State of the Universe

The Impact of Primordial Magnetic Fields on the First Galaxies, Reionization, and the Global 21cm Signal

by Prof. Harley Katz (The University of Oxford (U.K.))

Friday, March 5, 2021 from to (Asia/Kolkata)
at Zoom
Description
Magnetic fields are important in nearly every astrophysical environment yet they are only just starting to be included in large-scale cosmological simulations of galaxy formation. Magnetic fields are particularly interesting in the context of the epoch of reionization because decaying magnetic turbulence and ambipolar diffusion can both heat and ionise the gas, magnetic fields can be generated during reionization at the edges of ionization fronts, primordial magnetic fields can induce secondary perturbations on the matter power spectrum and enhance the number of dwarf galaxies, and magnetic fields can alter the structure of the ISM. I will present the first results from SPHINX-MHD, a suite of cosmological magneto radiation hydrodynamics simulations designed to study the impact of primordial magnetic fields on the first galaxies and reionization and discuss how reionization observables can be used to constrain the properties of early magnetic fields. 
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