On the Measurement of the Magnitude and Orientation of the Magnetic Field in Molecular Clouds

Abstract

We demonstrate that the combination of Zeeman, polarimetry and ion-to-neutral molecular line width ratio measurements permits the determination of the magnitude and orientation of the magnetic field in the weakly ionized parts of molecular clouds. Zeeman measurements provide the strength of the magnetic field along the line of sight, polarimetry measurements give the field orientation in the plane of the sky and the ion-to-neutral molecular line width ratio determines the angle between the magnetic field and the line of sight. We apply the technique to the M17 star-forming region using a HERTZ 350 um polarimetry map and HCO+-to-HCN molecular line width ratios to provide the first three-dimensional view of the magnetic field in M17.

arXiv comment37 pages, 12 figures, 3 tables

References in corpus (7)

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• Helical Fields and Filamentary Molecular Clouds II - Axisymmetric Stability and Fragmentation
• High Resolution Millimeter-Wave Mapping of Linearly Polarized Dust Emission: Magnetic Field Structure in Orion
• Probing the Magnetic Field with Molecular Ion Spectra
• Probing the Magnetic Field with Molecular ion Spectra. II
• The Detection of Magnetic Fields Toward M17 through the HI Zeeman Effect
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Cited by in corpus (27)

• Interstellar Turbulence I: Observations and Processes
• Dispersion of Magnetic Fields in Molecular Clouds. I
• An Imprint of Molecular Cloud Magnetization in the Morphology of the Dust Polarized Emission
• Tracing the Magnetic Field in Orion A
• 350 micron Polarimetry from the Caltech Submillimeter Observatory
• The Average Magnetic Field Strength in Molecular Clouds: New Evidence of Super-Alfvenic Turbulence
• Probing the Turbulence Dissipation Range and Magnetic Field Strengths in Molecular Clouds
• Milestones in the Observations of Cosmic Magnetic Fields
• Magnetic field evolution in Bok globules
• Magnetic field properties in star formation: a review of their analysis methods and interpretation
• Evaluating the Magnetic Field Strength in Molecular Clouds
• DR21 Main: A Collapsing Cloud
• Observational Determination of the Turbulent Ambipolar Diffusion Scale and Magnetic Field Strength in Molecular Clouds
• Linewidth Differences of Neutrals and Ions Induced by MHD Turbulence
• Studying magnetic fields and dust in M17 using polarized thermal dust emission observed by SOFIA/HAWC+
• Tracing Turbulent Ambipolar Diffusion in Molecular Clouds
• Comparison of Magnetic Field Structures on Different Scales in and around the Filamentary Dark Cloud GF 9
• High Angular Resolution Measurement of Ion and Neutral Spectra as a Probe of the Magnetic Field Structure in DR21(OH)
• The Submillimeter Polarization Spectrum of M17
• Sub-Alfvenic Non-Ideal MHD Turbulence Simulations with Ambipolar Diffusion: III. Implications for Observations and Turbulent Enhancement
• Probing the Turbulent Ambipolar Diffusion Scale in Molecular Clouds with Spectroscopy
• Bow Magnetic Morphology Surrounding Filamentary Molecular Clouds? 3D Magnetic Field Structure of Orion-A
• Three-dimensional magnetic fields of molecular clouds
• Interactions between Gas Dynamics and Magnetic Fields in the Massive Dense Cores of the DR21 Filament
• The JCMT Legacy Survey of the Gould Belt: a first look at Taurus with HARP
• Evolution of Magnetic fields in Bok globules?
• Magnetic Fields in Molecular Clouds -- Observation and Interpretation