3 ms·

My understanding is rough, since I’ve only watched a few lectures, but from what I recall: You essentially get rolls in the plane of the galaxy, which are like

My understanding is rough, since I’ve only watched a few lectures, but from what I recall: You essentially get rolls in the plane of the galaxy, which are like giant tube vortexes. The gas preferentially goes along the straw instead of leaving the tube due to magnetic effects of large scale swirling in the galactic plasma. Sort of like a filament forming in a plasma globe: the plasma preferentially travels along (well, swirls with) the filament.

zozbot234 4y ago
I thought large-scale plasma astrophysics was considered a crackpot theory. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plasma_cosmology https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plasma_cosmology Interesting that it's now getting some more mainstream attention.
- zmgsabst 4y ago
  My understanding is there’s something of an ambiguous situation: Electric/magnetic fields in the galaxy are known to play important roles in its structure; but where the “plasma cosmology” tends to go wrong is asserting that EM is the dominant force that explains the galaxy or larger structures. Personally, I think this is somewhere we’ll need a unified theory to decide: we’re seeing effects that look like gravity and look like EM, depending on how you squint. Which is unsurprising, as they’re happening around a black hole.
- willis936 4y ago
  Because Electric Universe drum beaters are crackpots talking about how stars are powered by magical currents rather than fusion and geology is dominated by arc events rather than plate tectonics. However, Alfvein cosmology does have merits in explaining galactic scale phenomena and solar phenomena certainly have a electrical component (see: huge quantities of charged particles berating Earth at all times).
KAMSPioneer 4y ago
I'm not an astrophysicist, but I asked one. She mostly talked about the galaxy's potential well, the galactic spin (which is higher at the center), and kinematic interactions between baryons (gas and stars, principally). I mentioned magnetism and she said that it isn't really her field, so she didn't give much comment...
- zmgsabst 4y ago
  I’m having trouble finding the original talk, but a few related links from a quick Google: https://news.northwestern.edu/stories/2022/11/the-milky-ways-mysterious-filaments-have-older-distant-cousins/ https://news.northwestern.edu/stories/2022/11/the-milky-ways... https://www.space.com/meerkat-milky-way-mosaic-filaments https://www.space.com/meerkat-milky-way-mosaic-filaments https://arxiv.org/pdf/0901.1165.pdf https://arxiv.org/pdf/0901.1165.pdf I would say that for the dynamics of galactic plasma, you can’t ignore any interaction: kinetics, gravity, nor EM. They all interplay, within a system.
Keysh 4y ago
I'm afraid that none of that is correct.

zozbot234 4y ago

I thought large-scale plasma astrophysics was considered a crackpot theory. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plasma_cosmology https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plasma_cosmology Interesting that it's now getting some more mainstream attention.

zmgsabst 4y ago
My understanding is there’s something of an ambiguous situation: Electric/magnetic fields in the galaxy are known to play important roles in its structure; but where the “plasma cosmology” tends to go wrong is asserting that EM is the dominant force that explains the galaxy or larger structures. Personally, I think this is somewhere we’ll need a unified theory to decide: we’re seeing effects that look like gravity and look like EM, depending on how you squint. Which is unsurprising, as they’re happening around a black hole.
willis936 4y ago
Because Electric Universe drum beaters are crackpots talking about how stars are powered by magical currents rather than fusion and geology is dominated by arc events rather than plate tectonics. However, Alfvein cosmology does have merits in explaining galactic scale phenomena and solar phenomena certainly have a electrical component (see: huge quantities of charged particles berating Earth at all times).

KAMSPioneer 4y ago

I'm not an astrophysicist, but I asked one. She mostly talked about the galaxy's potential well, the galactic spin (which is higher at the center), and kinematic interactions between baryons (gas and stars, principally). I mentioned magnetism and she said that it isn't really her field, so she didn't give much comment...

zmgsabst 4y ago
I’m having trouble finding the original talk, but a few related links from a quick Google: https://news.northwestern.edu/stories/2022/11/the-milky-ways-mysterious-filaments-have-older-distant-cousins/ https://news.northwestern.edu/stories/2022/11/the-milky-ways... https://www.space.com/meerkat-milky-way-mosaic-filaments https://www.space.com/meerkat-milky-way-mosaic-filaments https://arxiv.org/pdf/0901.1165.pdf https://arxiv.org/pdf/0901.1165.pdf I would say that for the dynamics of galactic plasma, you can’t ignore any interaction: kinetics, gravity, nor EM. They all interplay, within a system.

Keysh 4y ago

I'm afraid that none of that is correct.