A Possible Origin of Magnetic Fields in Galaxies and Clusters: Strong Magnetic fields at z~10?

Abstract

We propose that strong magnetic fields should be generated at shock waves associated with formation of galaxies or clusters of galaxies by the Weibel instability, an instability in collisionless plasmas. The strength of the magnetic fields generated through this mechanism is close to the order of those observed in galaxies or clusters of galaxies at present. If the generated fields do not decay rapidly, this indicates that strong amplification of magnetic fields after formation of galaxies or clusters of galaxies is not required. This mechanism could have worked even at a redshift of ~10, and therefore the generated magnetic fields may have affected the formation of stars in protogalaxies. This model will partially be confirmed by future observations of nearby clusters of galaxies. Mechanisms that preserve the magnetic fields for a long time without considerable decay are discussed.

Accepted for publication in MNRAS

References in corpus (3)

• Magnetic Field in Clusters of Galaxies
• Long-time evolution of magnetic fields in relativistic GRB shocks
• Saturation mechanism of the Weibel instability in weakly magnetized plasmas

Cited by in corpus (15)

• Large-scale magnetic fields in the inflationary universe
• Cluster magnetic fields from large-scale-structure and galaxy-cluster shocks
• Generic estimates for magnetic fields generated during inflation including Dirac-Born-Infeld theories
• PIC simulations of the Thermal Anisotropy-Driven Weibel Instability: Field growth and phase space evolution upon saturation
• The interrelation between the generation of large-scale electric fields and that of large-scale magnetic fields during inflation
• Cosmic Magnetism in Centimeter and Meter Wavelength Radio Astronomy
• Property of the spectrum of large-scale magnetic fields from inflation
• Magnetic field spectrum at cosmological recombination revisited
• Primordial magnetic field from non-inflationary cosmic expansion in Horava-Lifshitz gravity
• Weibel instability driven by spatially anisotropic density structures
• Effects of a primordial magnetic field with log-normal distribution on the cosmic microwave background
• Optical inverse-Compton emission from clusters of galaxies
• Magnetic field generation by the Weibel instability at temperature gradients in collisionless plasmas
• Scale-Free Thin Discs with an Isopedic Magnetic Field
• The Generation of Magnetic Fields and X-ray Observations