Magnetic Fields in the Large-Scale Structure of the Universe

By D. Ryu, D. Schleicher, Rudolf A. Treumann, Christos G. Tsagas, L. Widrow. 2011

136 citations recorded by the source corpus.

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 fields outside of clusters, where observations are scarce and controversial, remains largely unknown. In this chapter, we review recent developments in our understanding of the nature and origin of intergalactic magnetic fields, and in particular, intercluster fields. A plausible scenario for the origin of galactic and intergalactic magnetic fields is for seed fields, created in the early universe, to be amplified by turbulent flows induced during the formation of the large scale structure. We present several mechanisms for the generation of seed fields both before and after recombination. We then discuss the evolution and role of magnetic fields during the formation of the first starts. We describe the turbulent amplification of seed fields during the formation of large scale structure and the nature of the magnetic fields that arise. Finally, we discuss implications of intergalactic magnetic fields.

Subfields: Astronomy and Astrophysics, Nuclear and High Energy Physics

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/d3c2d943bb7399366193139271a18000d73a7332

Citations in the corpus

• Planck 2015 results: XIX. Constraints on primordial magnetic fields (2015, unknown): “They are a common feature of many astrophysical objects, starting from the smallest up to the largest observed scales (for reviews see Ryu et al. 2012; and Widrow et al. 2012).”