Cosmic Magnetic Fields: Observations and Prospects

Abstract

Synchrotron emission, its polarization and its Faraday rotation at radio frequencies of 0.2-10 GHz are powerful tools to study the strength and structure of cosmic magnetic fields. The observational results are reviewed for spiral, barred and flocculent galaxies, the Milky Way, halos and relics of galaxy clusters, and for the intergalactic medium. Polarization observations with the forthcoming large radio telescopes will open a new era in the observation of cosmic magnetic fields and will help to understand their origin. At low frequencies, LOFAR (10-250 MHz) will allow us to map the structure of weak magnetic fields in the outer regions and halos of galaxies and galaxy clusters. Polarization at higher frequencies (1-10 GHz), as observed with the EVLA, ASKAP, MeerKAT, APERTIF and the SKA, will trace magnetic fields in the disks and central regions of nearby galaxies in unprecedented detail. Surveys of Faraday rotation measures of pulsars will map the Milky Way's magnetic field with high precision. All-sky surveys of Faraday rotation measures towards a dense grid of polarized background sources with the SKA and its precursor telescope ASKAP are dedicated to measure magnetic fields in distant intervening galaxies, galaxy clusters and intergalactic filaments, and will be used to model the overall structure and strength of the magnetic field in the Milky Way.