Anisotropies in Compressible MHD Turbulence: Probing Magnetic Fields and Measuring Magnetization

Probing magnetic fields in the interstellar medium (ISM) is notoriously challenging. Motivated by the modern theories of magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) turbulence and turbulence anisotropy, we introduce the Structure Function Analysis (SFA) as a new approach to measure the magnetic-field orientation and estimate the magnetization. We analyze the statistics of turbulent velocities in three-dimensional compressible MHD simulations through the second-order structure functions in both local and global reference frames. In the sub-Alfvenic turbulence with the magnetic energy larger than the turbulent energy, the SFA of turbulent velocities measured in the directions perpendicular and parallel to the magnetic field can be significantly different. Their ratio has a power-law dependence on the Alfven Mach number M (A), which is inversely proportional to the magnetic-field strength. We demonstrate that the anisotropic structure functions of turbulent velocities can be used to estimate both the orientation and strength of magnetic fields. With turbulent velocities measured using different tracers, our approach can be generally applied to probing the magnetic fields in the multiphase ISM.

Automated summary

Probing magnetic fields in the interstellar medium is challenging, but the Structure Function Analysis (SFA) can be used to estimate magnetic-field orientation and strength. In sub-Alfvenic turbulence, the anisotropic structure functions of turbulent velocities measured in different directions can provide valuable information about the magnetic fields.