Bulletin of the American Physical Society
17th Annual Meeting of the APS Northwest Section
Volume 61, Number 7
Thursday–Saturday, May 12–14, 2016; Penticton, British Columbia, Canada
Session B1: Astronomy and Cosmology I |
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Chair: Tom Landecker, Dominion Radio Astrophysical Observatory Room: PC 119 |
Friday, May 13, 2016 1:30PM - 2:05PM |
B1.00001: Understanding Cosmic Magnetism: a key science project for the Square Kilometre Array Invited Speaker: Roland Kothes Understanding the Universe is impossible without understanding magnetic fields. They fill interstellar space, affect the evolution of galaxies and galaxy clusters, contribute significantly to the total pressure of interstellar gas, are essential for the onset of star formation, and control the density and distribution of cosmic rays in the interstellar medium (ISM). In spite of their importance, the origin of magnetic fields is still an open problem in fundamental physics and astrophysics. In this brief review I will summarize how we detect and study magnetic fields in radio astronomy and the role the SKA will play in solving the problems of Cosmic Magnetism. [Preview Abstract] |
Friday, May 13, 2016 2:05PM - 2:17PM |
B1.00002: The Galactic Magnetic Field as a Parker Spiral - A New View of the Milky Way Anna Ordog, Jo-Anne Brown, Tom Landecker, Roland Kothes The Galactic Magnetic Field (GMF) has been determined to be an important component of the interstellar medium, contributing to processes such as star formation and cosmic ray acceleration, in addition to providing vertical pressure balance to counteract gravitational collapse of the Galaxy. The large-scale GMF is typically modeled as resulting from a dynamo that amplified and ordered a weak seed field present at the time of Galactic formation. The dynamo equation solutions describe various symmetries for the present-day field structure, and there have been extensive studies to determine which symmetries or combinations thereof yield the best fit to the data. However, no single model successfully describes all features of the GMF. We present preliminary results of a model for the GMF similar to the Parker spiral solar model. This idea was first proposed in 1982 but was rejected shortly thereafter on the grounds of incompatibility with observations available at the time. We show that a diagonal gradient observed in the Rotation Measures of the diffuse Galactic synchrotron emission from the Canadian Galactic Plane Survey lends credibility to the Galactic Parker spiral model. We demonstrate how this may resolve some inconsistencies between the observations and other existing models. [Preview Abstract] |
Friday, May 13, 2016 2:17PM - 2:29PM |
B1.00003: The Effects of Magnetic Fields in Star Forming Regions Mehrnoosh Tahani, Rene Plume, Jo-Anne Brown The detailed mechanisms of the star formation process continue to elude us. The role of magnetic fields in star formation continues to be part of this mystery, though recent studies suggest their role is likely very important. Of particular interest are filamentary molecular clouds, known as nurseries for star formation. Within these structures, magnetic fields are observed to be on the order of tens of micro-Gauss, which are a factor of ten larger than typical interstellar magnetic fields. For my PhD work, I am investigating the effects of magnetic fields on the evolution of these filamentary structures. In my talk, I will present an overview of what we think we know about the star formation process, what we are learning, and where I hope to contribute in understanding of magnetism within these filamentary structures. [Preview Abstract] |
Friday, May 13, 2016 2:29PM - 2:41PM |
B1.00004: Understanding the Structure and Energetics of Titan's Upper Atmosphere Darci Snowden, Mike Smith, Theodore Jimson Over the past 10 years, Cassini has directly observed the very upper regions of Titan's atmosphere with a suite of instruments. One of the most surprising discoveries is that the production of the complex organic haze appears to begin at the high altitudes observed by Cassini. This part of the atmosphere is not well understood on any planet and significant questions remain about the competing influences of the Sun, the charged particles and electrodynamic fields in Titan's space environment, and atmospheric waves. Previous work (e.g. Snowden et al. (2014)) showed that energy deposition rates in Titan's atmosphere due to the precipitation of magnetospheric electrons and ions are small compared to the energy flux due to solar EUV. However, some of these results relied on energy flux rates at Titan's exobase calculated from Voyager 1 data or data from a small number of Cassini flybys. Cassini has shown that the plasma environment around Titan is extremely variable and that the Voyager 1 conditions are not characteristic of an average plasma environment. Therefore, we further investigate the issue using particle tracing simulations for ions and a two-stream model for electrons in combination with a 3D model of Titan's induced magnetosphere. [Preview Abstract] |
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