Galactic Dynamo and Spiral Arms - 3D MHD Simulations

In the present project we investigate the evolution of a three-dimensional (3D), large-scale galactic magnetic field under the influence of gas flows in spiral arms and in the presence of dynamo action. Our principal goal is to check how the dynamical evolution of gaseous spiral arms affects the global magnetic field structure and to what extent our models could explain the observed spiral patterns of polarization B-vectors in nearby galaxies. A two-step scheme is used: the N-body simulations of a two-component, self-gravitating disk provide the time-dependent velocity fields which are then used as the input to solve the mean-field dynamo equations. We found that the magnetic field is directly influenced by large-scale non-axisymmetric density wave flows yielding the magnetic field locally well-aligned with gaseous spiral arms in a manner similar to that discussed already by Otmianowska-Mazur et al. 1997. However, an additional field amplification, introduced by a non-zero -term in the dynamo equations, is required to cause a systematic increase of magnetic energy density against the diffusive losses. Our simulated magnetic fields are also used to construct the models of a high-frequency (Faraday rotation-free) polarized radio emission accounting for effects of projection and limited resolution, thus suitable for direct comparisons with observations.