Can the observed E/B ratio for dust galactic foreground be explained by sub-Alfvénic turbulence?

Abstract Recent Planck observations of dust polarization in the Galaxy have revealed that the power in E mode is twice that in B mode. Caldwell et al. have formulated a theoretical model in the context of magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) turbulence and found it problematic to account for this result. In pa...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. Letters 2017-11, Vol.472 (1), p.L10-L14
Main Authors: Kandel, D., Lazarian, A., Pogosyan, D.
Format: Article
Language:English
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Summary:Abstract Recent Planck observations of dust polarization in the Galaxy have revealed that the power in E mode is twice that in B mode. Caldwell et al. have formulated a theoretical model in the context of magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) turbulence and found it problematic to account for this result. In particular, they concluded that there is a very narrow range of theoretical parameters that could account for the observation. This poses a problem of whether the accepted description of MHD turbulence can apply to the interstellar medium. We revisit the problem and demonstrate that MHD turbulence corresponding to the high galactic latitudes range of Alfvén Mach numbers, i.e. MA ≲ 0.5, can successfully explain the available results for the E to B mode ratio.
ISSN:1745-3925
1745-3933
DOI:10.1093/mnrasl/slx128