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Astronomy

Magnetic bubbles in space

Nature volume 415, pages 31–33 (2002)Cite this article

The origin of magnetic fields found in galaxies and galaxy clusters is unknown. Both models and observations suggest that extinct radio galaxies could be responsible.

Magnetic fields are found in galaxies and clusters of galaxies throughout the Universe. There is even some evidence for magnetized plasma (ionized gases) bridging the space between two galaxy clusters. But the origin of these magnetic fields and their influence on the intergalactic environment remains largely a mystery1. Theories of how these fields are generated follow either the top-down model, in which magnetization occurred on a cosmic scale when the Universe was much younger, or the bottom-up idea, in which magnetic fields are generated on small scales and then merge into larger systems. Two papers in the Astrophysical Journal by Furlanetto and Loeb2 and Kronberg et al.3 propose that the fossil remnants of extragalactic radio sources fill a sizeable fraction of the intergalactic medium, supporting the bottom-up approach.

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Figure 1: Halo around an active radio galaxy.

F. N. OWEN, J. A. ELIEK, N. E. KASSIM, NRAO

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  1. JILA, University of Colorado, Boulder, 80309, Colorado, USA

    Ellen G. Zweibel

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  1. Ellen G. Zweibel
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Correspondence to Ellen G. Zweibel.

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Zweibel, E. Magnetic bubbles in space. Nature 415, 31–33 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1038/415031a

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