Month: September 2022

FRAGMENT FROM NATURE For this and next weekend focuses on several papers about the phenomenon of cosmic magnetic forces. These very mysterious and all-pervasive forces span from the atom to interstellar space at a huge range of scales. The amount of energy in this ether has untapped potential for many practical uses. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnetism View in LinkedIn

COSMIC MAGNETISM. “Magnetism is one of the four fundamental forces. However, the origin of magnetic fields in stars, galaxies and clusters is an open problem in astrophysics and fundamental physics.” https://lnkd.in/gtXvJuzR View in LinkedIn

QUESTION 1. “When and how were the first fields generated?” https://lnkd.in/gtXvJuzR View in LinkedIn

QUESTION 2. “Are present-day magnetic fields a result of dynamo action, or do they represent persistent primordial magnetism?” https://lnkd.in/gtXvJuzR View in LinkedIn

QUESTION 3. “What role do magnetic fields play in turbulence, cosmic ray acceleration and galaxy formation?” https://lnkd.in/gtXvJuzR View in LinkedIn

UNIVERSAL IMPORTANCE. “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 arms and halos to the intracluster and intergalactic media. They are involved in essentially every particle acceleration process and are thus fundamental to non-thermal physics in the Universe.” https://lnkd.in/gTA_aVgT View in LinkedIn

THE ALL-PERVASIVE ETHER. “Magnetic fields span many orders of magnitude in both their physical scale and field strength reaching as high as 10(15) Gauss in magnetars to as low as 10(-9) Gauss in intergalactic regions. Since they do not radiate and cannot be observed directly, their study is challenging.” https://lnkd.in/gTA_aVgT View in LinkedIn

ENORMOUS IMPACT. “Magnetic fields are a natural consequence of the dynamic plasmas that comprise a star. They directly and indirectly impact stellar lives through modification of convective and circulatory interior flows, redistribution of angular momentum and nucleosynthetic chemicals, channeling and modification of mass loss and accretion, and shedding of rotational angular momentum through magnetic braking.” https://lnkd.in/gTA_aVgT View in LinkedIn

ALL OF EVERYTHING AFFECTED. “Ultimately, these effects lead to important modification of stellar evolutionary pathways and stellar feedback effects, such as mechanical energy deposition in the ISM and supernova explosions, and hence the properties of stellar remnants and the structure and chemistry of the local Galactic environment.” (ISM = the interstellar medium). https://lnkd.in/gTA_aVgT View in LinkedIn

PROBES. “Magnetic fields pervade in the interstellar medium and are believed to shape the process of star formation, yet probing magnetic fields is challenging.” https://lnkd.in/gTA_aVgT View in LinkedIn