Discovery of carbon radio recombination lines in M82

Abstract

Cold, diffuse HI clouds are a key component of the interstellar medium (ISM), and play an important role in the evolution of galaxies. Carbon radio recombination lines (CRRLs) trace this ISM stage, and with the enormous sensitivity of LOFAR we have already begun to map and constrain the physical properties of this gas in our own Galaxy. Using LOFAR's low band antenna, we have observed M82 and present the first ever extragalactic detection of CRRLs. We stack 22 lines to find a 8.5-sigma detection. The line peak to continuum ratio is ∼ 0.003, with a FWHM of 31km s-1. The CRRL feature is consistent with an origin in the cold, neutral medium in the direction of the nucleus of M82.