Open AccessThe growth of baryonic structure in the presence of cosmological magnetic pressure
Author(s) -
Gazzola Lorena,
King Emma J.,
Pearce Frazer R.,
Coles Peter
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
monthly notices of the royal astronomical society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.058
H-Index - 383
eISSN - 1365-2966
pISSN - 0035-8711
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2966.2006.11323.x
Subject(s) - physics , magnetic field , observable , astrophysics , isotropy , baryon , magnetic pressure , field (mathematics) , range (aeronautics) , computational physics , magnetization , quantum mechanics , materials science , mathematics , pure mathematics , composite material
We follow the growth of baryonic structure in the presence of a magnetic field within an approximate cosmological magnetohydrodynamic simulation, produced by adding an (isotropic) magnetic pressure related to the local gas pressure. We perform an ensemble of these simulations to follow the amplification of the field with time. By using a variety of initial field strengths and changing the slope of the power law that governs the way the field grows with increasing density, we span the range of current observations and demonstrate the size of the effect realistic magnetic fields could have on the central density of groups and clusters. A strong magnetic field significantly reduces the central gas density which, in turn, reduces observable quantities such as the X‐ray luminosity.