Related papers: Magnetic helicity in galactic dynamos
Most of the visible matter in the Universe is ionized, so that cosmic magnetic fields are quite easy to generate and due to the lack of magnetic monopoles hard to destroy. Magnetic fields have been measured in or around practically all…
Both observations and modelling of magnetic fields in the diffuse interstellar gas of spiral galaxies are well developed but the theory has been confronted with observations for only a handful of individual galaxies. There is now sufficient…
It is argued that large scale cosmic magnetic field could be generated in the primeval plasma slightly before hydrogen recombination. Non-zero vorticity, necessary for that, might be created by the photon diffusion in the second order in…
A framework is introduced for coupling the evolution of galactic magnetic fields sustained by the mean-field dynamo with the formation and evolution of galaxies in cold dark matter cosmology. Estimates of the steady-state strength of the…
We discuss the amplification of magnetic fields by the small-scale dynamo, a process that could efficiently produce strong magnetic fields in the first galaxies. In addition, we derive constraints on the primordial field strength from the…
The helicity of a magnetic field is a fundamental property that is conserved in ideal MHD. It can be explored in the stellar context by mapping large-scale magnetic fields across stellar surfaces using Zeeman-Doppler imaging. A recent study…
We demonstrate that the inclusion of the helicity flux in the magnetic helicity balance in the nonlinear stage of galactic dynamo action results in a radical change in the magnetic field dynamics. The equilibrium value of the large-scale…
Large scale strong magnetic fields in galaxies are generally thought to have been generated by a mean field dynamo. In order to have generated the fields observed, the dynamo would have had to have operated for a sufficiently long period of…
Magnetic fields appear to be ubiquitous in astrophysical environments. Their existence in the intracluster medium is established through observations of synchrotron emission and Faraday rotation. On the other hand, the nature of magnetic…
The current understanding of astrophysical magnetic fields is reviewed, focusing on their generation and maintenance by turbulence. In the astrophysical context this generation is usually explained by a self-excited dynamo, which involves…
The large-scale magnetic fields observed in spiral disc galaxies are often thought to result from dynamo action in the disc plane. However, the increasing importance of Faraday depolarization along any line of sight towards the galactic…
We study the cosmic evolution of the magnetic fields of a large sample of spiral galaxies in a cosmologically representative volume by employing a semi-analytic galaxy formation model and numerical dynamo solver in tandem. We start by…
Cosmic voids are magnetized at the level of at least $10^{-17}$ G on Mpc scales, as implied by blazar observations. We show that an electrically conducting plasma is present in the voids, and that, because of the plasma, \emph{diffusion}…
Magnetic fields in galaxies and galaxy clusters are amplified from a very weak seed value to the observed $\mu{\rm G}$ strengths by the turbulent dynamo. The seed magnetic field can be of primordial or astrophysical origin. The strength and…
A gauge invariant and hence physically meaningful definition of magnetic helicity density for random fields is proposed, using the Gauss linking formula, as the density of correlated field line linkages. This definition is applied to the…
A review of galactic magnetic fields is given with emphasis on simple analytical solutions of relevant equations and detailed comparison with observations. It is shown that mean-field dynamo theory, in its simplest form, is in a remarkably…
Observations suggest a slower stellar rotation relative to gas rotation in the outer part of the Milky Way Galaxy. This difference could be attributed to an interaction with the interstellar magnetic field. In a simple model, fields of…
Interstellar magnetic fields are strong: up to 25 muG in spiral arms and 40 muG in nuclear regions. In the spiral galaxy NGC 6946 the average magnetic energy density exceeds that of the thermal gas. Magnetic fields control the evolution of…
Interstellar magnetic fields in elliptical galaxies are assumed to have their origin in stellar fields that accompany normal mass loss from an evolving population of old stars. The seed fields are amplified by interstellar turbulence driven…
We consider a recently discovered class of instabilities, driven by cosmic ray streaming, in a variety of environments. We show that although these instabilities have been discussed primarily in the context of supernova driven interstellar…