Magnetogenesis at Cosmic Dawn: Tracing the Origins of Cosmic Magnetic Fields

MNRAS

Authors:

Harley Katz, Sergio Martin-Alvarez, Julien Devriendt, Adrianne Slyz, Taysun Kimm

Abstract:

Despite their ubiquity, the origin of cosmic magnetic fields remains unknown. Various mechanisms have been proposed for their existence including primordial fields generated by inflation, or amplification and injection by compact astrophysical objects. Separating the potential impact of each magnetogenesis scenario on the magnitude and orientation of the magnetic field and their impact on gas dynamics may give insight into the physics that magnetised our Universe. In this work, we demonstrate that because the induction equation and solenoidal constraint are linear with $B$, the contribution from different sources of magnetic field can be separated in cosmological magnetohydrodynamics simulations and their evolution and influence on the gas dynamics can be tracked. Exploiting this property, we develop a magnetic field tracer algorithm for cosmological simulations that can track the origin and evolution of different components of the magnetic field. We present a suite of cosmological magnetohydrodynamical RAMSES simulations that employ this algorithm where the primordial field strength is varied to determine the contributions of the primordial and supernovae-injected magnetic fields to the total magnetic energy as a function of time and spatial location. We find that, for our specific model, the supernova-injected fields rarely penetrate far from haloes, despite often dominating the total magnetic energy in the simulations. The magnetic energy density from the supernova-injected field scales with density with a power-law slope steeper than 4/3 and often dominates the total magnetic energy inside of haloes. However, the star formation rates in our simulations are not affected by the presence of magnetic fields, for the ranges of primordial field strengths examined. These simulations represent a first demonstration of the magnetic field tracer algorithm (abridged).

Modelling baryonic feedback for survey cosmology

Open Journal of Astrophysics

Authors:

Nora Elisa Chisari, Alexander J Mead, Shahab Joudaki, Pedro Ferreira, Aurel Schneider, Joseph Mohr, Tilman Tröster, David Alonso, Ian G McCarthy, Sergio Martin-Alvarez, Julien Devriendt, Adrianne Slyz, Marcel P van Daalen

Abstract:

Observational cosmology in the next decade will rely on probes of the distribution of matter in the redshift range between $0

Multimessenger science opportunities with mHz gravitational waves

Authors:

John Baker, Zoltán Haiman, Elena Maria Rossi, Edo Berger, Niel Brandt, Elmé Breedt, Katelyn Breivik, Maria Charisi, Andrea Derdzinski, Daniel J D'Orazio, Saavik Ford, Jenny E Greene, J Colin Hill, Kelly Holley-Bockelmann, Joey Shapiro Key, Bence Kocsis, Thomas Kupfer, Shane Larson, Piero Madau, Thomas Marsh, Barry McKernan, Sean T McWilliams, Priyamvada Natarajan, Samaya Nissanke, Scott Noble, E Sterl Phinney, Gavin Ramsay, Jeremy Schnittman, Alberto Sesana, David Shoemaker, Nicholas Stone, Silvia Toonen, Benny Trakhtenbrot, Alexey Vikhlinin, Marta Volonteri

Abstract:

LISA will open the mHz band of gravitational waves (GWs) to the astronomy community. The strong gravity which powers the variety of GW sources in this band is also crucial in a number of important astrophysical processes at the current frontiers of astronomy. These range from the beginning of structure formation in the early universe, through the origin and cosmic evolution of massive black holes in concert with their galactic environments, to the evolution of stellar remnant binaries in the Milky Way and in nearby galaxies. These processes and their associated populations also drive current and future observations across the electromagnetic (EM) spectrum. We review opportunities for science breakthroughs, involving either direct coincident EM+GW observations, or indirect multimessenger studies. We argue that for the US community to fully capitalize on the opportunities from the LISA mission, the US efforts should be accompanied by a coordinated and sustained program of multi-disciplinary science investment, following the GW data through to its impact on broad areas of astrophysics. Support for LISA-related multimessenger observers and theorists should be sized appropriately for a flagship observatory and may be coordinated through a dedicated mHz GW research center.

Neural Deprojection of Galaxy Stellar Mass Profiles

Machine Learning and the Physical Sciences Workshop, NeurIPS 2025

Authors:

MJ Yantovski-Barth, H Zhang, N Smyth, C Stone, Martin BUREAU, Y Hezaveh, L Perreault-Levasseur

New Horizon: On the origin of the stellar disk and spheroid of field galaxies

Authors:

M-J Park, SK Yi, Y Dubois, C Pichon, T Kimm, JULIEN Devriendt, H Choi, M Volonteri, S Kaviraj, S Peirani

Abstract:

The origin of the disk and spheroid of galaxies has been a key open question in understanding their morphology. Using the high-resolution cosmological simulation, New Horizon, we explore kinematically decomposed disk and spheroidal components of 144 field galaxies with masses greater than $\rm 10^9\,M_{\odot}$ at $z=0.7$. The origins of stellar particles are classified according to their birthplace (in situ or ex situ) and their orbits at birth. Before disk settling, stars form mainly through chaotic mergers between proto-galaxies and become part of the spheroidal component. When disk settling starts, we find that more massive galaxies begin to form disk stars from earlier epochs; massive galaxies commence to develop their disks at $z\sim1-2$, while low-mass galaxies do after $z\sim1$. The formation of disks is affected by accretion as well, as mergers can trigger gas turbulence or induce misaligned gas infall that prevents galaxies from forming co-rotating disk stars. The importance of accreted stars is greater in more massive galaxies, especially in developing massive spheroids. A significant fraction of the spheroids comes from the disk stars that are perturbed, which becomes more important at lower redshifts. Some ($\sim12.5\%$) of our massive galaxies develop counter-rotating disks from the gas infall misaligned with the existing disk plane, which can last for more than a Gyr until they become the dominant component, and flip the angular momentum of the galaxy in the opposite direction. The final disk-to-total ratio of a galaxy needs to be understood in relation to its stellar mass and accretion history. We quantify the significance of the stars with different origins and provide them as guiding values.