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Dynamically dominant magnetic fields in the diffuse interstellar medium

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 November 2008

Andrew Fletcher ,
M. Korpi  and
A. Shukurov
Andrew Fletcher
Affiliation:
School of Mathematics and Statistics, Newcastle University, NE1 7RU, UK email: andrew.fletcher@ncl.ac.uk, anvar.shukurov@ncl.ac.uk
M. Korpi
Affiliation:
Observatory, Tähtitorninmäki (PO Box 14), FI-00014 University of Helsinki, Finland email: maarit.korpi@helsinki.fi
A. Shukurov
Affiliation:
School of Mathematics and Statistics, Newcastle University, NE1 7RU, UK email: andrew.fletcher@ncl.ac.uk, anvar.shukurov@ncl.ac.uk
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Abstract

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Observations show that magnetic fields in the interstellar medium (ISM) often do not respond to increases in gas density as would be naively expected for a frozen-in field. This may suggest that the magnetic field in the diffuse gas becomes detached from dense clouds as they form. We have investigated this possibility using theoretical estimates, a simple magneto-hydrodynamic model of a flow without mass conservation and numerical simulations of a thermally unstable flow. Our results show that significant magnetic flux can be shed from dense clouds as they form in the diffuse ISM, leaving behind a magnetically dominated diffuse gas.

Keywords

ISM: clouds – ISM: magnetic fields – MHD

References

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