Effect of magnetic seed fields on Lyman Alpha emission from distant quasars
Name
963858962-MIT.pdf
Description
Full printable version
Size
5.61 MB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
6dcac5cd779f51e079ee4b5f302ca124
Author(s)
Narayanan, Sruthi Annapoorny
Advisor(s)
Mark Vogelsberger.
Date Issued
2016
Publisher
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Abstract
There are indications that weak magnetic fields originating in the early Universe and magnified via magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) processes could cause perturbations in the thermodynamic state of the gas in the intergalactic medium which affect the Lyman-Alpha spectrum we observe. In this work we investigate to what extent the properties of the Lyman-Alpha forest are sensitive to the presence of large-scale cosmological magnetic fields as a function of the seed field intensity. To do so, we develop and use a series of numerical tools to analyze previously constructed cosmological MHD simulations that include state-of-the-art implementation of the relevant physical processes for galaxy formation. The inclusion of these physical mechanisms is crucial to get the level of magnetic field amplification currently observed in the structures that populate our Universe. With these tools we isolate characteristics, namely the Flux Probability Density Function and the Power Spectrum, of the Lyman-Alpha forest that are sensitive to the magnetic field strength. We then examine the implications of our results.
Description
Thesis: S.B., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Physics, 2016.
Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.
Includes bibliographical references (pages 55-57).
Subjects
Physics.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Physics
Terms of Use
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