Alyssa Goodman - Polarimetry

Polarimetry

Description: My collaborators and I have shown that, contrary to previously prevailing ideas, polarimetry of background starlight cannot reliably reveal the magnetic field structure in dense interstellar clouds, because polarization efficiency is apparently low there. Much of our work in this area revolves around quantifying what exactly *is* measurable with background starlight polarimetry, and what other techniques for mapping field structure can/will work better. "Theory" - Background Starlight - Thermal Emission

"Theory"

Collaborators: Bruce Draine (Princeton) Mika Juvela (U. Helsinki) Alex Lazarian (U. Wisconsin) Phil Myers (CfA) Åke Nordlund (Copenhagen) Paolo Padoan (CfA) Örnólfur Einar Rögnvaldsson (Copenhagen) Doug Whittet (RPI) Publications: Padoan, et al. 2001, Theoretical Models of Polarized Dust Emission from Protostellar Cores Lazarian, Goodman, & Myers 1997, On the Efficiency of Grain Alignment in Dark Clouds Goodman & Whittet 1995, A Point in Favor of the Superparamagnetic Grain Hypothesis Myers & Goodman 1991, On the dispersion in direction of interstellar polarization

Background Starlight

Collaborators: Héctor Arce (Caltech) Pierre Bastien (U. Montreal) Terry Jones (U. Minnesota) Elizabeth Lada (U. Florida) Nadine Manset (CFHT) Phil Myers (CfA) Francois Menard (LAOG) Matthew Sumner (Caltech) Publications: Arce, et al. 1998, The Polarizing Power of the Interstellar Medium in Taurus Goodman, Jones, Lada, & Myers 1995, Does Near-Infrared Polarimetry Reveal the Magnetic Field in Cold Dark Clouds? Goodman, Jones, Lada, & Myers 1992, The structure of magnetic fields in dark clouds - Infrared polarimetry in B216-217 Goodman, Bastien, Menard, & Myers 1990, Optical polarization maps of star-forming regions in Perseus, Taurus, and Ophiuchus Web Sites: Polarization

Thermal Emission

Collaborators: Rachel Akeson (JPL) Dan Clemens (B.U.) and the M4 Team Sheila Kannappan (CfA) David Weintraub (Vanderbilt) Publications: Clemens, et al. 2000, The Milky Way Magnetic Field Mapping Mission: M4 Weintraub, Goodman, & Akeson 2000, Polarized Light from Star-Forming Regions Web Sites: M4 (Milky Way Magnetic Field Mapping Mission)

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Last modified on Monday, 22-Jan-2007 12:10:30 EST