2024/04/03 by Mengke Zhao, Zhao, Mengke, Jianjun Zhou +21 · 1 voice · 1 citation
Physics and Astronomy · #Astro and Planetary Science #Atomic and Subatomic Physics Research #Stellar, planetary, and galactic studies #astro-ph.GA
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2404.02651
openalex publication_date 2024/04/03 · openalex created_date 2024/04/06 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
We report the detection of the ordered alignment between the magnetic field and kpc-scale bubbles in the nearby spiral galaxy, NGC 628. Applying the Velocity Gradient Technique (VGT) on CO spectroscopic data from the ALMA-PHANGS, the magnetic field of NGC 628 is measured at the scale of 191 pc (∼ 4 ''). The large-scale magnetic field is oriented parallel to the spiral arms and curves around the galactic bubble structures in the mid-infrared emission observed by the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). Twenty-one bubble structures have been identified at the edges of spiral arms with scales over 300 pc, which includes two kpc-scale structures. These bubbles are caused by supernova remnants and prolonged star formation and are similar to the outflow chimneys found in neutral hydrogen in galactic disks. At the edge of the bubbles, the shocks traced by the OIII emission present a curved magnetic field that parallels the bubble's shell. The magnetic field follows the bubble expansion and binds the gas in the shell to trigger further star formation. By analyzing the larger sample of 1694 bubbles, we found a distinct radial-size distribution of bubbles in NGC 628 indicating the star formation history in the galaxy.