Observations and Simulations of Radio Emission and Magnetic Fields in Minkowski's Object

TL;DR

This study combines radio observations and magnetohydrodynamic simulations to analyze the interaction between a galaxy's radio jet and Minkowski's Object, revealing the importance of jet bending in reproducing observed features.

Contribution

It introduces tailored MHD simulations of jet-cloud interactions that successfully match detailed radio observations of Minkowski's Object.

Findings

Radio jet interaction with MO confirmed by combined observations and simulations.

Only a bent jet simulation reproduces the observed radio features.

Constraints on the local intracluster medium dynamics and interaction timeline.

Abstract

We combine new data from the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array with previous radio observations to create a more complete picture of the ongoing interactions between the radio jet from galaxy NGC 541 and the star-forming system known as Minkowski's Object (MO). We then compare those observations with synthetic radio data generated from a new set of magnetohydrodynamic simulations of a jet-cloud interaction specifically tailored to the parameters of MO. The combination of radio intensity, polarization, and spectral index measurements all convincingly support the interaction scenario and provide additional constraints on the local dynamical state of the intracluster medium and the time since the jet-cloud interaction first began. In particular, we show that only a simulation with a bent radio jet can reproduce the observations.