Bibcode
Heesen, V.; Rafferty, D. A.; Horneffer, A.; Beck, R.; Basu, A.; Westcott, J.; Hindson, L.; Brinks, E.; ChyŻy, K. T.; Scaife, A. M. M.; Brüggen, M.; Heald, G.; Fletcher, A.; Horellou, C.; Tabatabaei, F. S.; Paladino, R.; Nikiel-Wroczyński, B.; Hoeft, M.; Dettmar, R.-J.
Bibliographical reference
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Volume 476, Issue 2, p.1756-1764
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5
2018
Citations
19
Refereed citations
17
Description
Low-mass galaxies are subject to strong galactic outflows, in which
cosmic rays may play an important role; they can be best traced with
low-frequency radio continuum observations, which are less affected by
spectral ageing. We present a study of the nearby starburst dwarf
irregular galaxy IC 10 using observations at 140 MHz with the
Low-Frequency Array (LOFAR), at 1580 MHz with the Very Large Array
(VLA), and at 6200 MHz with the VLA and the 100-m Effelsberg telescope.
We find that IC 10 has a low-frequency radio halo, which manifests
itself as a second component (thick disc) in the minor axis profiles of
the non-thermal radio continuum emission at 140 and 1580 MHz. These
profiles are then fitted with 1D cosmic ray transport models for pure
diffusion and advection. We find that a diffusion model fits best, with
a diffusion coefficient of D = (0.4-0.8) ×
1026(E/GeV)0.5 cm2 s-1,
which is at least an order of magnitude smaller than estimates both from
anisotropic diffusion and the diffusion length. In contrast, advection
models, which cannot be ruled out due to the mild inclination, while
providing poorer fits, result in advection speeds close to the escape
velocity of ≈ 50 km s- 1, as expected for a cosmic
ray-driven wind. Our favoured model with an accelerating wind provides a
self-consistent solution, where the magnetic field is in energy
equipartition with both the warm neutral and warm ionized medium with an
important contribution from cosmic rays. Consequently, cosmic rays can
play a vital role for the launching of galactic winds in the disc-halo
interface.
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