Abstract
The Square Kilometre Array (SKA) will answer fundamental questions about the origin, evolution, properties, and influence of magnetic fields throughout the Universe. Magnetic fields can illuminate and influence phenomena as diverse as star formation, galactic dynamics, fast radio bursts, active galactic nuclei, large-scale structure, and dark matter annihilation. Preparations for the SKA are swiftly continuing worldwide, and the community is making tremendous observational progress in the field of cosmic magnetism using data from a powerful international suite of SKA pathfinder and precursor telescopes. In this contribution, we revisit community plans for magnetism research using the SKA, in light of these recent rapid developments. We focus in particular on the impact that new radio telescope instrumentation is generating, thus advancing our understanding of key SKA magnetism science areas, as well as the new techniques that are required for processing and interpreting the data. We discuss these recent developments in the context of the ultimate scientific goals for the SKA era.
Highlights
Cosmic magnetism has traditionally been a relatively specialised field, but is increasingly recognised as a domain where new progress is crucial to gain greater understanding of broader astrophysical phenomena such as the star formation process, galaxy evolution, the physics of phenomena related to active galactic nuclei, galaxy clusters, and large-scale structure, and the evolution of the early Universe
The intergalactic magnetic field (IGMF) in the early Universe may be constrained by the Epoch of Reionization (EoR) observations that will be undertaken with the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) [59], because magnetic fields can alter the expected spatial fluctuations of density and temperature through heating mechanisms from ambipolar diffusion and decay of turbulence in the intergalactic medium (IGM) [60]
SKA pathfinders and precursors feature new technical capabilities, as well as design enhancements in comparison with traditional radio telescopes. Many of these facilities are planning substantial new magnetism surveys, which provides us with a twofold opportunity: first, to test many of the analysis techniques that are planned for SKA data products, but on a somewhat smaller scale; and secondly, to further develop the science questions that will be addressed in the SKA era
Summary
Cosmic magnetism has traditionally been a relatively specialised field, but is increasingly recognised as a domain where new progress is crucial to gain greater understanding of broader astrophysical phenomena such as the star formation process, galaxy evolution, the physics of phenomena related to active galactic nuclei, galaxy clusters, and large-scale structure, and the evolution of the early Universe. We begin by revisiting the key science areas in the field of cosmic magnetism that we intend to probe with the SKA (Section 2), highlighting advances that have occurred since the publication of the 2015 SKA science book This progress is rapidly taking place with an impressive international suite of SKA precursor and pathfinder telescopes (Section 3), while simultaneously clarifying the capabilities and potential of those instruments. These ongoing developments are answering existing scientific questions and prompting new ones, and serving to clarify the technical considerations that are required to maximise the science achievable using SKA observations (Section 4) and providing a fresh context for the design of the key surveys anticipated to be delivered by the SKA (Section 5). We conclude the paper with some thoughts about the steps that will be required in the coming years before the SKA enters its operational phase (Section 6)
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