Cosmic Magnetic Fields in Large Scale Filaments and Sheets

TL;DR

This study models cosmic magnetic fields as highly correlated with large-scale structures like filaments and sheets, using simulations to set an upper limit on their strength based on observed rotation measures.

Contribution

It introduces a simulation-based approach to estimate the upper limit of magnetic fields in cosmic filaments and sheets, considering their inhomogeneous distribution.

Findings

Upper limit of magnetic field in filaments/sheets is ~1 μG.

Magnetic field strength could be up to 1000 times higher than previous estimates.

Field strength is near the equipartition value, but amplification mechanisms remain uncertain.

Abstract

We consider the possibility that cosmic magnetic field, instead of being uniformly distributed, is strongly correlated with the large scale structure of the universe. Then, the observed rotational measure of extra-galactic radio sources would be caused mostly by the clumpy magnetic field in cosmological filaments/sheets rather than by a uniform magnetic field, which was often assumed in previous studies. As a model for the inhomogeneity of the cosmological magnetic field, we adopt a cosmological hydrodynamic simulation, where the field is passively included, and can approximately represent the real field distribution with an arbitrary normalization for the field strength. Then, we derive an upper limit of the magnetic field strength by comparing the observed limit of rotational measure with the rotational measure expected from the magnetic field geometry in the simulated model universe. The resulting upper limit to the magnetic field in filaments and sheets is ${\bar B}_{fs} \la 1 \mu G$ which is $\sim10^3$ times higher than the previously quoted values. This value is close to, but larger than, the equipartition magnetic field strength in filaments and sheets. The amplification mechanism of the magnetic field to the above strength is uncertain. The implications of such a strength of the cosmic magnetic field are discussed.