The Origins and Implications of Turbulence in Galaxies

Mon, May 02, 2016

Magnetic fields and turbulence are vital components in galactic processes, including cosmic ray transport, interstellar medium (ISM) structure formation and star formation. However turbulence is difficult to measure observationally and the role of simulations is vital for both testing theories of ISM turbulence and gauging observational diagnostics via synthetic observations. In this talk I will discuss the origins of turbulence in galaxies, and its connection to the star formation process, both from the perspective of observations of star forming molecular clouds and also from numerical simulations of magnetized turbulence. I will also highlight how turbulence can be measured in the ISM and in the solar wind using new statistical tools.