The source of magnetic fields has long been debated. New research provides clues to their origins.
It’s not just your refrigerator that has magnets. Earth, stars, galaxies, and the space between galaxies are also magnetized. The more places scientists have looked for magnetic fields across the universe, the more they’ve discovered. But the question of why this is so and where these magnetic fields originate from has remained a mystery and a subject of ongoing scientific research.
Insights into the origins of the magnetic field
A new paper by Columbia scientists provides insight into where these domains come from. The research team used models to show that magnetic fields may arise spontaneously in the case of disturbances plasma.
Plasma is a type of matter found mostly in extremely hot environments such as those near the surface of the Sun, but plasma is also scattered throughout the universe in low-density environments, such as the expanse of intergalactic space; The team’s research focused on those low-density environments.
Their simulations showed that, in addition to generating new magnetic fields, perturbation of these plasmas can also amplify magnetic fields once they are generated. This helps explain how magnetic fields that arise on small scales can eventually reach the extent of vast distances.
“This new research allows us to imagine the kinds of voids that generate magnetic fields: Even in the most pristine, vast, and remote spaces of our universe, plasma particles bogged down in turbulent motion can spontaneously generate new magnetic fields,” Cerrone said.
“The search for a ‘seed’ that can seed a new magnetic field has been a long time coming, and we are excited to provide new evidence for this original source, as well as data on how the magnetic field grows, once it is born.”
Reference: “Generation of Quasi-equivalent Magnetic Fields in Turbulent, Non-colliding Plasmas” by Lorenzo Cerrone, Luca Comiso, and Ryan Gollant, 31 July 2023, Available here. Physical review letters.
DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.131.055201
The paper was written by astronomy professor Lorenzo Cerrone, astronomy research scientist Luca Comiso, and astronomy doctoral candidate Ryan Gollant.
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