Collaborative Research: Studying Magnetic Fields in the Interstellar Medium

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Astronomers refer to the gas and dust that fills the void in space between the stars as the Interstellar Medium, or ISM. Magnetic fields are an important component of the ISM in the Milky Way Galaxy. They affect the way the gas moves and the way the gas collapses under its own weight to form stars. Being able to measure the strength of these fields is therefore very important. The team has developed their own technique, which uses gas velocities, to measure the strength of the magnetic field. By observing radio emission from atoms and molecules in the gas, the researchers can study different regions in the ISM, probing to different depths. Many of the radio observations needed for the magnetic field measurements already exist. Telescopes like the NSF-funded Green Bank telescope and the NSF-supported Arecibo Observatory have surveyed much of the ISM. The team will show how magnetic fields change in denser regions, how they affect the birth of stars, and how they change across the ISM. This project also represents a collaboration between astronomers who specialize in developing complex models of the Interstellar Medium, and astronomers with experience observing the ISM. Students at graduate and undergraduate levels from both institutions (University of Wisconsin-Madison and University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign) will be involved in this collaboration. Indeed, student exchange is an important part of the project. The Principal Investigators (PIs) will also organize an annual workshop and will teach classes related to this research that are open to external undergraduate students. Both PIs also present to public audiences at the Wisconsin Outreach Center and Space Place, and in local high schools.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.