Cosmic Magnetic Fields

Abstract

Most of the visible matter in the Universe is in a plasma state, or more specifically is composed of ionized or partially ionized gas permeated by magnetic fields. Thanks to recent advances on the theory and detection of cosmic magnetic fields there has been a worldwide growing interest in the study of their role on the formation of astrophysical sources and the structuring of the Universe. In this lecture, I will briefly review the importance of the cosmic magnetic fields both from a theoretical and from an observational perspective, particularly focusing on stellar and compact objects, the interstellar medium and star formation regions, and on galaxies, clusters of galaxies, and the primordial Universe.

arXiv comment7 pages, invited lecture presented at the XI Latin American Workshop on Plasma Physics, Eds. J. Herrera et al., AIP Procs., 2006 (in press)

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• Inferring the emission regions for different kinds of gamma-ray bursts
• Asymptotic Steady State Solution to a Bow Shock with an Infinite Mach Number
• Anisotropic Einstein universes with a global magetic field and SqK-spinors