Upper Limits to Magnetic Fields in the Outskirts of Galaxies

Ericson López, Jairo Armijos-Abendaño, Mario Llerena, Franklin Aldás

Published 2017-09-19Version 1

Based on CO(2-1) public data, we study the monoxide oxygen gas excitation conditions and the magnetic field strength of four spiral galaxies. For the galaxy outskirts, we found kinetic temperatures in the range of $\lesssim$35--38 K, CO column densities $\lesssim 10^{15}$--$10^{16}$ cm$^{-2}$, and H$_2$ masses $\lesssim 4\times 10^6$--$6\times10^8$ M$_\odot$. An H$_2$ density $\lesssim 10^3$ cm$^{-3}$ is suitable to explain the 2$\sigma$ upper limits of the CO(2-1) line intensity. We constrain the magnetic field strength for our sample of spiral galaxies and their outskirts by using their masses and H$_2$ densities to evaluate a simplified magneto-hydrodynamic equation. Our estimations provide values for the magnetic field strength on the order of $\lesssim$6--31 {$\upmu$G}.