Discovery of magnetic fields along stacked cosmic filaments as revealed by radio and X-ray emission

Abstract

Diffuse filaments connect galaxy clusters to form the cosmic web. Detecting these filaments could yield information on the magnetic field strength, cosmic ray population and temperature of intercluster gas, yet, the faint and large-scale nature of these bridges makes direct detections very challenging. Using multiple independent all-sky radio and X-ray maps we stack pairs of luminous red galaxies as tracers for cluster pairs. For the first time, we detect an average surface brightness between the clusters from synchrotron (radio) and thermal (X-ray) emission with ≳ 5σ significance, on physical scales larger than observed to date (≥3 Mpc). We obtain a synchrotron spectral index of α ≃ −1.0 and estimates of the average magnetic field strength of 30 ≤ B ≤ 60 nG, derived from both equipartition and Inverse Compton arguments, implying a 5 to 15 per cent degree of field regularity when compared with Faraday rotation measure estimates. While the X-ray detection is inline with predictions, the average radio signal comes out higher than predicted by cosmological simulations and dark matter annihilation and decay models. This discovery demonstrates that there are connective structures between mass concentrations that are significantly magnetised, and the presence of sufficient cosmic rays to produce detectable synchrotron radiation.

Everything is Probabilistic Spacetime: An Integrative Theory

“…Given sufficient technology, no exception should be found. Additionally, the PST would be consistent with any finding that magnetism is a significant factor in forming a cosmological structure, as was indicated by the discovery that magnetism played a significant role in forming filaments [11].…”

“…As described above, evidence now exists of magnetic field lines stretching between galaxy clusters [11], that specific research involving filaments up to 50 million light years in length. (This discovery followed the discovery a year before of…”

“…There is also contrary evidence to various conceptualizations of dark matter. Research studied synchrotron (radio) and thermal (X-ray) emanations from mass filaments between galaxy clusters using filaments up to 50 million light years in length [11]. Findings indicated that none of five models of dark matter could account for more than a small portion of the observed emanations, whereas the more mundane phenomenon of magnetism could account for far more.…”

Magnetogenesis and the Cosmic Web: A Joint Challenge for Radio Observations and Numerical Simulations

“…Figure 1 shows a volume rendering 3 of baryon gas density and magnetic fields in one of the largest MAGCOW simulations (and cosmological MHD simulations in general), i.e., a comoving 100 3 Mpc 3 volume simulated with 2400 3 cells and dark matter particles, for a constant spatial comoving resolution of 41.6 kpc and assuming a simple uniform seed magnetic field of B 0 = 0.1 nG comoving, seeded at the beginning of the run (z = 40). For further analysis of this simulation, see [68][69][70][71]. Spectacular threads of magnetic fields that trace the underlying matter distribution of the cosmic web are clearly seen in the image.…”

Searching for the Synchrotron Cosmic Web Again: A replication attempt

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We follow up on the surprising recent announcement by Vernstrom et al (2021) of the detection of the synchrotron cosmic web. We attempt to reproduce their detection with new observations with the Phase II, extended configuration of the Murchison Widefield Array at 118.5 MHz.

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