The 3D Morphology of VY Canis Majoris II: Polarimetry and the Line-of-Sight Distribution of the Ejecta

Abstract

We use imaging polarimetry taken with the HST/ACS/HRC to explore the three dimensional structure of the circumstellar dust distribution around the red supergiant VY Canis Majoris. The polarization vectors of the nebulosity surrounding VY CMa show a strong centro-symmetric pattern in all directions except directly East and range from 10% - 80% in fractional polarization. In regions that are optically thin, and therefore likely have only single scattering, we use the fractional polarization and photometric color to locate the physical position of the dust along the line-of-sight. Most of the individual arc-like features and clumps seen in the intensity image are also features in the fractioanl polarization map. These features must be distinct geometric objects. If they were just local density enhancements, the fractional polarization would not change so abruptly at the edge of the feature. The location of these features in the ejecta of VY CMa using polarimetry provides a determination of their 3D geometry independent of, but in close agreement with, the results from our study of their kinematics (Paper I).

arXiv commentBetter figures availible at http://www.astro.umn.edu/~tjj

References in corpus (6)

• 9286 Stars: An Agglomeration of Stellar Polarization Catalogs
• The 3D Morphology of VY Canis Majoris. I The Kinematics of the Ejecta
• High Resolution, Long - Slit Spectroscopy of VY CMa: The Evidence for Localized High Mass Loss Events
• Optical Polarimetry of the Jets of Nearby Radio Galaxies: I. The Data
• Spatially extended K I 7699 emission in the nebula of VY CMa: Kinematics and geometry
• Near-infrared polarimetry and modelling of the dusty young PN IRAS 19306+1407

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• An Interferometric Spectral-Line and Imaging Survey of VY Canis Majoris in the 345 GHz Band
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• Adaptive Optics Imaging of VY Canis Majoris at 2 - 5 micron with LBT/LMIRCam
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• Constraints on the Surface Magnetic Fields and Age of a Cool Hypergiant: XMM-Newton X-ray Observations of VY CMa
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