Related papers: Introduction to galactic dynamos
We present a model of the global magnetic field in the barred galaxy NGC 1365 based jointly on the large-scale velocity field of interstellar gas fitted to HI and CO observations of this galaxy and on mean-field dynamo theory. The aim of…
This pedagogical note revisits the concept of electromagnetic helicity in classical systems. In particular, magnetic helicity and its role in mean field dynamo theories is briefly discussed highlighting the major mathematical inconsistency…
Using a one-dimensional $\alpha\omega$-dynamo model appropriate to galaxies, we study the possibility of dynamo action driven by a stochastic alpha effect and shear. To determine the field evolution, one needs to examine a large number of…
Observations of regular magnetic fields in several nearby galaxies reveal magnetic arms situated between the material arms. The nature of these magnetic arms is a topic of active debate. Previously we found a hint that taking into account…
We present kinematic simulations of a galactic dynamo model based on the large scale differential rotation and the small scale helical fluctuations due to supernova explosions. We report for the first time direct numerical simulations of…
This article reproduces the Karl Schwarzschild lecture 2013. Some of the basic ideas of electrodynamics and magnetohydrodynamics of mean fields in turbulently moving conducting fluids are explained. It is stressed that the connection of the…
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…
The ordered magnetic field observed via polarized synchrotron emission in nearby disc galaxies can be explained by a mean-field dynamo operating in the diffuse interstellar medium (ISM). Additionally, vertical-flux initial conditions are…
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…
The geo and solar magnetic fields have long been thought to be very different objects both in terms of spatial structure and temporal behavior. The recently discovered field structure of a fully convective star is more reminiscent of…
The recent observational, theoretical, and numerical progress made in understanding stellar magnetism is discussed. Particularly, this review will cover the physical processes thought to be at the origin of these magnetic fields and their…
We consider the hypothesis that galactic magnetic fields are primordial. We also discuss the various objections to this hypothesis. We assume that there was a magnetic field present in the galactic plasma before the galaxy formed. After the…
Magnetic fields can be created in stably stratified (non-convective) layers in a differentially rotating star. A magnetic instability in the toroidal field (wound up by differential rotation) replaces the role of convection in closing the…
We propose that the overlapping shock fronts from young supernova remnants produce a locally unsteady, but globally steady large scale spiral shock front in spiral galaxies, where star formation and therefore massive star explosions…
Using a rotating flat layer heated from below as an example, we consider effects which lead to stabilizing an exponentially growing magnetic field in magnetostrophic convection in transition from the kinematic dynamo to the full non-linear…
Magnetic fields in our Galaxy and nearby galaxies have been revealed by starlight polarization, polarized emission from dust grains and clouds at millimeter and submillimeter wavelength, the Zeeman effect of spectral lines or maser lines…
Magnetic fields are amplified as a consequence of galaxy formation and turbulence-driven dynamos. Galaxy mergers can potentially amplify the magnetic fields from their progenitors, making the magnetic fields dynamically important. However,…
Magnetic fields are involved in every astrophysical process on every scale: from planetary and stellar interiors to neutron stars, stellar wind bubbles and supernova remnants; from the interstellar medium in galactic disks, nuclei, spiral…
Magnetic fields are known to be dynamically important in the interstellar medium of our own Galaxy, and they are ubiquitously observed in diffuse gas in the halos of galaxies and galaxy clusters. Yet, magnetic fields have typically been…
The origin and sustenance of large scale galactic magnetic fields has been a long standing and controversial astrophysical problem. Here an alternative to the ``standard'' $\a-\Omega$ mean field dynamo and primordial theories is pursued.…