Statistical tracing of magnetic fields: comparing and improving the techniques

Magnetohydrodynamic turbulence displays velocity anisotropies that reflect the direction of the magnetic field. This anisotropy has led to the development of a number of statistical techniques for studying magnetic fields in the interstellar medium. In this paper, we review and compare three techniq...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Martins, Bruno Leonardo Canto, Yuen, Ka Ho, Chen, Junda, Hu, Yue, Ho, Kai Wa, Lazarian, A., Lazarian, Victor, Yang, Bo, Burkhart, Blaskesley, Correia, Caio, Cho, Jungyeon, Medeiros, J. R. de
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de publicación:2018
País:Brasil
Institución:Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte (UFRN)
Repositorio:Repositório Institucional da UFRN
Idioma:inglés
OAI Identifier:oai:repositorio.ufrn.br:123456789/29403
Acceso en línea:https://repositorio.ufrn.br/jspui/handle/123456789/29403
http://dx.doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/aada88
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:ISM: general
ISM: magnetic fields
ISM: structure
Magnetohydrodynamics (MHD)
Methods: numerical
Descripción
Sumario:Magnetohydrodynamic turbulence displays velocity anisotropies that reflect the direction of the magnetic field. This anisotropy has led to the development of a number of statistical techniques for studying magnetic fields in the interstellar medium. In this paper, we review and compare three techniques that use radio position–position–velocity data to determine magnetic field strength and morphology: the correlation function anisotropy (CFA), principal component analysis of anisotropies (PCAA), and the more recent velocity gradient technique (VGT). We compare these three techniques and suggest improvements to the CFA and PCAA techniques to increase their accuracy and versatility. In particular, we suggest and successfully implement a much faster way to calculate nonperiodic correlation functions for the CFA. We discuss possible improvements to the current implementation of the PCAA. We show the advantages of the VGT in terms of magnetic field tracing and stress the complementary nature with the other two techniques.