Speaker
Description
Magnetic fields are an essential component for life. Without magnetic fields, the Earth would be irradiated by the Solar wind, and the Galaxy would collapse under gravitational pressure. While we have known for ~2000 years that the Earth has a magnetic field, the idea of a Galactic magnetic field (GMF) was first proposed less than 90 years ago. Our work has been focused on understanding what the GMF looks like today, which will provide critical constraints in understanding how the GMF originally formed and how it is evolving.
In the late 1970s and early 1980s, a magnetic shear (reversal) was identified between the local spiral arm and the next inner arm of our Galaxy (Sagittarius arm). Identifying additional reversals became the objective for many GMF studies since the number and location of these reversals could help determine the likely galactic dynamo mode(s) at work in the Milky Way. The new DRAGONS radio polarization data, observed at the Dominion Radio Astrophysical Observatory in Penticton, British Columbia, are providing new clues about the GMF within 5000 lightyears of the Sun. I will share these latest results, which suggest a remarkable similarity to the Solar magnetic field.
| Keyword-1 | Galactic magnetic field |
|---|---|
| Keyword-2 | Interstellar Medium |
| Keyword-3 | Radio Astronomy |