Galactic dynamos and density wave theory

Details Galactic dynamos and density wave theory Galactic dynamos and density wave theory

Feb 1991

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1991mnras.248..677m&link_type=abstract

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society (ISSN 0035-8711), vol. 248, Feb. 15, 1991, p. 677-687. SERC-supported research

Statistics

Computation

43

Computational Astrophysics, Density Distribution, Density Wave Model, Dynamo Theory, Galactic Structure, Gravitational Collapse, Interstellar Gas, Interstellar Magnetic Fields, Mathematical Models, Shock Waves, Star Formation

Scientific paper

A steady density wave in the stellar background of a disklike galaxy is hypothesized to force a spiral shock wave in the interstellar gas, yielding a corresponding spiral form for the crucial alpha-effect term in standard dynamo theory. The thin-disk approximation to the dynamo equation is extrapolated to apply to cases with strong departures from axisymmetry. Rapidly growing, global, bisymmetric (m = +/- 1) magnetic modes are found which corotate with the density wave; for the chosen parameter they extend for 3-4 kpc around the radius rc where the wave corotates with the gas. It is argued that the galactic magnetic field not only facilitates star formation but may also bias the mass spectrum toward more massive stars, which interact much more violently with the ISM.

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