Turbulent structures in the magnetic interstellar medium

The Interstellar Medium (ISM) is the stuff that fills the space between the stars in our Galaxy. The ISM includes ionized gas and a variety of molecules, as well as dust threaded with magnetic fields. The investigators will learn how magnetic fields interact to form new structures in interstellar gas and dust.

They will better understand turbulence and magnetism in galaxies. This project is important because the magnetic structures in our galaxy obscures objects much farther away. By better understanding our galaxy, they hope to detect faint signals that provide clues on how our universe began.

The investigators will pilot a new summer research experience for formerly incarcerated undergraduate students. They hope to enable these students to begin careers in science and technology. Graduate students will develop data visualization tools used in scientific and public outreach talks.

This project will combine archival Arecibo Observatory neutral hydrogen data with new dust polarization maps from the Atacama Cosmology Telescope to quantify the coherence of the magnetic field between the warm and cold neutral media, and to characterize the spatial structure of dust polarization on small angular scales. Their work will also use archival Zeeman splitting measurements to make a new determination of properties of the magnetic field and of magnetohydrodynamic turbulence in the diffuse interstellar medium. The code and data products produced in this work will be made publicly available.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.