Near-infrared Polarimetric Study of the N159/N160 Star-forming Complex in the Large Magellanic Cloud

Journal Article · Wed Mar 01 04:00:00 EST 2017 · The Astronomical Journal (Online)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-3881/AA5CB1· OSTI ID:22863117

Kim, Jaeyeong; Pak, Soojong ^[1]; Jeong, Woong-Seob; Pyo, Jeonghyun; Park, Won-Kee ^[2]; Kwon, Jungmi ^[3]; Tamura, Motohide ^[4]

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1. School of Space Research, Kyung Hee University, 1732 Deogyeong-daero, Giheung-gu, Yongin, Gyeonggi-do 17104 (Korea, Republic of)
2. Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute, 776 Daedeok-daero, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon 34055 (Korea, Republic of)
3. Department of Astronomy, Graduate School of Science, The University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-0033 (Japan)
4. The University of Tokyo/National Astronomical Observatory of Japan/Astrobiology Center, 2-21-1 Osawa, Mitaka, Tokyo 181-8588 (Japan)

We present near-infrared polarimetric results for the N159/N160 star-forming complex in the Large Magellanic Cloud with SIRPOL, the polarimeter of the Infrared Survey Facility. We separated foreground sources using their visual extinction derived from near-infrared photometric data. The 45 young stellar candidates and 2 high-excitation blobs were matched with our sources, and 12 of them showed high polarization that did not originate from the interstellar dust. We made a polarimetric catalog of 252, 277, and 89 sources at the J, H, and K {sub s} bands, respectively. Based on the ratios of the polarization degree between these bands, we verify that the origin of these polarized sources is the dichroic extinction from the interstellar dust aligned by the magnetic field and that the ratios follow a power-law dependence of P{sub λ} ∼ λ{sup −0.9}. The linear polarization vectors projected onto the Hα image of the complex turned out to follow the local magnetic field structure. The vector map overlaid on dust and gas emissions shows the close correlation between the magnetic field structure and surrounding interstellar medium. We suggest that the derived magnetic field structure supports the sequential formation scenario of the complex.

• OSTI ID: 22863117
• Journal Information: The Astronomical Journal (Online), Journal Name: The Astronomical Journal (Online) Journal Issue: 3 Vol. 153; ISSN 1538-3881
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS
CORRELATIONS
COSMIC DUST
EMISSION
INFRARED SURVEYS
MAGELLANIC CLOUDS
MAGNETIC FIELDS
POLARIMETERS
POLARIZATION
STARS