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Magnetic Fields in Galaxies

  • Reference work entry
Planets, Stars and Stellar Systems

Abstract

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 celestial objects, either by in situ measurements of spacecrafts or by the electromagnetic radiation of embedded cosmic rays, gas, or dust. The Earth, the Sun, solar planets, stars, pulsars, the Milky Way, nearby galaxies, more distant (radio) galaxies, quasars, and even intergalactic space in clusters of galaxies have significant magnetic fields, and even larger volumes of the Universe may be permeated by “dark” magnetic fields. Information on cosmic magnetic fields has increased enormously as the result of the rapid development of observational methods, especially in radio astronomy. In the Milky Way, a wealth of magnetic phenomena was discovered, which are only partly related to objects visible in other spectral ranges. The large-scale structure of the Milky Way’s magnetic field is still under debate. The available data for external galaxies can well be explained by field amplification and ordering via the dynamo mechanism. The measured field strengths and the similarity of field patterns and flow patterns of the diffuse ionized gas give strong indication that galactic magnetic fields are dynamically important. They may affect the formation of spiral arms, outflows, and the general evolution of galaxies. In spite of our increasing knowledge on magnetic fields, many important questions on the origin and evolution of magnetic fields, their first occurrence in young galaxies, or the existence of large-scale intergalactic fields remained unanswered. The present upgrades of existing instruments and several planned radio astronomy projects have defined cosmic magnetism as one of their key science projects.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank many of our colleagues who have pursued the studies of magnetic fields in the Milky Way and in galaxies for the past 40 years, especially Wolfgang Reich, Marita Krause and Patricia Reich at MPIfR. Many excellent cooperation projects in this field were performed with groups in Kraków (Poland), DRAO Penticton (Canada), NAOC Beijing (China), Moscow and Perm (Russia), Newcastle (UK), Potsdam and Bochum (Germany). Marek Urbanik is acknowledged for compiling Table  13-7 . Elly M. Berkhuijsen and Anvar Shukurov are acknowledged for careful reading of the manuscript.

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  1. Max-Planck-Institut für Radioastronomie, Auf dem Hügel 69, 53121, Bonn, Germany

    Dr. Rainer Beck & Prof. Richard Wielebinski

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  1. Dr. Rainer Beck
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physics & Space Sciences, Florida Institute of Technology, University Boulevard, Melbourne, FL, USA

    Terry D. Oswalt

  2. Institute of Astronomy, Cambridge University, Cambridge, UK

    Gerard Gilmore

Appendix

Appendix

A.1   Catalogue of Radio Polarization Observations of Nearby Galaxies

In radio continuum the typical degrees of polarization are much higher than those in the other spectral ranges, and further benefit comes from the development of large instruments and sensitive receivers. This is why almost all of our knowledge on interstellar magnetic fields in galaxies is based on their polarized radio emission and Faraday rotation.

A list of spiral, barred, irregular, and dwarf galaxies detected in radio polarization until year 2010 is given in Tables  13-5 – 13-7 . Most detections were made in the wavelength range 2–13 cm, where Faraday depolarization is small. At ≈ 20 cm, the polarized intensity is generally smaller by a factor of several (Fig.  13-3 ). At wavelengths of more than 20 cm, no detection of polarized emission from spiral galaxies has been reported so far.

Table 13-5 Radio polarization observations and magnetic field structures of galaxies with low or moderate inclination
Full size table
Table 13-6 Radio polarization observations and magnetic field structures of galaxies with high inclination (almost edge-on)
Full size table
Table 13-7 Radio polarization observations and magnetic field structures of galaxies in the Virgo cluster
Full size table

A.2   Links to the SKA Project and Its Precursor and Pathfinder Telescopes

http://www.skatelescope.org

http://www.scholarpedia.org/article/Square_kilometre_array

http://www.atnf.csiro.au/SKA

http://www.ska.ac.za

http://www.aoc.nrao.edu/evla

http://www.lofar.org

http://www.astron.nl/general/apertif/apertif

http://www.phys.unm.edu/~lwa

http://www.mwatelescope.org

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Beck, R., Wielebinski, R. (2013). Magnetic Fields in Galaxies. In: Oswalt, T.D., Gilmore, G. (eds) Planets, Stars and Stellar Systems. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-5612-0_13

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