Magnetic Fields in Star-Forming Molecular Clouds IV. Polarimetry of the Filamentary NGC 2068 Cloud in Orion B

Abstract

We present submillimeter polarimetry at 850 micron toward the filamentary star-forming region associated with the reflection nebulosity NGC 2068 in Orion B. These data were obtained using the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope's SCUBA polarimeter. The polarization pattern observed is not consistent with that expected for a field geometry defined by a single mean field direction. There are three distinct distributions of polarization angle, which could represent regions of differing inclination and/or field geometry within the filamentary gas. In general, the polarization pattern does not correlate with the underlying total dust emission. The presence of varying inclinations against the plane of the sky is consistent with the comparison of the 850 micron continuum emission to the optical emission from the Palomar Optical Sky Survey, which shows that the western dust emission lies in the foreground of the optical nebula while the eastern dust emission originates in the background. Percentage polarizations are high, particularly toward the north-east region of the cloud. The mean polarization percentage in the region is 5.0% with a standard deviation of 3.1%. Depolarization toward high intensities is identified in all parts of the filament.

22 pages, 6 postscript figures (2 color), 3 tables; accepted for publication in ApJ

References in corpus (4)

• A SCUBA survey of the NGC 2068/2071 protoclusters
• Theoretical Models of Polarized Dust Emission from Protostellar Cores
• Magnetic Fields in Star-Forming Molecular Clouds II. The Depolarization Effect in the OMC-3 Filament of Orion A
• Magnetic Fields in Star-Forming Molecular Clouds III. Submillimeter Polarimetry of Intermediate Mass Cores and Filaments in Orion B

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• Magnetic fields in massive star forming regions
• Magnetized interstellar molecular clouds: II. The Large-Scale Structure and Dynamics of Filamentary Molecular Clouds
• The JCMT Gould Belt Survey: A First Look at Dense Cores in Orion B
• Is there a left-handed magnetic field in the solar neighborhood? Exploring helical magnetic fields in the interstellar medium through dust polarization power spectra
• Structuring and support by Alfven waves around prestellar cores
• The structure and kinematics of dense gas in NGC 2068
• The JCMT Transient Survey: Four Year Summary of Monitoring the Submillimeter Variability of Protostars
• Magnetic field alignment with dense cores in the transition between cloud and core scales