BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 CALSCALE:GREGORIAN PRODID:UW-Physics-TWaP BEGIN:VEVENT SEQUENCE:0 UID:UW-Physics-Event-4674 DTSTART:20171102T203000Z DTEND:20171102T220000Z DTSTAMP:20200123T174106Z LAST-MODIFIED:20171023T131749Z LOCATION:4421 Sterling Hall\, Coffee and cookies 3:30 pm\, Talk begins at 3:45 pm SUMMARY:"The magnetic interstellar medium: cosmological and astrophysical perspectives"\, Atomic Physics Seminar\, Susan Clark\, Institute for Advanced Study DESCRIPTION:The interstellar medium (ISM) is multi-phase\, turbulent\, and magnetic. This makes the ISM an ideal laboratory for studying the multi-scale physics of star formation and galactic evolution. This unfortunately also makes the ISM a formidable foreground for cosmology experiments\, such as the search for inflationary gravitational wave B-mode polarization in the cosmic microwave background. I will discuss recent work on magnetic fields in the diffuse ISM\, with a particular focus on insights from high-dynamic range observations of neutral hydrogen and polarized dust emission. Novel tools for quantifying the morphology of interstellar material are enabling new probes of the ambient magnetic field structure\, and thus a better characterization of polarized cosmological foregrounds. The hunt for primordial signals is now inextricably linked to our understanding of the magnetic ISM.