Abstract

Invited Talk - Plenary

Wednesday, 11 September 2024, 11:30   (Aula 1&2 / virtual plenum)

Self-consistent galactic magnetic fields in cosmological simulations

Rüdiger Pakmor
Max Planck Institut für Astrophysik

The origin and the physical processes that shape the magnetic fields we observe in galaxies today has long been a hotly debated. Self-consistent cosmological galaxy simulations are a unique way to follow the amplification and evolution of the magnetic fields in galaxies from well defined initial conditions all they way to today. I will show the excellent agreement of the magnetic fields our current cosmological simulations with observational data and discuss the structure of the magnetic fields and how they differ from simple analytical models. I will also show that magnetic fields in satellite galaxies are fundamentally stronger than those in otherwise similar isolated dwarf galaxies, owing to the interaction between satellite galaxies and the circumgalactic medium of their host galaxies. Finally, I will discuss how cosmological simulations are crucial to understand and interpret (magnetic field) observables.