The Magnetic Field of the Galaxy

1946 ◽  
Vol 70 (9-10) ◽  
pp. 777-778 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lyman Spitzer
1970 ◽  
Vol 39 ◽  
pp. 168-183
Author(s):  
E. N. Parker

The topic of this presentation is the origin and dynamical behavior of the magnetic field and cosmic-ray gas in the disk of the Galaxy. In the space available I can do no more than mention the ideas that have been developed, with but little explanation and discussion. To make up for this inadequacy I have tried to give a complete list of references in the written text, so that the interested reader can pursue the points in depth (in particular see the review articles Parker, 1968a, 1969a, 1970). My purpose here is twofold, to outline for you the calculations and ideas that have developed thus far, and to indicate the uncertainties that remain. The basic ideas are sound, I think, but, when we come to the details, there are so many theoretical alternatives that need yet to be explored and so much that is not yet made clear by observations.


2020 ◽  
Vol 499 (4) ◽  
pp. 4785-4792
Author(s):  
Bastian Körtgen ◽  
Juan D Soler

ABSTRACT Magnetic fields are a dynamically important agent for regulating structure formation in the interstellar medium. The study of the relative orientation between the local magnetic field and gas (column-) density gradient has become a powerful tool to analyse the magnetic field’s impact on the dense gas formation in the Galaxy. In this study, we perform numerical simulations of a non-gravitating, isothermal gas, where the turbulence is driven either solenoidally or compressively. We find that only simulations with an initially strong magnetic field (plasma-β < 1) show a change in the preferential orientation between the magnetic field and isodensity contours, from mostly parallel at low densities to mostly perpendicular at higher densities. Hence, compressive turbulence alone is not capable of inducing the transition observed towards nearby molecular clouds. At the same high initial magnetization, we find that solenoidal modes produce a sharper transition in the relative orientation with increasing density than compressive modes. We further study the time evolution of the relative orientation and find that it remains unchanged by the turbulent forcing after one dynamical time-scale.


1996 ◽  
Vol 169 ◽  
pp. 615-616
Author(s):  
V.R. Shoutenkov

The possibility to study magnetic field of the Galaxy calculating correlation or structure functions of synchrotron background radio emission have been known long ago (Kaplan and Pikel'ner (1963); Getmantsev (1958)). But this method had not been as popular as other methods of magnetic field studies. However theoretical calculations made by Chibisov and Ptuskin (1981) showed that correlation functions of intensity of synchrotron background radio emission can give a lot of valuable information about galactic magnetic fields because of the intensity of synchrotron background radio emission depends on H⊥. According to this theory correlation C(θ, φ) and structure S(θ, φ) functions of intensity, as functions of angular separation θ between two lines of sight and position angle φ on the sky between this two lines of sight, can be presented as a sum of isotropic (not dependent from angle φ) and anisotropic parts:


2018 ◽  
Vol 476 (1) ◽  
pp. 235-245 ◽  
Author(s):  
P F Roche ◽  
E Lopez-Rodriguez ◽  
C M Telesco ◽  
R Schödel ◽  
C Packham

1990 ◽  
Vol 140 ◽  
pp. 54-54
Author(s):  
R.R. Andreassian ◽  
A.N. Makarov

The present paper is devoted to a study of the magnetic field configuration of our Galaxy based on Faraday rotation measures (RM) of 185 pulsars and 802 extragalactic radio sources. RM data of pulsars located near the plane of the Galaxy are used for the study of magnetic fields in neighbouring spiral arms. For the distribution of spiral arms the well-known model of Georgelin and Georgelin (1976) is used. The calculations show (for details see Andreassian and Makarov, 1987, 1989) that in the Perseus spiral arm and the local Orion arm the magnetic fields have approximately the same directions (lo;bo) ≈ (80°;0°), while in the Sagittarius-Carina arm the magnetic field has an opposite direction.


1993 ◽  
Vol 157 ◽  
pp. 349-353
Author(s):  
A. Poezd ◽  
A. Shukurov ◽  
D.D. Sokoloff

A nonlinear thin-disk galactic dynamo model based on α-quenching is proposed. Assuming that the mean helicity depends on the magnetic field strength averaged across the disk, we derive a universal form of nonlinearity in the radial dynamo equation. We discuss the evolution of the regular magnetic field in the Milky Way and the Andromeda Nebula. It is argued that the reversals of the regular magnetic field in the Galaxy are a relic inherited from the structure of the seed field. We also briefly discuss the role of the turbulent diamagnetism and the effects of galactic evolution on the dynamo.


2020 ◽  
Vol 496 (4) ◽  
pp. 4749-4759
Author(s):  
Axel Brandenburg ◽  
Ray S Furuya

ABSTRACT We study the prospects of detecting magnetic helicity in galaxies by observing the dust polarization of the edge-on galaxy NGC 891. Our numerical results of mean-field dynamo calculations show that there should be a large-scale component of the rotationally invariant parity-odd B polarization that we predict to be negative in the first and third quadrants, and positive in the second and fourth quadrants. The large-scale parity-even E polarization is predicted to be negative near the axis and positive further away in the outskirts. These properties are shown to be mostly a consequence of the magnetic field being azimuthal and the polarized intensity being maximum at the centre of the galaxy and are not a signature of magnetic helicity.


1963 ◽  
Vol 126 (4) ◽  
pp. 343-352 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. D. Davies ◽  
W. L. H. Shuter ◽  
C. H. Slater ◽  
G. L. Verschuur ◽  
P. A. T. Wild

1998 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 956-959
Author(s):  
J. M. Moran

AbstractTwenty-one H2O masers have been identified in the nuclei of active galaxies. The detection rate is about 7 percent. Very Long Baseline Interferometric data of four of these maser systems (NGC 4258, NGC 1068, NGC 4945, and NGC 3079) show evidence of Keplerian disks on a subparsec scale. The best example is NGC 4258. There the masers trace a thin warped disk in nearly perfect circular Keplerian motion. If the apparent thinness is indicative of hydrostatic equilibrium, then the kinetic temperature must be less than 1000K, the magnetic field less than 200 mG, and the mass accretion rate less than about α10-3 M⊙/yr, where a is the viscosity parameter. From direct Zeeman measurements the toroidal magnetic field strength is less than 300 mG. The proper motions of the systemic maser feature imply a distance to the galaxy of 7.3 ± 0.3 Mpc. The high-velocity features show no detectable proper motions or accelerations, which confirms the model of circular Keplerian motion, and puts severe constraints on any alternative model. A feature in the systemic group flared to 20 Jy, offering opportunities to study the physics of the maser emission.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document