PRIMAGAL: a PRIMAger Galactic Plane Far-IR polarization survey to quantify the magnetic fields' role in the formation and evolution of large star-forming filaments
arXiv:2505.11187 · doi:10.1117/1.JATIS.11.3.031610
Abstract
The PRIMAger instrument on board the proposed PRIMA satellite will offer the unprecedented capability to obtain hundreds of square-degree maps in polarised emission at sub-arcminute resolution in four Far-IR bands. This will open a unique window to study magnetic fields in our Galaxy. PRIMAGAL, a proposed survey of polarized dust emission in the Milky Way Galactic Plane will determine the strength and orientation of magnetic fields towards several thousands of filamentary clouds in a wide range of linear masses, column densities, evolution, star-formation rates and efficiencies, and Galactic environment. This survey will address for the first time in a statistically significant fashion the role that magnetic fields play in shaping the formation, evolution and fragmentation of dense ISM filaments down to a minimum scale of 0.4 pc up to 8 kpc distance from the Sun. A 4-band polarization survey of the Galactic Plane with |b|<1° (a total of 720 sq. deg.) can be executed by PRIMAger in about 1200 hours including all mapping and instrument overhead.
Accepted on PRIMA Issue of JATIS (Journal of Astronomical Telescopes, Instruments and Systems)