Alma Mater Studiorum Universit`a degli Studi di Bologna ... - Inaf
Alma Mater Studiorum Universit`a degli Studi di Bologna ... - Inaf
Alma Mater Studiorum Universit`a degli Studi di Bologna ... - Inaf
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Chapter 3<br />
Magnetic fields in the hot phase of the<br />
intergalactic me<strong>di</strong>um<br />
In this Chapter I will briefly review the state of our knowledge of intergalactic magnetic<br />
fields. Most attention is given to the results of the analysis of Faraday effect across ra<strong>di</strong>o<br />
galaxies, on which this thesis is based, while those from other techniques are summarized<br />
more briefly. In particular I will show that detailed ra<strong>di</strong>o observations of polarized ra<strong>di</strong>o galaxies<br />
in<strong>di</strong>cate the presence of turbulent magnetic fields fluctuating over a wide range of spatial scales<br />
and provide a means of measuring their power spectra.<br />
3.1 Introduction<br />
The existence of magnetic fields in the extragalactic universe is now well established. Our<br />
knowledge about them has greatly improved over the last few decades, mainly thanks to ra<strong>di</strong>o<br />
continuum observations, which have detected magnetic fields atµG levels in objects such as galaxy<br />
<strong>di</strong>sks and halos and intergalactic me<strong>di</strong>a in both groups and clusters of galaxies. It is also possible<br />
that intergalactic voids are permeated by a widespread magnetic field.<br />
Despite their ubiquity, the role of extragalactic magnetic fields has often remained an ignored<br />
aspect of astrophysics, because of their low energy densities. µG-strength magnetic fields are<br />
now thought to be important for multiple reasons. Fields associated with the thermal IGM<br />
are not thought to be dynamically significant, since they provide typical magnetic pressures<br />
one or two orders of magnitude below thermal values. However, they are believed to strongly<br />
influence the IGM heat conductivity, inhibiting the spatial mixing of gas and propagation of<br />
cosmic rays(e.g. Balbus 2000; Bogdanović et al. 2009). Indeed, the IGM is so extremely <strong>di</strong>lute<br />
that is characterized by huge collisional mean free paths (∼20 kpc). In this con<strong>di</strong>tion, even for<br />
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