This self-contained introduction to astrophysical magnetic fields provides a comprehensive review of the current state of the field and a critical discussion of the latest research. Its emphasis on results that are likely to form the basis for future progress benefits a broad audience of advanced students and active researchers.

Magnetic fields permeate space and affect many major astrophysical phenomena, but they are often ignored due to their perceived complexity. This self-contained introduction to astrophysical magnetic fields provides both a comprehensive review of the current state of the subject and a critical discussion of the latest research. It presents our knowledge of magnetic fields from the Early Universe, their evolution in cosmic time through to their roles in present-day galaxies, galaxy clusters and the wider intergalactic medium, with attention given to both theory and observations. This volume also contains an extensive introduction into magnetohydrodynamics, numerous worked examples, observational and mathematical techniques and interpretations of the observations. Its review of our current knowledge, with an emphasis on results that are likely to form the basis for future progress, benefits a broad audience of advanced students and active researchers, including those from fields such as cosmology and general relativity.

Magnetic fields permeate space and affect many major astrophysical phenomena, but they are often ignored due to their perceived complexity. This self-contained introduction to astrophysical magnetic fields provides both a comprehensive review of the current state of the subject and a critical discussion of the latest research. It presents our knowledge of magnetic fields from the Early Universe, their evolution in cosmic time through to their roles in present-day galaxies, galaxy clusters and the wider intergalactic medium, with attention given to both theory and observations. This volume also contains an extensive introduction into magnetohydrodynamics, numerous worked examples, observational and mathematical techniques and interpretations of the observations. Its review of our current knowledge, with an emphasis on results that are likely to form the basis for future progress, benefits a broad audience of advanced students and active researchers, including those from fields such as cosmology and general relativity.

This course-tested textbook conveys the fundamentals of magnetic fields and relativistic plasma in diffuse cosmic media, with a primary focus on phenomena that have been observed at different wavelengths. Theoretical concepts are addressed wherever necessary, with derivations presented in sufficient detail to be generally accessible. In the first few chapters the authors present an introduction to various astrophysical phenomena related to cosmic magnetism, with scales ranging from molecular clouds in star-forming regions and supernova remnants in the Milky Way, to clusters of galaxies. Later chapters address the role of magnetic fields in the evolution of the interstellar medium, galaxies and galaxy clusters. The book is intended for advanced undergraduate and postgraduate students in astronomy and physics and will serve as an entry point for those starting their first research projects in the field.

Magnetism is one of the most pervasive features of the Universe, with planets, stars and entire galaxies all having associated magnetic fields. All of these fields are generated by the motion of electrically conducting fluids, the so-called dynamo effect. The precise details of what drives the motion, and indeed what the fluid consists of, differ widely though. In this work the authors draw upon their expertise in geophysical and astrophysical MHD to explore some of these phenomena, and describe the similarities and differences between different magnetized objects. They also explain why magnetic fields are crucial in the formation of the stars, and discuss promising experiments currently being designed to study some of the relevant physics in the laboratory. This interdisciplinary approach makes the book appealing to a wide audience in physics, astrophysics and geophysics.

Publisher description

This book contains review articles of most of the topics addressed at the conf- ence on Simulations of Magnetohydrodynamic turbulence in astrophysics: recent achievements and perspectives which took place from July 2 to 6, 2001 at the Institut Henri Poincar ́e in Paris. We made the choice to publish these lectures in a tutorial form so that they can be read by a broad audience. As a result, this book does not give an exhaustive view of all the subjects addressed during the conference. The main objective of this workshop which gathered about 90 scientists from di?erent ?elds, was to present and confront recent results on the topic of t- bulence in magnetized astrophysical environments. A second objective was to discuss the latest generation of numerical codes, such as those using adaptive mesh re?nement (AMR) techniques. During a plenary discussion at the end of the workshop discussions were held on several topics, often at the heart of vivid controversies. Topics included the timescale for the dissipation of magneto-hydrodynamical (MHD) turbulence, the role of boundary conditions, the characteristics of imbalanced turbulence, the validity of the polytropic approach to Alfv ́en waves support within interst- lar clouds, the source of turbulence inside clouds devoid of stellar activity, the timescale for star formation, the Alfv ́en Mach number of interstellar gas motions, the formation process for helical ?elds in the interstellar medium. The impact of small upon large scales was also discussed.