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Mapping stars and gas in nearby galaxies is fundamental for understanding their growth and the impact of their environment. This issue is addressed by comparing the stellar “edges” of galaxies D _stellar , defined as the outermost diameter where in situ star formation significantly drops, with the gaseous distribution parameterized by the neutral atomic hydrogen diameter measured at 1 M _⊙ pc ^−2 , D _HI . By sampling a broad H i mass range 10 ^5 M _⊙ < M _HI < 10 ^11 M _⊙ , we find several dwarf galaxies with M _HI < 10 ^9 M _⊙ from the field and Fornax Cluster that are distinguished by D _stellar ≫ D _HI . For the cluster dwarfs, the average H i surface density near D _stellar is ∼0.3 M _⊙ pc ^−2 , reflecting the impact of quenching and outside-in gas removal from ram pressure and tidal interactions. In comparison, D _stellar / D _HI ranges between 0.5 and 2 in dwarf field galaxies, consistent with the expectations from stellar feedback. Only more massive disk galaxies in the field can thus be characterized by the common assumption that D _stellar ≲ D _HI . We discover a break in the D _stellar – M _⋆ relation at m _break ∼ 4 × 10 ^8 M _⊙ that potentially differentiates the low-mass regime, where the influence of stellar feedback and environmental processes more prominently regulates the sizes of nearby galaxies. Our results highlight the importance of combining deep optical and H i imaging for understanding galaxy evolution.

We present Selective Amplification of Ultra Noisy Astronomical Signal ( SAUNAS ), a pipeline designed for detecting diffuse X-ray emission in the data obtained with the Advanced CCD Imaging Spectrometer (ACIS) of the Chandra X-ray Observatory. SAUNAS queries the available observations in the Chandra archive and performs photometric calibration, point-spread function modeling and deconvolution, point-source removal, adaptive smoothing, and background correction. This pipeline builds on existing and well-tested software including CIAO , VorBin , and LIRA . We characterize the performance of SAUNAS through several quality performance tests and demonstrate the broad applications and capabilities of SAUNAS using two galaxies already known to show X-ray-emitting structures. SAUNAS successfully detects the 30 kpc X-ray superwind of NGC 3079 using Chandra/ACIS data sets, matching the spatial distribution detected with more sensitive XMM-Newton observations. The analysis performed by SAUNAS reveals an extended low surface brightness source in the field of UGC 5101 in the 0.3–1.0 keV and 1.0–2.0 keV bands. This source is potentially a background galaxy cluster or a hot gas plume associated with UGC 5101. SAUNAS demonstrates its ability to recover previously undetected structures in archival data, expanding exploration into the low surface brightness X-ray Universe with Chandra/ACIS.

The structure of magnetic fields in galaxies remains poorly constrained, despite the importance of magnetism in the evolution of galaxies. Radio synchrotron and far-infrared (FIR) polarization and polarimetric observations are the best methods to measure galactic scale properties of magnetic fields in galaxies beyond the Milky Way. We use synthetic polarimetric observations of a simulated galaxy to identify and quantify the regions, scales, and interstellar medium (ISM) phases probed at FIR and radio wavelengths. Our studied suite of magnetohydrodynamical cosmological zoom-in simulations features high-resolutions (10 pc full-cell size) and multiple magnetization models. Our synthetic observations have a striking resemblance to those of observed galaxies. We find that the total and polarized radio emission extends to approximately double the altitude above the galactic disk (half-intensity disk thickness of h _I radio ∼ h _PI radio = 0.23 ± 0.03 kpc) relative to the total FIR and polarized emission that are concentrated in the disk midplane ( h _I FIR ∼ h _PI FIR = 0.11 ± 0.01 kpc). Radio emission traces magnetic fields at scales of ≳300 pc, whereas FIR emission probes magnetic fields at the smallest scales of our simulations. These scales are comparable to our spatial resolution and well below the spatial resolution (

Mergers are thought to be a fundamental channel for galaxy growth, perturbing the gas dynamics and the magnetic fields ( B -fields) in the interstellar medium (ISM). However, the mechanisms that amplify and dissipate B -fields during a merger remain unclear. We characterize the morphology of the ordered B -fields in the multiphase ISM of the closest merger of two spiral galaxies, the Antennae galaxies. We compare the inferred B -fields using 154 μ m thermal dust and 11 cm radio synchrotron emission polarimetric observations. We find that the 154 μ m B -fields are more ordered across the Antennae galaxies than the 11 cm B -fields. The turbulent-to-ordered 154 μ m B -field increases at the galaxy cores and star-forming regions. The relic spiral arm has an ordered spiral 154 μ m B -field, while the 11 cm B -field is radial. The 154 μ m B -field may be dominated by turbulent dynamos with high ^12 CO(1–0) velocity dispersion driven by star-forming regions, while the 11 cm B -field is cospatial with high H i velocity dispersion driven by galaxy interaction. This result shows the dissociation between the warm gas mainly disturbed by the merger, and the dense gas still following the dynamics of the relic spiral arm. We find a ∼8.9 kpc scale ordered B -field connecting the two galaxies. The base of the tidal tail is cospatial with the H i and ^12 CO(1–0) emission and has compressed and/or sheared 154 μ m and 11 cm B -fields driven by the merger. We suggest that amplified B -fields, with respect to the rest of the system and other spiral galaxies, may be supporting the gas flow between both galaxies and the tidal tail.

We present the analysis of the magnetic field ( B -field) structure of galaxies measured with far-infrared (FIR) and radio (3 and 6 cm) polarimetric observations. We use the first data release of the Survey of extragALactic magnetiSm with SOFIA of 14 nearby ( $\lt 20$ Mpc) galaxies with resolved ( $5^{\prime\prime} \mbox{--}18^{\prime\prime} ;$ 90 pc–1 kpc) imaging polarimetric observations using SOFIA/HAWC+ from 53 to 214 μ m. We compute the magnetic pitch-angle ( ${{\rm{\Psi }}}_{B}$ ) profiles as a function of the galactocentric radius. We introduce a new magnetic alignment parameter ( ζ ) to estimate the disordered-to-ordered ratio of spiral B -fields. We find FIR and radio wavelengths to not generally trace the same B -field morphology in galaxies. The ${{\rm{\Psi }}}_{B}$ profiles tend to be more ordered across all galactocentric radii in radio ( ${\zeta }_{6\mathrm{cm}}\,=\,0.93\pm 0.03$ ) than in FIR ( ${\zeta }_{154\mu {\rm{m}}}=0.84\pm 0.14$ ). For spiral galaxies, FIR B -fields are 2%–75% more turbulent than the radio B -fields. For starburst galaxies, we find that FIR polarization is a better tracer of the B -fields along the galactic outflows than radio polarization. Our results suggest that the B -fields associated with dense, dusty, turbulent star-forming regions (those traced at FIR) are less ordered than warmer, less dense regions (those traced at radio) of the interstellar medium. The FIR B -fields seem to be more sensitive to the activity of the star-forming regions and molecular clouds within a vertical height of a few hundred parsecs in the disk of spiral galaxies than the radio B -fields.

The structure of the outskirts of galaxies provides valuable information about their past and evolution. Due to their projected orientation, edge-on isolated galaxies effectively serve as test labs in which to study the three-dimensional structures of galaxies, including warps and flares, and to explore the possible sources of such distortions. We analyzed the structure of the apparently isolated edge-on ultra-thin galaxy UGC 11859 to look for the presence of distortions. The deep optical imaging observations ( ${\mu }_{\mathrm{lim}}=30.6$ and 30.0 $\mathrm{mag}\ {\mathrm{arcsec}}^{-2}$ in the g - and r -bands, respectively) we acquired with the 10.4 m Gran Telescopio Canarias are used to derive the radial and vertical surface brightness profiles and g − r color radial profile. We find that UGC 11859’s disk displays a significant gravitational distortion. A warp is clearly detected on one side of the disk, and the galactic plane on both sides of the center shows increasing scale height with an increasing galactocentric radius, indicating the presence of a flare in the stellar distribution. The surface brightness profile of the disk shows a sharp break at 24 kpc galactocentric radius, and a steep decline to larger radii, an “edge-on truncation,” which we associate with the presence of the flare. The present study is the first observational support for a connection between truncations and flares. Just beyond the warped side of the disk, a faint galaxy is observed within a small angular distance, identified as a potential interacting companion. Based on ultradeep g and r photometry we estimate that if the potential companion is at the same distance as UGC 11859, the stellar mass of the satellite galaxy is log _10 ( M _⊙ ) = ${6.33}_{-0.02}^{+0.02}$ .