Revisiting radio synchrotron diagnostics in star-forming galaxies

Werhahn, Maria, Pfrommer, Christoph, Girichidis, Philipp, Whittingham, Joseph, Jlassi, Léna, Pakmor, Rüdiger, Bieri, Rebekka, Weinberger, Rainer, Springel, Volker and van de Voort, Frederieke ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6301-638X 2026. Revisiting radio synchrotron diagnostics in star-forming galaxies. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society , stag1871. 10.1093/mnras/stag1871

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Abstract

Radio continuum observations are widely used to study cosmic ray (CR) electron populations and transport processes in star-forming galaxies, but their interpretation relies on several simplifying assumptions. Here, we revisit three common assumptions: that some vertical radio profiles can be explained by CR advection alone, that radio spectra directly trace the galaxy-wide CR electron spectrum, and that bremsstrahlung and Coulomb losses are negligible for radio-emitting electrons. We model radio emission using time-dependent CR electron evolution in a magnetohydrodynamical simulation of an isolated Milky Way–mass galaxy. CR electron spectra are evolved self-consistently along Lagrangian tracer particles with the Crest framework, including injection at supernova remnants, advection with the gas, and spatially and temporally varying radiative losses. We compare these results to commonly adopted steady-state models. We find that advection-only transport in self-consistently driven galactic winds fails to reproduce the extended vertical radio intensity profiles observed in edge-on galaxies, despite reproducing the observed steepening of spectral indices with height. This is because slowly accelerating winds keep electrons in strong cooling environments for too long. Matching observed radio haloes with advection alone requires unrealistically high mid-plane wind velocities, implying that additional transport or re-acceleration processes are required. Although galaxy-integrated CR electron spectra at radio-emitting energies are similar across models, the resulting synchrotron spectra differ systematically because radio emission is biased toward young electrons in dense, strongly magnetised regions. Finally, we show that bremsstrahlung and Coulomb losses significantly shape radio spectra even when their loss rate is subdominant and therefore cannot be neglected.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Published Online
Status:	In Press
Schools:	Schools > Physics and Astronomy Schools > Physical, Chemical & Environmental Sciences
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
ISSN:	0035-8711
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	8 October 2026
Last Modified:	08 Oct 2026 15:30
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/190096

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