The Galactic interstellar medium as seen by Planck
by
Marta Alves
→
Europe/Berlin
Building 67, SemRm 10 (DESY Hamburg)
Building 67, SemRm 10
DESY Hamburg
Description
The Planck all-sky survey has opened new windows in our understanding of the Galactic interstellar medium (ISM). With its wide frequency coverage (30-857 GHz) we probe the four emission mechanisms in the ISM - synchrotron, free-free, anomalous microwave and dust emission - through which we can study the physics of the gas, dust and cosmic-rays in the Galaxy. In particular, modelling of the dust emission has provided the most spectacular all-sky view of the structure of interstellar matter, giving us an image of the Galaxy's reservoir for star formation.
Planck has also mapped the dust polarized emission at millimetre wavelengths over the whole sky. With the sensitivity and resolution of these observations we are able to image the dust polarization from the diffuse interstellar medium to molecular clouds. This enables, for the first time, a thorough study of the interplay between the magnetic field, interstellar matter and turbulence, which remains an unanswered question in the context of star formation processes. Planck observations deliver important information on the polarization properties of dust that need to be considered when characterizing the magnetic field structure.
I will present an overview of the interstellar medium as seen by Planck, with an emphasis on the Galactic magnetic field and its role in the formation and evolution on interstellar structures.
