435 research outputs found
Dispersion of Observed Position Angles of Submillimeter Polarization in Molecular Clouds
One can estimate the characteristic magnetic field strength in GMCs by
comparing submillimeter polarimetric observations of these sources with
simulated polarization maps developed using a range of different values for the
assumed field strength. The point of comparison is the degree of order in the
distribution of polarization position angles. In a recent paper by H. Li and
collaborators, such a comparison was carried out using SPARO observations of
two GMCs, and employing simulations by E. Ostriker and collaborators. Here we
reexamine this same question, using the same data set and the same simulations,
but using an approach that differs in several respects. The most important
difference is that we incorporate new, higher angular resolution observations
for one of the clouds, obtained using the Hertz polarimeter. We conclude that
the agreement between observations and simulations is best when the total
magnetic energy (including both uniform and fluctuating field components) is at
least as large as the turbulent kinetic energy.Comment: revised, accepted version; to appear in The Astrophysical Journal; 20
pages, 2 figures, 2 table
Magnetic Fields in Large Diameter HII Regions Revealed by the Faraday Rotation of Compact Extragalactic Radio Sources
We present a study of the line-of-sight magnetic fields in five
large-diameter Galactic HII regions. Using the Faraday rotation of background
polarized radio sources, as well as dust-corrected H-alpha surface brightness
as a probe of electron density, we estimated the strength and orientation of
the magnetic field along 93 individual sight-lines through the HII regions.
Each of the HII regions displayed a coherent magnetic field. The magnetic field
strength (line-of-sight component) in the regions ranges from 2 to 6
microgauss, which is similar to the typical magnetic field strength in the
diffuse interstellar medium. We investigated the relationship between magnetic
field strength and electron density in the 5 HII regions. The slope of magnetic
field vs. density in the low-density regime (0.8 < n_e < 30 per cubic cm) is
very slightly above zero. We also calculated the ratio of thermal to magnetic
pressure, beta_th, for each data point, which fell in the range 1.01 < beta_th
< 25. Finally, we studied the orientation of the magnetic field in the solar
neighborhood (d < 1.1 kpc) using our data from 5 HII regions along with
existing measurements of the line-of-sight magnetic field strength from
polarized pulsars whose distances have been determined from their annual
parallax. We identify a net direction for the magnetic field in the solar
neighborhood, but find no evidence for a preferred vertical direction of the
magnetic field above or below the Galactic plane.Comment: Accepted to the Astrophysical Journal, June 4th 201
CN in prestellar cores
Determining the structure of and the velocity field in prestellar cores is
essential to understanding protostellar evolution.} {We have observed the dense
prestellar cores L 1544 and L 183 in the rotational transition of
CN and \thcn in order to test whether CN is depleted in the high--density
nuclei of these cores.} {We have used the IRAM 30 m telescope to observe along
the major and minor axes of these cores. We compare these observations with the
1 mm dust emission, which serves as a proxy for the hydrogen column
density.}{We find that while CN\jone is optically thick, the distribution of
\thcn\jone intensity follows the dust emission well, implying that the CN
abundance does not vary greatly with density. We derive an abundance ratio of
\rm [CN]/[\hh]=\dix{-9} in L 183 and 1-3\tdix{-9} in L 1544, which, in the
case of L 183, is similar to previous estimates obtained by sampling
lower--density regions of the core.}{We conclude that CN is not depleted
towards the high--density peaks of these cores and thus behaves like the
N-containing molecules \nnhp and \nhhh. CN is, to our knowledge, the first
C--containing molecule to exhibit this characteristic.Comment: Accepted for publication in A&A Letter
Interferometric Mapping of Magnetic fields: NGC2071IR
We present polarization maps of NGC2071IR from thermal dust emission at 1.3
mm and from CO J= line emission. The observations were obtained using
the Berkeley-Illinois-Maryland Association array in the period 2002-2004. We
detected dust and line polarized emission from NGC2071IR that we used to
constrain the morphology of the magnetic field. From CO J= polarized
emission we found evidence for a magnetic field in the powerful bipolar outflow
present in this region. We calculated a visual extinction mag from our dust observations. This result, when compared with early
single dish work, seems to show that dust grains emit polarized radiation
efficiently at higher densities than previously thought. Mechanical alignment
by the outflow is proposed to explain the polarization pattern observed in
NGC2071IR, which is consistent with the observed flattening in this source.Comment: 17 pages, 4 Figures, Accepted for publication in Ap
Computing and data processing
The applications of computers and data processing to astronomy are discussed. Among the topics covered are the emerging national information infrastructure, workstations and supercomputers, supertelescopes, digital astronomy, astrophysics in a numerical laboratory, community software, archiving of ground-based observations, dynamical simulations of complex systems, plasma astrophysics, and the remote control of fourth dimension supercomputers
Environmental Effects in Clusters: Modified Far-Infrared--Radio Relations within Virgo Cluster Galaxies
(abridged) We present a study on the effects of the intracluster medium (ICM)
on the interstellar medium (ISM) of 10 Virgo cluster spiral galaxies using {\it
Spitzer} far-infrared (FIR) and VLA radio continuum imaging. Relying on the
FIR-radio correlation within normal galaxies, we use our infrared data to
create model radio maps which we compare to the observed radio images. For 6 of
our sample galaxies we find regions along their outer edges that are highly
deficient in the radio compared with our models. We believe these observations
are the signatures of ICM ram pressure. For NGC 4522 we find the radio deficit
region to lie just exterior to a region of high radio polarization and flat
radio spectral index, although the total 20 cm radio continuum in this region
does not appear strongly enhanced. These characteristics seem consistent for
other galaxies with radio polarization data in the literature. The strength of
the radio deficit is inversely correlated with the time since peak pressure as
inferred from stellar population studies and gas stripping simulations,
suggesting the strength of the radio deficit is good indicator of the strength
of the current ram pressure. We also find that galaxies having {\it local}
radio {\it deficits} appear to have {\it enhanced global} radio fluxes. Our
preferred physical picture is that the observed radio deficit regions arise
from the ICM wind sweeping away cosmic-ray (CR) electrons and the associated
magnetic field, thereby creating synchrotron tails as observed for some of our
galaxies. We propose that CR particles are also re-accelerated by ICM-driven
shocklets behind the observed radio deficit regions which in turn enhances the
remaining radio disk brightness.Comment: 19 pages, 10 figures; Astrophysical Journa
Far-infrared polarimetry from the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy
Multi-wavelength imaging polarimetry at far-infrared wavelengths has proven
to be an excellent tool for studying the physical properties of dust, molecular
clouds, and magnetic fields in the interstellar medium. Although these
wavelengths are only observable from airborne or space-based platforms, no
first-generation instrument for the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared
Astronomy (SOFIA) is presently designed with polarimetric capabilities. We
study several options for upgrading the High-resolution Airborne Wideband
Camera (HAWC) to a sensitive FIR polarimeter. HAWC is a 12 x 32 pixel bolometer
camera designed to cover the 53 - 215 micron spectral range in 4 colors, all at
diffraction-limited resolution (5 - 21 arcsec). Upgrade options include: (1) an
external set of optics which modulates the polarization state of the incoming
radiation before entering the cryostat window; (2) internal polarizing optics;
and (3) a replacement of the current detector array with two state-of-the-art
superconducting bolometer arrays, an upgrade of the HAWC camera as well as
polarimeter. We discuss a range of science studies which will be possible with
these upgrades including magnetic fields in star-forming regions and galaxies
and the wavelength-dependence of polarization.Comment: 12 pages, 5 figure
Deriving global structure of the Galactic Magnetic Field from Faraday Rotation Measures of extragalactic sources
We made use of the two latest sets of Rotational Measures (RMs) of
extra-galactic radio sources, namely the NRAO VLA Sky Survey otation Measures
Catalogue, and a compilation by Kronberg&Newton-McGee(2011), to infer the
global structure of the Galactic Magnetic Field (GMF). We have checked that
these two data sets are consistent with each other. Motivated by clear patterns
in the observed distribution of RMs over the sky, we considered GMF models
consisting of the two components: disk (spiral or ring) and halo. The
parameters of these components were determined by fitting different model field
geometries to the observed RMs. We found that the model consisting of a
symmetric (with respect to the Galactic plane) spiral disk and anti-symmetric
halo fits the data best, and reproduces the observed distribution of RMs over
the sky very well. We confirm that ring disk models are disfavored. Our results
favor small pitch angles around -5 degrees and an increased vertical scale of
electron distribution, in agreement with some previous studies. Based on our
fits, we identify two benchmark models suitable for studies of cosmic ray
propagation, including the ultra-high energies.Comment: 15 pages, 14 figures, 4 tables misprints corrected, presentation
improved generally matches the published versio
Magnetic Field Measurement with Ground State Alignment
Observational studies of magnetic fields are crucial. We introduce a process
"ground state alignment" as a new way to determine the magnetic field direction
in diffuse medium. The alignment is due to anisotropic radiation impinging on
the atom/ion. The consequence of the process is the polarization of spectral
lines resulting from scattering and absorption from aligned atomic/ionic
species with fine or hyperfine structure. The magnetic field induces precession
and realign the atom/ion and therefore the polarization of the emitted or
absorbed radiation reflects the direction of the magnetic field. The atoms get
aligned at their low levels and, as the life-time of the atoms/ions we deal
with is long, the alignment induced by anisotropic radiation is susceptible to
extremely weak magnetic fields (G). In fact,
the effects of atomic/ionic alignment were studied in the laboratory decades
ago, mostly in relation to the maser research. Recently, the atomic effect has
been already detected in observations from circumstellar medium and this is a
harbinger of future extensive magnetic field studies. A unique feature of the
atomic realignment is that they can reveal the 3D orientation of magnetic
field. In this article, we shall review the basic physical processes involved
in atomic realignment. We shall also discuss its applications to
interplanetary, circumstellar and interstellar magnetic fields. In addition,
our research reveals that the polarization of the radiation arising from the
transitions between fine and hyperfine states of the ground level can provide a
unique diagnostics of magnetic fields in the Epoch of Reionization.Comment: 30 pages, 12 figures, chapter in Lecture Notes in Physics "Magnetic
Fields in Diffuse Media". arXiv admin note: substantial text overlap with
arXiv:1203.557
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