments in galaxy halos, shows a strong dependence on the level of star formation activity per unit area, and eDIG can be arranged into a morphological sequence. NGC4634 and NGC5775 have the highest SF rate per unit area in our sample and the observed morphology suggests that the break-up of the smooth eDIG layer into individual resolved filaments occurs only above a certain threshold of SF activity per unit area. Combined with ground-based data for samples that span a larger range of galaxy mass our results indicate that the gravitational potential also plays an important role in the eDIG morphology. In low-mass galaxies the gas can be expelled due to shallow gravitational potentials more easily and couple with strong star formation driven outflows on a local scale. This is in contrast to the more massive galaxies, which show smooth eDIG layers, unless they are powered by a superwind, as in the case of nucleated starburst galaxies.

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arXiv2006

Dwarf galaxies in Hickson Compact Groups

We observed 5 Hickson Compact Groups with the ESO/MPI 2.2m telescope and WFI to investigate the dwarf galaxy content and distribution in these galaxy groups. Our deep imaging and careful selection of the candidate galaxies revealed a rich population of mainly passively evolving dwarf galaxies, which is spatially much more extended than the originally defined Hickson Compact groups. The composite luminosity function of the 5 groups shows a bimodal structure with a very steep rise in the low luminosity regime. The faint end slope is close to the predictions of CDM theory for the slope of the Dark Matter halo mass function.

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arXiv2006

An optical search for Low Surface Brightness Galaxies in the Arecibo HI Strip Survey

In order to estimate the contribution of low surface brightness (LSB) galaxies to the local (z<0.1) galaxy number density, we performed an optical search for LSB candidates in a 15.5 deg^2 part of the region covered by the 65 deg^2 blind Arecibo HI Strip Survey (AHISS). Object detection and galaxy profile fitting were done with analytical algorithms. The detection efficiency and the selection effects were evaluated using large samples of artificial galaxies. Our final catalogue is diameter-limited and contains 306 galaxies with diameters >18" at the limiting surface brightness of mu_{B,lim}=25.2+-0.31 mag/arcsec^2. Of these 306 galaxies, 148 were not catalogued previously. Our results indicate that low surface brightness galaxies contribute at least to 30 % to the local galaxy number density. Without additional distance information, choosing the limiting diameter and the surface brightness at which the diameter is measured is crucial. Depending on these choices, diameter-limited optical catalogues are either biased against LSB galaxies, or contaminated with cosmologically dimmed high surface brightness galaxies, which affects the implied surface brightness distribution. The comparison to the AHISS showed that although optical surveys detect more galaxies per deg^2 than HI surveys, their drawback is the need for spectroscopic follow up observations to derive distances. Blind HI surveys have no diameter limits, but tend to miss gas-poor galaxies and all galaxies which lie outside their redshift limits. HI and optical surveys thus provide complementary information and sample different parts of the LSB galaxy population.

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arXiv2004

A Hubble Space Telescope WFPC2 Investigation of the Disk-Halo Interface in NGC891

We present deep narrowband observations with high spatial resolution of extraplanar diffuse ionized gas in the halo of NGC891, obtained with the WFPC2 on-board the HST. Our H-alpha observations, centered on the northern part of NGC891, reveal an extended gaseous halo, which fills almost the entire field of view of our WFPC2 observation. The majority of the H-alpha emission is diffuse. Several discrete features (e.g., filaments) are visible as well. Some of the filaments reach distances of up to 2.2 kpc above the galactic plane, and are extremely collimated, even at high galactic latitudes. We compare the morphology of these filaments with theoretical models, which describe possible transport mechanisms in a general way. We also investigate extraplanar dust features, which are best visible in unsharp-masked images of our broadband F675W image, and we compare them to the spatial distribution of DIG filaments. Individual dust features, however, are not spatially correlated with diffuse ionized gas counterparts, such as individual filaments. Quite interestingly, the orientation of the dust features changes from being mostly aligned perpendicular to the disk at low galactic latitudes, to a parallel alignment at high |z|. We compare the diffuse ionized gas distribution to the hot ionized medium, traced by X-ray observations performed by Chandra. There exists a good correlation of the presence of the warm and hot ionized gas, in particular, an X-ray bright region at |z| ~ 1-1.5 kpc fills the entire northern halo region, whereas the intensity in the midplane is considerably depressed. We also compare the sizes of individual H-alpha emission line features in the midplane of NGC891 with similar structures that are known in our Milky Way and in the LMC.

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arXiv2003

An H-alpha survey aiming at the detection of extraplanar diffuse ionized gas in halos of edge-on spiral galaxies II. The H-alpha survey atlas and catalog

In this second paper on the investigation of extraplanar diffuse ionized gas in nearby edge-on spiral galaxies we present the actual results of the individual galaxies of our H-alpha imaging survey. A grand total of 74 galaxies have been studied, including the 9 galaxies of a recently studied sub-sample (Rossa & Dettmar 2000). 40.5% of all studied galaxies reveal extraplanar diffuse ionized gas, whereas in 59.5% of the survey galaxies no extraplanar diffuse ionized gas could be detected. The average distances of this extended emission above the galactic midplane range from 1-2 kpc, while individual filaments in a few galaxies reach distances of up to |z| ~ 6 kpc. In several cases a pervasive layer of ionized gas was detected, similar to the Reynolds layer in our Milky Way, while other galaxies reveal only extended emission locally. The morphology of the diffuse ionized gas is discussed for each galaxy and is compared with observations of other important ISM constituents in the context of the disk-halo connection, in those cases where published results were available. Furthermore, we present the distribution of extraplanar dust in these galaxies, based on an analysis of the unsharp-masked R-band images. The results are compared with the distribution of the diffuse ionized gas.

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