Journal article
Unraveling the origin of magnetic fields in galaxies
- Abstract:
- Despite their ubiquity, there are many open questions regarding galactic and cosmic magnetic fields. Specifically, current observational constraints cannot rule out whether magnetic fields observed in galaxies were generated in the early Universe or are of astrophysical nature. Motivated by this, we use our magnetic tracer algorithm to investigate whether the signatures of primordial magnetic fields persist in galaxies throughout cosmic time. We simulate a Milky Way-like galaxy down to z ∼ 2–1 in four scenarios: magnetized solely by primordial magnetic fields, magnetized exclusively by supernova (SN)-injected magnetic fields, and two combined primordial + SN magnetization cases. We find that once primordial magnetic fields with a comoving strength B0 > 10−12 G are considered, they remain the primary source of galaxy magnetization. Our magnetic tracers show that, even combined with galactic sources of magnetization, when primordial magnetic fields are strong, they source the large-scale fields in the warm metal-poor phase of the simulated galaxy. In this case, the circumgalactic medium and intergalactic medium can be used to probe B0 without risk of pollution by magnetic fields originated in the galaxy. Furthermore, whether magnetic fields are primordial or astrophysically sourced can be inferred by studying local gas metallicity. As a result, we predict that future state-of-the-art observational facilities of magnetic fields in galaxies will have the potential to unravel astrophysical and primordial magnetic components of our Universe.
- Publication status:
- Published
- Peer review status:
- Peer reviewed
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(Preview, Version of record, 6.0MB, Terms of use)
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- Publisher copy:
- 10.1093/mnras/stab968
Authors
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- Journal:
- Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society More from this journal
- Volume:
- 504
- Issue:
- 2
- Article number:
- 2517–2534
- Publication date:
- 2021-04-09
- Acceptance date:
- 2021-04-01
- DOI:
- EISSN:
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1365-2966
- ISSN:
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035-8711
- Language:
-
English
- Keywords:
- Pubs id:
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1147865
- Local pid:
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pubs:1147865
- Deposit date:
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2021-02-22
Terms of use
- Copyright holder:
- Martin-Alvarez et al.
- Copyright date:
- 2021
- Rights statement:
- © 2021 The Author(s). Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Royal Astronomical Society. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted reuse, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
- Licence:
- CC Attribution (CC BY)
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