Measuring Cosmic Magnetism with the Low Frequency Radio Array

第一部分这项提议计划通过亚利桑那州立大学和德国长波联盟之间的合作，对宇宙磁场进行低频无线电测量。每年，该计划将资助两名一年级研究生和五名高级本科生，他们将使用低频阵列（LOFAR）进行研究，这是一个引人注目的新欧洲射电望远镜。由于它的灵敏度，分辨率和频率覆盖范围，LOFAR将允许星系际磁场测量数量级比以前更好。第2部分磁场线程宇宙，设置标准的星星形成的星系，控制星系团的演化，并改变星系际介质从所有星系形成。LOFAR望远镜是新一代望远镜中的第一台，工作在10至240兆赫的极低频范围内。磁场主要是通过与宇宙射线的相互作用来检测的，只有在这些低频率（对应于低宇宙射线能量）的望远镜才能够在远离宇宙射线源和星系际空间深处进行灵敏的测量。有了这个非凡的新工具，IRES学生开展的项目将有助于打开磁宇宙的新窗口。在星系尺度上，他们将探索星星形成和磁性之间的联系，以及星系周围磁场的起源。在星系团尺度上，他们将探索热星系团介质的未知物理学和其中发现的同步加速器发射气泡的演化;在宇宙尺度上，他们将揭示连接所有星系的气体网络的磁性。他们将一起填补一个基本问题的关键部分：宇宙在最大尺度上的结构是什么？

Part 1This proposal plans to carry out low-frequency radio measurements of cosmic magnetism through a collaboration between Arizona State University and the German Long Wavelength Consortium. Each year, the program will fund two first-year graduate students and five advanced undergraduates, who will carry out research with the Low Frequency Array (LOFAR), a remarkable new European radio telescope. Due to its sensitivity, resolution, and frequency coverage, LOFAR will allow for intergalactic magnetic field measurements orders of magnitude better than previously possible.Part 2Magnetic fields thread the Universe, setting the criteria for star formation in galaxies, controlling the evolution of galaxy clusters, and altering the intergalactic medium from which all galaxies formed. Yet very little is known about their properties.LOFAR is the first of a new generation of telescopes that operates in the extremely low frequency range between 10 and 240 MHz. Magnetic fields are primarily detected by their interactions with cosmic rays, and only telescopes at these low frequencies, whichcorrespond to low cosmic ray energies, are able to make sensitive measurements far away from cosmic ray sources and out in the depths of intergalactic space. With this remarkable new tool, the projects carried out by IRES students will help to open a new window on the magnetic universe. On galaxy scales, they will probe the connection between star formation and magnetism and the origin of the magnetic fields that surround galaxies. On galaxy cluster scales, they will probe the unknown physics of the hotintracluster medium and the evolution of the synchrotron emitting bubbles found within it. On cosmic scales they will uncover the magnetic properties of the web of gas that connects all galaxies. Together they will be filling in a key piece of the fundamental question: what is the structure of the Universe on the largest scales?