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Magnetic fields and halos in spiral galaxies

Radio continuum observations allow to reveal the magnetic field structure in the disk and halo of nearby spiral galaxies, their magnetic field strength and vertical scale heights. The spiral galaxies studied so far show a similar magnetic field pattern which is of spiral shape along the disk plane and X-shaped in the halo, sometimes accompanied by strong vertical fields above and below the central region of the disk. The strength of the halo field is comparable to that of the disk. The total and turbulent magnetic field strength is (weakly) increasing with the star formation. There are, however, indications that stronger star formation reduces the magnetic field regularity globally. The magnetic field in spiral galaxies is generally thought to be amplified and maintained by dynamo action. During the galaxy's formation and evolution the turbulent dynamo amplifies the field strength to energy equipartition with the turbulent gas, while the large-scale (mean-field) dynamo mainly orders the magnetic field. Hence, the large-scale magnetic field pattern evolves with time. Supernova explosions causes a further continuous injection of turbulent magnetic fields. Assuming that this small-scale field injection is situated only within the spiral arm region where star formation mostly occurs lead to a large-scale field structure in which the magnetic field regularity is stronger in the interarm region as observed in several nearby spiral galaxies. The detection of similar scale heights in several spiral galaxies of different Hubble type star formation implies a relation between the galactic wind, the total magnetic field strength and the star formation in the galaxy. A galactic wind may be essential for an effective dynamo action. Strong tidal interaction, however, seems to disturb the balance leading to deviating and locally different scale heights as observed in M82 and NGC~4631.