A new method to trace three-dimensional magnetic field structure within molecular clouds using dust polarization

Chen, Che-Yu; King, Patrick K.; Li, Zhi-Yun; Fissel, Laura M.; Mazzei, Renato R.

doi:10.1093/mnras/stz618

A new method to trace three-dimensional magnetic field structure within molecular clouds using dust polarization

Journal Article · Mon Mar 04 00:00:00 EST 2019 · Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stz618· OSTI ID:1525719

^[1]; ^[2]; Li, Zhi-Yun ^[1]; Fissel, Laura M. ^[3]; Mazzei, Renato R. ^[1]

Univ. of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA (United States). Dept. of Astronomy
Univ. of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA (United States). Dept. of Astronomy; Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)
National Radio Astronomy Observatory, Charlottesville, VA (United States)

The complete three-dimensional structure of the magnetic field within molecular clouds has eluded determination despite its high value in determining controlling factors in the star formation process, as it cannot be directly probed observationally. Considering that inclination of the magnetic field relative to the plane of sky is one of the major sources of depolarization of thermal emission from dust in molecular clouds, we propose a new method to estimate the inclination angle of the cloud-scale magnetic field based on the statistical properties of the observed polarization fraction. We test this method using a series of Monte Carlo experiments and find that the method works well, provided that deviations of magnetic field direction from the averaged values are small. When applied to synthetic observations of numerical simulations of star-forming clouds, our method gives fairly accurate measurements of the mean magnetic field inclination angle (within 10°–25°), which can further be improved if we restrict our technique to regions of low dispersion in polarization angles S. We tested our method on the BLASTPol polarimetric observations of the Vela C molecular cloud complex, which suggests that the magnetic field of Vela C has a high inclination angle (~60°), consistent with previous analyses.

View Accepted Manuscript (DOE)

Research Organization:: Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States); National Radio Astronomy Observatory, Charlottesville, VA (United States); Univ. of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) (United States); National Science Foundation (NSF) (United States); USDOE

Grant/Contract Number:: AC52-07NA27344

OSTI ID:: 1525719

Report Number(s):: LLNL-JRNL--758117; 945417

Journal Information:: Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Journal Name: Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society Journal Issue: 3 Vol. 485; ISSN 0035-8711

Publisher:: Royal Astronomical SocietyCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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