scholarly journals An Improved Magnetic Map of the Milky Way, with the Circularly Orbiting Gas and Magnetic Field Lines Crossing the Dusty Stellar Spiral Arms

2008 ◽  
Vol 681 (1) ◽  
pp. 303-310 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jacques P. Vallée
2020 ◽  
Vol 642 ◽  
pp. A201 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Reissl ◽  
J. M. Stil ◽  
E. Chen ◽  
R. G. Treß ◽  
M. C. Sormani ◽  
...  

Context. The Faraday rotation measure (RM) is often used to study the magnetic field strength and orientation within the ionized medium of the Milky Way. Recent observations indicate an RM magnitude in the spiral arms that exceeds the commonly assumed range. This raises the question of how and under what conditions spiral arms create such strong Faraday rotation. Aims. We investigate the effect of spiral arms on Galactic Faraday rotation through shock compression of the interstellar medium. It has recently been suggested that the Sagittarius spiral arm creates a strong peak in Faraday rotation where the line of sight is tangent to the arm, and that enhanced Faraday rotation follows along side lines which intersect the arm. Here our aim is to understand the physical conditions that may give rise to this effect and the role of viewing geometry. Methods. We apply a magnetohydrodynamic simulation of the multi-phase interstellar medium in a Milky Way-type spiral galaxy disk in combination with radiative transfer in order to evaluate different tracers of spiral arm structures. For observers embedded in the disk, dust intensity, synchrotron emission, and the kinematics of molecular gas observations are derived to identify which spiral arm tangents are observable. Faraday rotation measures are calculated through the disk and evaluated in the context of different observer positions. The observer’s perspectives are related to the parameters of the local bubbles surrounding the observer and their contribution to the total Faraday rotation measure along the line of sight. Results. We reproduce a scattering of tangent points for the different tracers of about 6° per spiral arm similar to the Milky Way. For the RM, the model shows that compression of the interstellar medium and associated amplification of the magnetic field in spiral arms enhances Faraday rotation by a few hundred rad m−2 in addition to the mean contribution of the disk. The arm–interarm contrast in Faraday rotation per unit distance along the line of sight is approximately ~10 in the inner Galaxy, fading to ~2 in the outer Galaxy in tandem with the waning contrast of other tracers of spiral arms. We identify a shark fin pattern in the RM Milky Way observations and in the synthetic data that is characteristic for a galaxy with spiral arms.


1985 ◽  
Vol 106 ◽  
pp. 251-252
Author(s):  
Y. Sofue ◽  
M. Fujimoto

The distribution of Faraday rotation measure (RM) of extragalactic radio sources shows that a large-scale magnetic field in the Galaxy is oriented along the spiral arms. The field lines change direction from one arm to the next in the inter-arm region.


1985 ◽  
Vol 106 ◽  
pp. 239-244 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rainer Beck ◽  
Wolfgang Reich

The radio continuum emission of the Milky Way and nearby galaxies can be decomposed into a central region, a clumpy “thin disk”, concentrated in the spiral arms, and a smooth “thick disk” (or flattened “halo”). The emissivity ratio of the two disks seems to be related to the magnetic field properties: Galaxies with strong radio spiral arms reveal a highly ordered field following the arm direction, while galaxies with diffuse disks contain a less ordered, smoothly distributed field. The degree of uniformity of the field seems to correlate with the total optical luminosity. The average magnetic field in the Milky Way is weak and turbulent compared to most of the nearby galaxies observed so far.


2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
P. Reichherzer ◽  
L. Merten ◽  
J. Dörner ◽  
J. Becker Tjus ◽  
M. J. Pueschel ◽  
...  

AbstractCosmic-ray transport in astrophysical environments is often dominated by the diffusion of particles in a magnetic field composed of both a turbulent and a mean component. This process, which is two-fold turbulent mixing in that the particle motion is stochastic with respect to the field lines, needs to be understood in order to properly model cosmic-ray signatures. One of the most important aspects in the modeling of cosmic-ray diffusion is that fully resonant scattering, the most effective such process, is only possible if the wave spectrum covers the entire range of propagation angles. By taking the wave spectrum boundaries into account, we quantify cosmic-ray diffusion parallel and perpendicular to the guide field direction at turbulence levels above 5% of the total magnetic field. We apply our results of the parallel and perpendicular diffusion coefficient to the Milky Way. We show that simple purely diffusive transport is in conflict with observations of the inner Galaxy, but that just by taking a Galactic wind into account, data can be matched in the central 5 kpc zone. Further comparison shows that the outer Galaxy at $$>5$$ > 5  kpc, on the other hand, should be dominated by perpendicular diffusion, likely changing to parallel diffusion at the outermost radii of the Milky Way.


2012 ◽  
Vol 10 (H16) ◽  
pp. 395-395
Author(s):  
Roland Kothes

AbstractAs supernova remnants (SNRs) expand, their shock waves freeze in and compress magnetic field lines they encounter; consequently we can use SNRs as magnifying glasses for interstellar magnetic fields. A simple model is used to derive polarization and rotation measure (RM) signatures of SNRs. This model is exploited to gain knowledge about the large-scale magnetic field in the Milky Way. Three examples are given which indicate a magnetic anomaly, an azimuthal large-scale magnetic field towards the anti-centre, and a chimney that releases magnetic energy from the plane into the halo.


2000 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 145-153 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. Tabet ◽  
H. Imrane ◽  
D. Saifaoui ◽  
A. Dezairi ◽  
F. Miskane

1990 ◽  
Vol 44 (1) ◽  
pp. 25-32 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hiromitsu Hamabata

Exact wave solutions of the nonlinear jnagnetohydrodynamic equations for a highly conducting incompressible fluid are obtained for the cases where the physical quantities are independent of one Cartesian co-ordina.te and for where they vary three-dimensionally but both the streamlines and magnetic field lines lie in parallel planes. It is shown that there is a class of exact wave solutions with large amplitude propagating in a straight but non-uniform magnetic field with constant or non-uniform velocity.


2021 ◽  
Vol 87 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Todd Elder ◽  
Allen H. Boozer

The prominence of nulls in reconnection theory is due to the expected singular current density and the indeterminacy of field lines at a magnetic null. Electron inertia changes the implications of both features. Magnetic field lines are distinguishable only when their distance of closest approach exceeds a distance $\varDelta _d$ . Electron inertia ensures $\varDelta _d\gtrsim c/\omega _{pe}$ . The lines that lie within a magnetic flux tube of radius $\varDelta _d$ at the place where the field strength $B$ is strongest are fundamentally indistinguishable. If the tube, somewhere along its length, encloses a point where $B=0$ vanishes, then distinguishable lines come no closer to the null than $\approx (a^2c/\omega _{pe})^{1/3}$ , where $a$ is a characteristic spatial scale of the magnetic field. The behaviour of the magnetic field lines in the presence of nulls is studied for a dipole embedded in a spatially constant magnetic field. In addition to the implications of distinguishability, a constraint on the current density at a null is obtained, and the time required for thin current sheets to arise is derived.


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