1995A&A...302..691D

The edge-on galaxies NGC891, 3628, 4565, 4631, 5907, and 7331 have been observed in total power and polarized emission at 10.55GHz. At this frequency Faraday effects are negligible. Hence the intrinsic magnetic field orientation can directly be deduced from the observed polarization angles. The galaxies are compared with respect to the spectral index of the integrated flux densities, the z-distribution of the radio emission, the morphology of the ordered large-scale magnetic fields, the equipartition values of the magnetic field strengths, and the z-distribution of the fractional polarization. The following results are obtained: 1. The integrated spectral indices seem to be steeper in the non-interacting galaxies in the sample. 2. Only 2 galaxies, NGC891 and 4631, show emission at large distances from the plane. 3. The observed magnetic fields are generally aligned along the disks of the galaxies. Only NGC4631 shows a vertical field structure in the central area. The field orientation seems to be correlated with the z-thickness of the radio continuum emission. 4. The estimated total magnetic field strengths range from ∼6 to ∼9µG in the disks and from ∼4 to ∼6.5µG above the disks of the galaxies. 5. We found that the observed depolarization is directly coupled to the correlation length of the magnetic field in the ISM. This correlation length increases faster in z-direction in galaxies with lower star formation efficiencies.