Multiphase magnetic fields in the galaxy NGC 3627

Abstract

ABSTRACT 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 and from the Velocity Gradient Technique (VGT) using spectroscopic data. The latter employs the magnetohydrodynamical 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 magnetic field orientation globally consistent with the polarization. The agreement of the VGT-CO and polarization suggests that the magnetic fields associated with synchrotron emission also percolate through star-forming regions. The VGT-H α measurement reveals the magnetic fields in the warm ionized medium that permeates the disc and disc’s vicinity so that it exhibits less agreement with polarization. We find prominent radial fields measured by synchrotron polarization appear in the transition regions from the spiral arms to the galactic bar, while such morphology is less apparent in the VGT-CO and VGT-H α measured magnetic fields. The radial fields suggest that the magnetic torque is important in removing orbiting gas’ angular momentum. We notice that magnetic fields inferred from the dust polarization, VGT-CO, and synchrotron polarization are different in the east arm. We interpret this difference as arising from the fact that the three measurements are tracing the magnetic fields associated with pre-collision, the mixture of pre-collision and post-collision, and post-collision flows, respectively.