Susan Clark
Stanford University
Magnetism and morphology in the interstellar medium
The interstellar medium (ISM) is a turbulent, multi-phase, magnetic environment. Magnetic fields thread our Milky Way Galaxy, influencing interstellar physics from cosmic ray propagation to star formation. Despite its importance across scientific realms, the interstellar magnetic field and its influence on Galactic processes are not well understood. This talk will focus on the diffuse ISM, where recent insights have revealed new ways to probe interstellar magnetism. I will discuss the magnetic field in the diffuse medium, the phase structure of interstellar gas, and the link between the two, with a particular focus on morphology: how the spatial structure of gas and dust encodes information about the physics of the ISM.