scholarly journals Origin of strong magnetic fields in Milky Way-like galaxies

2015 ◽  
Vol 11 (S317) ◽  
pp. 274-275
Author(s):  
Alexander M. Beck

AbstractMagnetic fields are observed on all scales in the Universe (see e.g. Kronberg 1994), but little is known about the origin and evolution of those fields with cosmic time. Seed fields of arbitrary source must be amplified to present-day values and distributed among cosmic structures. Therefore, the emergence of cosmic magnetic fields and corresponding dynamo processes (see e.g. Zel'dovich et al. 1983; Kulsrud et al. 1997) can only be jointly understood with the very basic processes of structure and galaxy formation (see e.g. Mo et al. 2010).

2010 ◽  
Vol 6 (S271) ◽  
pp. 135-144
Author(s):  
Ellen G. Zweibel

AbstractThe origin and evolution of magnetic fields in the Universe is a cosmological problem. Although exotic mechanisms for magneotgenesis cannot be ruled out, galactic magnetic fields could have been seeded by magnetic fields from stars and accretion disks, and must be continuously regenerated due to the ongoing replacement of the interstellar medium. Unlike stellar dynamos, galactic dynamos operate in a multicomponent gas at low collisionality and high magnetic Prandtl number. Their background turbulence is highly compressible, the plasma β ~ 1, and there has been time for only a few large exponentiation times at large scale over cosmic time. Points of similarity include the importance of magnetic buoyancy, the large range of turbulent scales and tiny microscopic scales, and the coupling between the magnetic field and certain properties of the flow. Understanding the origin and maintenance of the large scale galactic magnetic field is the most challenging aspect of the problem.


2008 ◽  
Vol 4 (S259) ◽  
pp. 529-538 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eduardo Battaner ◽  
Estrella Florido

AbstractThere is increasing evidence that intense magnetic fields exist at large redshifts. They could arise after galaxy formation or in very early processes, such as inflation or cosmological phase transitions, or both. Early co-moving magnetic strengths in the range 1-10 nG could be present at recombination. The possibilities to detect them in future CMB experiments are discussed, mainly considering their impact in the anisotropy spectra as a result of Faraday rotation and Alfven waves. Magnetic fields this magnitude could also have a non-negligible influence in determining the filamentary large scale structure of the Universe.


2007 ◽  
Vol 5 ◽  
pp. 399-405 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. Beck

Abstract. The origin of magnetic fields in stars, galaxies and clusters is an open problem in astrophysics. The next-generation radio telescopes Low Frequency Array (LOFAR) and Square Kilometre Array (SKA) will revolutionize the study of cosmic magnetism. "The origin and evolution of cosmic magnetism" is a key science project for SKA. The planned all-sky survey of Faraday rotation measures (RM) at 1.4 GHz will be used to model the structure and strength of the magnetic fields in the intergalactic medium, the interstellar medium of intervening galaxies, and in the Milky Way. A complementary survey of selected regions at around 200 MHz is planned as a key project for LOFAR. Spectro-polarimetry applied to the large number of spectral channels available for LOFAR and SKA will allow to separate RM components from distinct foreground and background regions and to perform 3-D Faraday tomography of the interstellar medium of the Milky Way and nearby galaxies. – Deep polarization mapping with LOFAR and SKA will open a new era also in the observation of synchrotron emission from magnetic fields. LOFAR's sensitivity will allow to map the structure of weak, extended magnetic fields in the halos of galaxies, in galaxy clusters, and possibly in the intergalactic medium. Polarization observations with SKA at higher frequencies (1–10 GHz) will show the detailed magnetic field structure within the disks and central regions of galaxies, with much higher angular resolution than present-day radio telescopes.


2020 ◽  
Vol 497 (1) ◽  
pp. 747-764 ◽  
Author(s):  
Isaiah B Santistevan ◽  
Andrew Wetzel ◽  
Kareem El-Badry ◽  
Joss Bland-Hawthorn ◽  
Michael Boylan-Kolchin ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT Surveys of the Milky Way (MW) and M31 enable detailed studies of stellar populations across ages and metallicities, with the goal of reconstructing formation histories across cosmic time. These surveys motivate key questions for galactic archaeology in a cosmological context: When did the main progenitor of an MW/M31-mass galaxy form, and what were the galactic building blocks that formed it? We investigate the formation times and progenitor galaxies of MW/M31-mass galaxies using the Feedback In Realistic Environments-2 cosmological simulations, including six isolated MW/M31-mass galaxies and six galaxies in Local Group (LG)-like pairs at z = 0. We examine main progenitor ‘formation’ based on two metrics: (1) transition from primarily ex-situ to in-situ stellar mass growth and (2) mass dominance compared to other progenitors. We find that the main progenitor of an MW/M31-mass galaxy emerged typically at z ∼ 3–4 ($11.6\!\!-\!\!12.2\, \rm {Gyr}$ ago), while stars in the bulge region (inner 2 kpc) at z = 0 formed primarily in a single main progenitor at z ≲ 5 (${\lesssim} \!12.6\, \rm {Gyr}$ ago). Compared with isolated hosts, the main progenitors of LG-like paired hosts emerged significantly earlier (Δz ∼ 2, $\Delta t\!\sim \!1.6\, \rm {Gyr}$), with ∼4× higher stellar mass at all z ≳ 4 (${\gtrsim} \!12.2\, \rm {Gyr}$ ago). This highlights the importance of environment in MW/M31-mass galaxy formation, especially at early times. On average, about 100 galaxies with $\rm {\it{ M}}_\rm {star}\!\gtrsim \!10^5\, \rm {M}_\odot$ went into building a typical MW/M31-mass system. Thus, surviving satellites represent a highly incomplete census (by ∼5×) of the progenitor population.


2020 ◽  
Vol 635 ◽  
pp. A163
Author(s):  
S. Bagnulo ◽  
G. A. Wade ◽  
Y. Nazé ◽  
J. H. Grunhut ◽  
M. E. Shultz ◽  
...  

Despite their rarity, massive stars dominate the ecology of galaxies via their strong, radiatively-driven winds throughout their lives and as supernovae in their deaths. However, their evolution and subsequent impact on their environment can be significantly affected by the presence of a magnetic field. While recent studies indicate that about 7% of OB stars in the Milky Way host strong, stable, organised (fossil) magnetic fields at their surfaces, little is known about the fields of very massive stars, nor the magnetic properties of stars outside our Galaxy. We aim to continue searching for strong magnetic fields in a diverse set of massive and very massive stars (VMS) in the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds (LMC/SMC), and we evaluate the overall capability of FORS2 to usefully search for and detect stellar magnetic fields in extra-galactic environments. We have obtained FORS2 spectropolarimetry of a sample of 41 stars, which principally consist of spectral types B, O, Of/WN, WNh, and classical WR stars in the LMC and SMC. Four of our targets are Of?p stars; one of them was just recently discovered. Each spectrum was analysed to infer the longitudinal magnetic field. No magnetic fields were formally detected in our study, although Bayesian statistical considerations suggest that the Of?p star SMC 159-2 is magnetic with a dipolar field of the order of 2.4–4.4 kG. In addition, our first constraints of magnetic fields in VMS provide interesting insights into the formation of the most massive stars in the Universe.


Some recent work on the origin and evolution of galaxy clustering is reviewed, particularly within the context of the gravitational instability theory and the hot big-bang cosmological model. Statistical measures of clustering, including correlation functions and multiplicity functions, are explained and discussed. The close connection between galaxy formation and clustering is emphasized. Additional topics include the dependence of galaxy clustering on the spectrum of primordial density fluctuations and the mean mass density of the Universe.


2009 ◽  
Vol 5 (H15) ◽  
pp. 430-431
Author(s):  
Rainer Beck

AbstractThe origin of magnetic fields in the Universe is an open problem in astrophysics and fundamental physics. Forthcoming radio telescopes will open a new era in studying cosmic magnetic fields. Low-frequency radio waves will reveal the structure of weak magnetic fields in the outer regions and halos of galaxies and in intracluster media. At higher frequencies, the EVLA and the SKA will map the structure of magnetic fields in galaxies in unprecedented detail. All-sky surveys of Faraday rotation measures (RM) towards a huge number of polarized background sources with the SKA and its pathfinders will allow us to model the structure and strength of the regular magnetic fields in the Milky Way, the interstellar medium of galaxies, in galaxy clusters and the intergalactic medium.


Author(s):  
Steven L. Finkelstein

AbstractAlthough the universe at redshifts greater than six represents only the first one billion years (< 10%) of cosmic time, the dense nature of the early universe led to vigorous galaxy formation and evolution activity which we are only now starting to piece together. Technological improvements have, over only the past decade, allowed large samples of galaxies at such high redshifts to be collected, providing a glimpse into the epoch of formation of the first stars and galaxies. A wide variety of observational techniques have led to the discovery of thousands of galaxy candidates at z > 6, with spectroscopically confirmed galaxies out to nearly z = 9. Using these large samples, we have begun to gain a physical insight into the processes inherent in galaxy evolution at early times. In this review, I will discuss (i) the selection techniques for finding distant galaxies, including a summary of previous and ongoing ground and space-based searches, and spectroscopic follow-up efforts, (ii) insights into galaxy evolution gleaned from measures such as the rest-frame ultraviolet luminosity function, the stellar mass function, and galaxy star-formation rates, and (iii) the effect of galaxies on their surrounding environment, including the chemical enrichment of the universe, and the reionisation of the intergalactic medium. Finally, I conclude with prospects for future observational study of the distant universe, using a bevy of new state-of-the-art facilities coming online over the next decade and beyond.


2009 ◽  
Vol 5 (S262) ◽  
pp. 240-243
Author(s):  
Nelson Padilla ◽  
Claudia Lagos ◽  
Sofía Cora

AbstractA semi-analytic model of galaxy formation with and without active galactic nuclei feedback is used to study the nature of possible building blocks (BBs) of z = 0 galaxies, including those of Milky-Way types. We find that BBs can show an important range of properties arising from environmental variables such as host halo mass, and whether a galaxy is a satellite within its host halo; the stellar formation histories are comparatively faster and the chemical enrichment is more efficient in BBs than in surviving satellites, in accordance with recent metallicity measurements for the Milky Way. These results can be used in combination with observational constraints to continue probing the ability of the cold dark-matter scenario to reproduce the history of galaxy demography in the Universe.


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