Magnetic Field Structure of the Orion Molecular Cloud 3 (OMC-3)
Event date
-
Speaker
Niko Zielinski
Affiliation
University of Kiel
Location
Online
Event Type
Teletalk

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Magnetic fields in astrophysical objects are ubiquitous and can be found on both small and large scales. However, their role in various processes, such as the formation of stars, is matter of ongoing debate. The most direct way to constrain them is to perform polarimetric observations of the thermal reemission radiation. In this talk I will present SOFIA/HAWC+ band D (154 μm) and E (214 μm) polarimetric observations of the filamentary structure OMC-3 located within the Orion complex. Assuming that the detected polarization is caused by the emission of magnetically aligned non-spherical dust grains, the inferred magnetic field is uniform and oriented perpendicular to the filament. The derived magnetic field direction is consistent with that derived from previous observations in the far infrared and submillimeter wavelength range. The polarization degree decreases toward regions with high intensity for both bands. We find that the polarized emission and extinction as counteracting mechanisms potentially allow to explain this phenomenon. Investigating the far-infrared polarization spectrum, we do not find a clear correlation between the polarization spectrum and cloud properties, namely, the column density and temperature.

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