Intergalactic Magnetic Fields from Quasar Outflows

Abstract

Outflows from quasars inevitably pollute the intergalactic medium (IGM) with magnetic fields. The short-lived activity of a quasar leaves behind an expanding magnetized bubble in the IGM. We model the expansion of the remnant quasar bubbles and calculate their distribution as a function of size and magnetic field strength at different redshifts. We generically find that by a redshift z ∼ 3, about 5-20% of the IGM volume is filled by magnetic fields with an energy density ∼ > 10% of the mean thermal energy density of a photo-ionized IGM (at ∼ 10 4 K). As massive galaxies and X-ray clusters condense out of the magnetized IGM, the adiabatic compression of the magnetic field could result in the field strength observed in these systems without a need for further dynamo amplification. The intergalactic magnetic field could also provide a nonthermal contribution to the pressure of the photo-ionized gas that may account for the claimed discrepancy between the simulated and observed Doppler width distributions of the Lyα forest.

Cosmological magnetic fields: their generation, evolution and observation

“…The observed size of the jets reach Mpc scales. Furlanetto and Loeb (2001) discuss the possibility that magnetic fields spread by quasar outflows and find that by redshift z ∼ 3 (i.e. at the maximum of the quasar activity) some 5%-20% of the volume of the IGM might be "polluted" by fields from quasar outflows.…”

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