Magnetic field in the Andromeda nebula inferred from polarization observations.
Abstract
We propose a method of pattern recognition intended primarily to determine the configuration of large-scale magnetic fields in external galaxies. Single-frequency polarization observations of M31 are analyzed, to determine parameters of the large-scale magnetic field in this galaxy. In the inner part of the magnetic ring in M31, for 7 < r < 10 kpc, deviations of the magnetic field configuration from axial symmetry are noticeable at the 95% confidence level. The basic axisymmetric component of the field can be distorted either by the north-south asymmetry of the disk of M31, revealed earlier in distributions of other constituents of the interstellar medium, or by the spiral pattern; other possible explanations of apparent deviations from axial symmetry are also proposed. In the outer parts of M31 a purely axisymmetric field distribution is consistent with the available observational data.
- Publication:
-
Astronomy and Astrophysics
- Pub Date:
- April 1990
- Bibcode:
- 1990A&A...230..284R
- Keywords:
-
- Andromeda Galaxy;
- Interstellar Magnetic Fields;
- Nebulae;
- Polarized Radiation;
- Radio Emission;
- Data Processing;
- Magnetic Field Configurations;
- Polarization Characteristics;
- Spiral Galaxies;
- Astrophysics