Corrugated velocity patterns in the spiral galaxies: NGC 278, NGC 1058, NGC 2500 \& UGC 3574

TL;DR

This study investigates the vertical velocity patterns in four nearly face-on spiral galaxies, revealing a corrugated structure likely influenced by magnetized, thick galactic disks and spiral density waves.

Contribution

It provides new observational evidence of vertical velocity corrugations and supports the hydraulic bore mechanism involving magnetized disks in spiral galaxies.

Findings

Vertical velocity shows radial corrugations up to 1 kpc.

Ionization mainly by high-energy photons, with some shock ionization.

Magnetized, thick disks are essential to explain observed velocity fields.

Abstract

We address the study of the \Ha\ vertical velocity field in a sample of four nearly face-on galaxies using long slit spectroscopy taken with the ISIS spectrograph attached to the WHT at the Roque de los Muchachos Observatory (Spain). The spatial structure of the velocity vertical component shows a radial corrugated pattern with spatial scales higher or within the order of { one} kiloparsec. The gas is mainly ionized by high-energy photons: only in some locations of NGC~278 and NGC~1058 is there some evidence of ionization by low-velocity shocks, which, in the case of NGC~278, could be due to minor mergers. The behaviour of the gas in the neighbourhood of the spiral arms fits, in the majority of the observed cases, with that predicted by the so-called hydraulic bore mechanism, where a thick magnetized disk encounters a spiral density perturbation. The results obtained show that it is { difficult to explain the \Ha\ large scale velocity field without the presence of a magnetized, thick galactic disk}. Larger samples and spatial covering of the galaxy disks are needed to provide further insight into this problem.