Grain Alignment in Molecular Clouds
arXiv:astro-ph/0311371 · doi:10.1007/978-3-642-18902-9_67
Abstract
One of the most informative techniques of studying magnetic fields in molecular clouds is based on the use of starlight polarization and polarized emission arising from aligned dust. How reliable the interpretation of the polarization maps in terms of magnetic fields is the issue that the grain alignment theory addresses. I briefly review basic physical processes involved in grain alignment.
8 papes, 1 figures, to appear in Zermatt proceedings
References in corpus (4)
- Magnetic Fields via Polarimetry: Progress of Grain Alignment Theory
- Grain Acceleration by MHD Turbulence: Gyroresonance Mechanism
- Radiative Torques on Interstellar Grains. III. Dynamics with Thermal Relaxation
- Mechanical Alignment of Suprathermal Paramagnetic Cosmic-Dust Granules: the Cross-Section Mechanism