Speaker
Dominik Schleicher
(Institut für Astrophysik Göttingen)
Description
The presence of magnetic fields is well-established in the interstellar medium of galaxies, which can be probed via the far-infrared - radio correlation even at high redshift. The latter corresponds to a correlation between the star formation rate and the magnetic field strength in galaxies. In this talk, I will show how such a correlation can be obtained as a result of turbulent magnetic field amplification. For this purpose, I will present recent studies on turbulent magnetic field amplification at high Mach numbers, and show how the latter leads to a natural relation between the star formation rate and the magnetic field strength. For this purpose, I will assume that supernova explosions are the main drivers of turbulence, and derive the expected turbulent velocities and magnetic field strength as a function of the star formation rate. I will discuss the potential evolution of this correlation with redshift, and show that we expect a breakdown in the correlation when the timescale for inverse Compton scattering becomes shorter than the timescale for synchrotron emission. The evolution of this correlation will be tested with the SKA and its pathfinders in the coming years.
Author
Dominik Schleicher
(Institut für Astrophysik Göttingen)