Global spiral structure of M81 - radio continuum maps

VLA observations of the radio continuum emission from M81 at 6 and 20 cm are presented and used to check the predictions of density-wave theories. Both thermal and nonthermal radiation from the spiral arms are detected. Most of the bright knots along the radio arms are giant radio H II regions. The nonthermal emission defines spiral arms that are patchy and well-resolved, with a width of 1-2 kpc. The observed nonthermal arms are too broad to agree with the continuum gasdynamical calculations of Roberts (1969), Shu et al. (1972), and Visser (1978, 1980) for a classical density wave model. The observed arm widths appear consistent with the predictions of density-wave models that emphasize the clumpy nature of the ISM. The 20 cm arms appear to spiral outward from a faint inner H I ring, suggesting that the ring is produced by the inner Lindblad resonance. 36 references