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Submillimetre polarimetric observations of magnetic fields in star-forming regions

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 May 2007

Rachel L. Curran
Affiliation:
School of Cosmic Physics, Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, 5 Merrion Square, Dublin 2, Ireland email: rcurran@cp.dias.ie
Antonio Chrysostomou
Affiliation:
Joint Astronomy Centre, 880 N. A'ohoku Place, University Park, Hilo, HawaiiUSA email: Antonio.Chrysostomou@jach.hawaii.edu
Brenda C. Matthews
Affiliation:
Herzberg Institute of Astrophysics, 5071 West Saanich Road, Victoria, Canada email: brenda.matthews@nrc-cnrc.gc.ca
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Abstract

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Submillimetre imaging polarimetry is one of the most powerful tools at present for studying magnetic fields in star-forming regions, and the only way to gain significant information on the structure of these fields. We present analysis of the largest sample (to date) of both high- and low-mass star-forming regions observed using this technique. A variety of magnetic field morphologies are observed, with no single field morphology favoured. Both the continuum emission morphologies and the field morphologies are generally more complex for the high-mass sample than the low-mass sample. The large scale magnetic field (observed with the JCMT; 14″ resolution) of NGC1333 IRAS2 is interpreted to be weak (compared to the energetic contributions due to turbulence) from the random field pattern observed. On smaller scales (observed with the BIMA array; 3″ resolution) the field is observed to be almost radial, consistent with the polarisation nulls in the JCMT data – suggesting that on smaller scales, the field may be more important to the star formation process. An analysis of the magnetic field direction and the jet/outflow axis is also discussed. Cumulative distribution functions of the difference between the mean position angle of the magnetic field vectors and the jet/outflow axis reveal no correlation. However, visual inspection of the maps reveal alignment of the magnetic field and jet/outflow axis in 7 out of 15 high-mass regions and 3 out of 8 low-mass regions.

Type
Contributed Papers
Copyright
Copyright © International Astronomical Union 2007

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