Date: Monday 20-Feb-2017
Time: 11:00-12:00
Location: PSC 1136 (Conference room)
Speaker: Stephen Walker, NASA Goddard
Title: Probing magnetic fields in galaxy clusters
Unraveling the properties of magnetic fields permeating galaxy clusters is one of the most significant challenges in understanding the physics of the intracluster medium, and how it responds to phenomena such as AGN feedback. Here I discuss two of our recent works, each using different techniques to probe the cluster magnetic field. Firstly, deep Chandra observations of the ICM in nearby clusters such as Perseus and Centaurus show evidence of Kelvin-Helmholtz instabilities, brought about by the shear created as their cores slosh around in response to minor mergers, which are highly sensitive to the magnetic field strength. Comparing these structures to state-of-the-art hydrodynamic simulations provides unique constraints on the average, cluster wide, magnetic field. Secondly , HST observations of extremely narrow and long H-alpha filaments in the cores of these clusters, which have likely been dragged out through AGN feedback, provide further insights into the magnetic field in the most dynamically active parts of clusters.
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