Plasma turbulence in the interstellar medium

TL;DR

This paper reviews the theoretical frameworks and observational techniques used to study plasma turbulence in the interstellar medium, highlighting how radio wave propagation and polarized emission reveal turbulence characteristics and their implications.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive overview of diagnostic tools and observational signatures for plasma turbulence in the interstellar medium, integrating theory and observations.

Findings

Diagnostic tools effectively detect plasma turbulence signatures.

Observations reveal turbulence sources and dissipation mechanisms.

Radio polarization studies inform about turbulence properties.

Abstract

The interstellar medium is a multi-phase, magnetized, and highly turbulent medium. In this paper, we address both theoretical and observational aspects of plasma turbulence in the interstellar medium. We successively consider radio wave propagation through a plasma and radio polarized emission. For each, we first provide a theoretical framework in the form of a few basic equations, which enable us to define useful diagnostic tools of plasma turbulence; we then show how these tools have been utilized to detect and interpret observational signatures of plasma turbulence, and what astronomers have learned from them regarding the nature, the sources, and the dissipation of turbulence in the interstellar medium.