Princeton University Thunch Talk

High-velocity clouds (HVCs) around the Milky Way provide direct evidence of ongoing gas accretion that could fuel the future star formation activity of the Galaxy. Theories and numerical simulations predict that the magnetic field significantly affects the efficiency of the mixing at the cloud-halo interface, which could in the long run affect the survival of the clouds. There have been active searches for magnetized HVCs using polarization observations. In this presentation, I will discuss possible obstacles in detecting magnetized HVCs using Faraday rotation and how future polarization surveys will improve the situation. This presentation will provide insight on how to find magnetized HVCs as the first step towards understanding the role of magnetic fields on the evolution of gas clouds around the Galaxy.