Dissertation

Reconstructing Magnetic Fields of Spiral Galaxies from Radiopolarimetric Observations

Promotor: H.J.A. Röttgering, Co-promotor: M. Haverkorn

Author

Carl Shneider

Date

17 December 2015

Links

Thesis in Leiden University Repository

We live in a magnetic universe with magnetic fields spanning an enormous range of spatial and temporal scales. In particular, magnetic fields at the scale of a galaxy are known as galactic magnetic fields and are the focus of this PhD thesis. These galactic magnetic fields are very important since they affect the dynamics of the interstellar gas as well as the gas distribution. The presence of these magnetic fields induces a certain type of radiation to occur at radio frequencies known as synchrotron radiation. The observed polarization properties of this synchrotron radiation then serves to record the imprint of these magnetic fields. The goal of this thesis has been to infer the structure of the magnetic field across various spatial scales in our own Galaxy as well as the strength and structure of the magnetic field in other galaxies using radiopolarimetric observations.

• galactic magnetic fields
• galaxies
• radio astronomy
• radiopolarimetric observations