Paper

An analytical model for the magnetic field in the thick shell of (super-) bubbles

Maris, I C, Pelgrims, V, Unger, M

2024

Overview

Bubbles and super-bubbles are ubiquitous in the interstellar medium and influence their local magnetic field. Starting from the assumption that bubbles result from violent explosions that sweep matter away in a thick shell, we derive the analytical equations for the divergence-free magnetic field in the shell. The explosion velocity field is assumed to be radial but not necessarily spherical, making it possible to model various-shaped bubbles. Assuming an explosion center, the magnetic field at the present time is fully determined by the initial uniform magnetic field, the present-time geometry of the bubble shell, and a radial vector field that encodes the explosion-induced displacement of matter, from its original location to its present-time location. We present the main characteristics of our magnetic-field model using a simple displacement model which predicts a constant density of the swept-up matter in the bubble shell and magnetic flux conservation. We further estimate the expected contribution of the shell of the Local Bubble, the super-bubbles in which the Sun resides, to the integrated Faraday rotation measures and synchrotron emission and compare these to full-sky observational data. We find that, while the contribution to the former is minimal, the contribution to the latter is very significant at Galactic latitudes \\(|b|>45^\\circ\\). Our results underline the need to take the Local Bubble into account in large-scale Galactic magnetic field studies.

• Publisher: Cornell University Library, arXiv.org
• Subject: Bubbles / Displacement / Divergence / Explosions / Faraday effect / Fields (mathematics) / Interstellar magnetic fields / Interstellar matter / Magnetic fields / Magnetic flux / Mathematical models / Spherical shells / Velocity distribution