The cosmic-ray propagation code GALPROP has recently been enhanced in the areas of Galactic magnetic field and synchrotron radiation. A full 3D treatment is now implemented. We describe these enhancements and show applications to the interpretation of non-thermal radio surveys and gamma rays, to probe the Galactic cosmic-ray electron spectrum and magnetic fields.
We extend previous work modeling the Galactic magnetic field in the plane using synchrotron emission in total and polarised intensity. In this work, we include a more realistic treatment of the cosmic-ray electrons using the GALPROP propagation code optimized to match the existing high-energy data. This addition reduces the degeneracies in our previous analysis and when combined with an additional observed synchrotron frequency allows us to study the low-energy end of the cosmic-ray electron spectrum in a way that has not previously been done. For a pure diffusion propagation, we find a low-en…
We present the first results of a campaign of ENZO cosmological simulations targeting the shocked and the neutral parts of the cosmic web, obtained with Supercomputing facilities provided by the INAF-CINECA agreement.
Helical randomization of magnetized Galactic and galaxy clusters plasmas: from magnetorotational disc dynamo to the Faraday rotation and synchrotron emission skies
We present MeerKAT 1000 MHz and 1400 MHz observations of a bright radio galaxy in the southern hemisphere, ESO~137-006. The galaxy lies at the centre of the massive and merging Norma galaxy cluster. The MeerKAT continuum images (rms ~0.02 mJy/beam at ~10" resolution) reveal new features that have never been seen in a radio galaxy before: collimated synchrotron threads of yet unknown origin, which link the extended and bent radio lobes of ESO~137-006. The most prominent of these threads stretches in projection for about 80 kpc and is about 1 kpc in width. The radio spectrum of the threads is st…
We analyse observational signatures of magnetic fields for simulations of a Milky-Way like disc with supernova-driven interstellar turbulence and self-consistent chemical processes. In particular, we post-process two simulations data sets of the SILCC Project for two initial amplitudes of the magnetic field, $B_0 = $ 3 and 6 $μ$G, to study the evolution of Faraday rotation measures (RM) and synchrotron luminosity. For calculating the RM, three different models of the electron density $n_e$ are considered. A constant electron density, and two estimations based on the density of ionized species …
We follow up on a report by Vacca et al. (2018) of 28 candidate large-scale diffuse synchrotron sources in an 8°$\times$8° area of the sky (centred at RA 5h0m0s Dec 5°48'0''). These sources were originally observed at 1.4 GHz using a combination of the single-dish Sardinia Radio Telescope (SRT) and archival NRAO VLA Sky Survey (NVSS) data. They are in an area with nine massive galaxy clusters at z $\approx$ 0.1, and are candidates for the first detection of filaments of the synchrotron cosmic web. We attempt to verify these candidate sources with lower frequency observations at 154 MHz with th…
Cosmic-ray electrons (CREs) originating from the star-forming discs of spiral galaxies frequently form extended radio haloes that are best observable in edge-on galaxies. For the present study we selected two nearby edge-on galaxies from the CHANG-ES survey, NGC 891 and 4565, which differ largely in halo size and SFR. To figure out how such differences are related to the CRE transport in disc and halo, we use wide-band 1.5 and 6 GHz VLA observations obtained in the B, C, and D configurations, and combine the 6 GHz images with Effelsberg observations to correct for missing short spacings. We st…
Recent observations with the MeerKAT radio telescope reveal a unique population of faint non-thermal filaments pervading the central molecular zone (CMZ). Some of those filaments are organized into groups of almost parallel filaments, seemingly sorted by their length, so that their morphology resembles a harp with radio emitting "strings". We argue that the synchrotron emitting GeV electrons of these radio harps have been consecutively injected by the same source (a massive star or pulsar) into spatially intermittent magnetic fiber bundles within a magnetic flux tube or via time-dependent inje…
As the next step toward an improved large scale Galactic magnetic field model, we present a simple comparison of polarised synchrotron and thermal dust emission on the Galactic plane. We find that the field configuration in our previous model that reproduces the polarised synchrotron is not compatible with the WMAP 94 GHz polarised emission data. In particular, the high degree of dust polarisation in the outer Galaxy (90deg < l < 270deg) implies that the fields in the dust-emitting regions are more ordered than the average of synchrotron-emitting regions. This new dust information allows us to…
Cosmic rays (CRs) and magnetic fields are dynamically important components in the Galaxy, and their energy densities are comparable to that of the turbulent interstellar gas. The interaction of CRs and Galactic magnetic fields produces synchrotron radiation clearly visible in the radio regime. Detailed measurements of synchrotron radiation averaged over the line-of-sight (LOS), so-called synchrotron emissivities, can be used as a tracer of the CR density and Galactic magnetic field (GMF) strength. Our aim is to model the synchrotron emissivity in the Milky Way using a 3 dimensional dataset ins…
We aim to explore whether strong magnetic fields can be effectively generated in low-mass dwarf galaxies and, if so, whether such fields can be affected by galactic outflows and spread out into the intergalactic medium (IGM). We performed a radio continuum polarimetry study of IC10, the nearest starbursting dwarf galaxy, using a combination of multifrequency interferometric (VLA) and single-dish (Effelsberg) observations. VLA observations at 1.43 GHz reveal an extensive and almost spherical radio halo of IC10 in total intensity, extending twice more than the infrared-emitting galactic disk. Th…
Magnetic fields play an important role in the formation and evolution of a galaxy, but it is challenging to measure them by observation. Here we study the Seyfert galaxy NGC 3627's magnetic field orientations measured from the synchrotron polarization observed with the Very Large Array (VLA) and from the Velocity Gradient Technique (VGT) using spectroscopic data. The latter employs the magnetohydrodynamical (MHD) turbulence's anisotropy to probe the magnetic fields. Being applied to the CO (2-1) and H$α$ emission lines obtained from the PHANGS-ALMA and PHANGS-MUSE surveys, it reveals the magne…
Cosmic ray electrons (CREs) are a crucial part of the ISM and are observed via synchrotron emission. While much modelling has been carried out on the CRE distribution and propagation of the Milky Way, little has been done on normal external star-forming galaxies. Recent spectral data from a new generation of radio telescopes enable us to find more robust estimations of the CRE propagation. We model the synchrotron spectral index of M 51 using the time-dependent diffusion energy-loss equation and to compare the model results with the observed spectral index determined from recent low-frequency …
Interpretations of synchrotron observations often assume a tight correlation between magnetic and cosmic ray energy densities. We examine this assumption using both test-particle simulations of cosmic rays and MHD simulations which include cosmic rays as a diffusive fluid. We find no spatial correlation between the cosmic rays and magnetic field energy densities at turbulent scales. Moreover, the cosmic ray number density and magnetic field energy density are statistically independent. Nevertheless, the cosmic ray spatial distribution is highly inhomogeneous, especially at low energies because…
We analyze properties of non-thermal radio emission from the Central Molecular Zone (CMZ) and individual molecular clouds, and argue that the observed features can be interpreted in the framework of our recent theory of self-modulation of cosmic rays (CRs) penetrating dense molecular regions. For clouds with gas column densities of $\sim10^{23}$ cm$^{-2}$, the theory predicts depletion of sub-GeV CR electrons, occurring due to self-modulation of CR protons and leading to harder synchrotron spectra in the sub-GHz range. The predicted imprints of electron depletion in the synchrotron spectra agr…
Galaxies and their dark matter haloes are part of a complex network of mass structures, collectively called the cosmic web. Using the tidal tensor prescription these structures can be classified into four cosmic environments: voids, sheets, filaments and knots. As the cosmic web may influence the formation and evolution of dark matter haloes and the galaxies they host, we aim to study the effect of these cosmic environments on the average mass of galactic haloes. To this end we measure the galaxy-galaxy lensing profile of 91,195 galaxies, within 0.039 < z < 0.263, from the spectroscopic Galaxy…
Using magnetohydrodynamic simulations of fluctuation dynamos, we perform broad-bandwidth synthetic observations to investigate the properties of polarized synchrotron emission and the role that Faraday rotation plays in inferring the polarized structures in the intracluster medium (ICM) of galaxy clusters. In the saturated state of the dynamo, we find a Faraday depth (FD) dispersion $σ_{\rm FD} \approx 100$ rad m$^{-2}$, in agreement with observed values in the ICM. Remarkably, the FD power spectrum is qualitatively similar to $M(k)/k$, where $M(k)$ is the magnetic spectrum and $k$ the wavenum…
We present the first cosmological simulations of primordial magnetic fields derived from the constraints by the Cosmic Microwave Background observations, based on the fields' gravitational effect on cosmological perturbations. We evolved different primordial magnetic field models with the {\enzo} code and compared their observable signatures (and relative differences) in galaxy clusters, filaments and voids. The differences in synchrotron radio powers and Faraday Rotation measure from galaxy clusters are generally too small to be detected, whereas differences present in filaments will be testa…
We report the discovery of optical and X-ray synchrotron emission from the brighter radio jet in galaxy NGC 7385 using data from HST and Chandra. The jet has a projected length of 5 kpc and a similar morphology to other known optical jets in low-power radio galaxies. We also report a strong jet-cloud interaction which appears to be deflecting the counter-jet and causing a reversal in its direction.
Synchrotron radiation from cosmic rays is a key observational probe of the galactic magnetic field. Interpreting synchrotron emission data requires knowledge of the cosmic ray number density, which is often assumed to be in energy equipartition (or otherwise tightly correlated) with the magnetic field energy. However, there is no compelling observational or theoretical reason to expect such tight correlation to hold across all scales. We use test particle simulations, tracing the propagation of charged particles (protons) through a random magnetic field, to study the cosmic ray distribution at…
A far-infrared counterpart to the west hot spot of the radio galaxy Pictor A is discovered with the Spectral and Photometric Imaging REceiver (SPIRE) onboard Herschel. The color-corrected flux density of the source is measured as $70.0 \pm 9.9$ mJy at the wavelength of 350 $μ$m. A close investigation into its radio-to-optical spectrum indicates that the mid-infrared excess over the radio synchrotron component, detected with WISE and Spitzer, significantly contributes to the far-infrared band. Thanks to the SPIRE data, it is revealed that the spectrum of the excess is described by a broken powe…
An extinction-free estimator of the star-formation rate (SFR) of galaxies is critical for understanding the high-redshift universe. To this end, the nearly linear, tight correlation of far-infrared (FIR) and radio luminosity of star-forming galaxies is widely used. While the FIR is linked to massive star formation, which also generates shock-accelerated cosmic ray (CR) electrons and radio synchrotron emission, a detailed understanding of the underlying physics is still lacking. Hence, we perform three-dimensional magneto-hydrodynamical (MHD) simulations of isolated galaxies over a broad range …
Cosmic rays (CRs) interact with the gas, the radiation field and the magnetic field in the Milky Way, producing diffuse emission from radio to gamma rays. Observations of this diffuse emission and comparison with detailed predictions are powerful tools to unveil the CR properties and to study CR propagation. We present various GALPROP CR propagation scenarios based on current CR measurements. The predicted synchrotron emission is compared to radio surveys, and synchrotron temperature maps from WMAP and Planck, while the predicted interstellar gamma-ray emission is compared to Fermi-LAT observa…
We seek to understand the relationship between galaxy properties and their local environment, which calls for a proper formulation of the notion of environment. We analyse the GIMIC suite of cosmological hydrodynamical simulations within the framework of the cosmic web as formulated by Hoffman et al., focusing on properties of simulated DM haloes and luminous galaxies with respect to voids, sheets, filaments and knots - the four elements of the cosmic web. We find that the mass functions of haloes depend on environment, which drives other environmental dependence of galaxy formation. The web s…
The energy densities in magnetic fields and cosmic rays (CRs) in galaxies are often assumed to be in equipartition, allowing for an indirect estimate of the magnetic field strength from the observed radio synchrotron spectrum. However, both primary and secondary CRs contribute to the synchrotron spectrum, and the CR electrons also loose energy via bremsstrahlung and inverse Compton. While classical equipartition formulae avoid these intricacies, there have been recent revisions that account for the extreme conditions in starbursts. Yet, the application of the equipartition formula to starburst…
Recent Planck observations have revealed some of the important statistical properties of synchrotron and dust polarisation, namely, the $B$ to $E$ mode power and temperature-$E$ (TE) mode cross-correlation. In this paper, we extend our analysis in Kandel et al. (2017) that studied $B$ to $E$ mode power ratio for polarised dust emission to include TE cross-correlation and develop an analogous formalism for synchrotron signal, all using a realistic model of magnetohydrodynamical (MHD) turbulence. Our results suggest that the Planck results for both synchrotron and dust polarisation can be unders…
In star-forming galaxies, the far-infrared (FIR) and radio-continuum luminosities obey a tight empirical relation over a large range of star-formation rates (SFR). We examine magneto-hydrodynamic galaxy simulations with cosmic rays (CRs), accounting for their advective and anisotropic diffusive transport. We show that gravitational collapse of the proto-galaxy generates a corrugated accretion shock, which injects turbulence and drives a small-scale magnetic dynamo. As the shock propagates outwards and the associated turbulence decays, the large velocity shear between the supersonically rotatin…
