scholarly journals Submillimeter Array Observations of Magnetic Fields in Star Forming Regions

2010 ◽  
Vol 6 (S270) ◽  
pp. 103-106
Author(s):  
R. Rao ◽  
J.-M. Girart ◽  
D. P. Marrone

AbstractThere have been a number of theoretical and computational models which state that magnetic fields play an important role in the process of star formation. Competing theories instead postulate that it is turbulence which is dominant and magnetic fields are weak. The recent installation of a polarimetry system at the Submillimeter Array (SMA) has enabled us to conduct observations that could potentially distinguish between the two theories. Some of the nearby low mass star forming regions show hour-glass shaped magnetic field structures that are consistent with theoretical models in which the magnetic field plays a dominant role. However, there are other similar regions where no significant polarization is detected. Future polarimetry observations made by the Submillimeter Array should be able to increase the sample of observed regions. These measurements will allow us to address observationally the important question of the role of magnetic fields and/or turbulence in the process of star formation.

2018 ◽  
Vol 14 (A30) ◽  
pp. 132-132
Author(s):  
Swetlana Hubrig ◽  
Markus Schöller ◽  
Silva P. Järvinen

AbstractOne idea for the origin of magnetic fields in massive stars suggests that the magnetic field is the fossil remnant of the Galactic ISM magnetic field, amplified during the collapse of the magnetised gas cloud. A search for the presence of magnetic fields in massive stars located in active sites of star formation led to the detection of rather strong magnetic fields in a few young stars. Future spectropolarimetric observations are urgently needed to obtain insights into the mechanisms that drive the generation of kG magnetic fields during high-mass star formation.


1990 ◽  
Vol 140 ◽  
pp. 259-267
Author(s):  
L Mestel

The flux from the galactic magnetic field alters radically the appropriate description of the equilibrium, collapse and fragmentation of the self-gravitating gas clouds that are the locale of star formation.


2009 ◽  
Vol 707 (2) ◽  
pp. 1023-1033 ◽  
Author(s):  
Enrique Vázquez-Semadeni ◽  
Gilberto C. Gómez ◽  
A.-Katharina Jappsen ◽  
Javier Ballesteros-Paredes ◽  
Ralf S. Klessen

2017 ◽  
Vol 13 (S336) ◽  
pp. 33-36
Author(s):  
S. Kalenskii ◽  
S. Kurtz ◽  
P. Hofner ◽  
P. Bergman ◽  
C.M. Walmsley ◽  
...  

AbstractWe present a review of the properties of Class I methanol masers detected in low-mass star forming regions (LMSFRs). These masers, henceforth called LMMIs, are associated with postshock gas in the lobes of chemically active outflows in LMSFRs NGC1333, NGC2023, HH25, and L1157. LMMIs share the main properties with powerful masers in regions of massive star formation and are a low-luminosity edge of the total Class I maser population. However, the exploration of just these objects may push forward the exploration of Class I masers, since many LMSFRs are located only 200–300 pc from the Sun, making it possible to study associated objects in detail. EVLA observations with a 0.2″ spatial resolution show that the maser images consist of unresolved or barely resolved spots with brightness temperatures up to 5 × 105 K. The results are “marginally” consistent with the turbulent model of maser emission.


2009 ◽  
Vol 5 (H15) ◽  
pp. 406-407
Author(s):  
Doug Johnstone

AbstractCoordinated multi-wavelength surveys of molecular clouds are providing strong constraints on the physical conditions within low-mass star-forming regions. In this manner, Perseus and Ophiuchus have been exceptional laboratories for testing the earliest phases of star formation. Highlights of these results are: (1) dense cores form only in high column density regions, (2) dense cores contain only a few percent of the cloud mass, (3) the mass distribution of the dense cores is similar to the IMF, (4) the more massive cores are most likely to contain embedded protostars, and (5) the kinematics of the dense cores and the bulk gas show significant coupling.


1994 ◽  
Vol 161 ◽  
pp. 470-472
Author(s):  
M. Kun

Radio molecular observations in the millimeter wavelength region in the last decade have revealed a number of giant molecular cloud complexes at relatively high galactic latitudes. Examples for such cloud complexes are Cepheus Flare (Lebrun 1986), and Ursa Major and Camelopardalis clouds (Heithausen et al. 1993). Because of their high galactic latitudes, these cloud complexes probably belong to the nearest molecular clouds and among them we may find some nearby regions of low-mass star formation.


2007 ◽  
Vol 3 (S243) ◽  
pp. 63-70
Author(s):  
Rachel L. Curran ◽  
Antonio Chrysostomou ◽  
Brenda C. Matthews

AbstractSubmillimetre 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.


1997 ◽  
Vol 182 ◽  
pp. 537-549
Author(s):  
T. W. Hartquist ◽  
J. E. Dyson

Structures like the clumps identified in the CO maps of the Rosette Molecular Cloud and the dense cores such as those in B5, a cluster of cores and young low-mass stars, are key to considerations of star formation. Whether star formation is a self-inducing process or one that causes itself to turn off depends greatly on whether the responses of the interclump and intercore media to young stars cause the collapse of clumps or cores to be faster than their ablation. We present a naive introduction to the lengthscales over which such responses are significant, mention ways in which the responses might induce collapse, review some of the little that is known of how flows of media around clumps and cores ablate them, and then return to the issue of the lengthscales over which such responses are significant by considering the global properties of mass-loaded flows in clumpy star forming regions.


2000 ◽  
Vol 197 ◽  
pp. 15-29
Author(s):  
J. M. C. Rawlings

The star-formation history of molecular cores is largely determined by gas phase chemical processes that are greatly modified by gas-dust interactions. Substantial elemental depletions may result from the efficient formation of refractory grain material. The depletion of carbon and of refractory elements such as S, Si, Mg, etc. in molecular clouds is well known, but is very poorly constrained. Star forming regions are cold, dark and chemically quiescent, so that in addition to the initial elemental depletions, an ongoing dynamical depletion of molecular material occurs as gas-phase material freezes out onto the surface of dust grains. Observational evidence for anomalous depletions in low mass star forming clumps became apparent in the early 1980s when the narrowness of molecular emission lines (especially those of NH3) suggested that high velocity infalling material is being depleted from the gas phase. This prompted further studies into the chemical effects of differential depletion and together with radiative transfer models has established molecular diagnostics of infall/depletion sources. Recent observations at high spatial resolution show direct evidence for gas-phase depletions in the central regions of protostellar cores.In addition to the diagnostic and purely chemical implications for collapsing cores, depletion plays a very active role in the physical evolution of star-forming regions. Most gravitationally unstable low mass cores are believed to be magnetically sub-critical. Recent polarimetric studies of elongated cores are also providing evidence of magnetic alignment, giving strong support to the idea that magnetic fields play a dominant role in core evolution. The relaxation of magnetic pressure (whether through ambipolar diffusion, or by the damping of MHD waves) is critically dependent on the ionization structure which, in turn, is highly sensitive to the elemental and molecular depletions.


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