Submillimeter Polarization Spectrum in the Vela C Molecular Cloud

• Published in: The Astrophysical Journal
• Main Authors: Gandilo, Natalie N., Moncelsi, Lorenzo
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: unknown
• Published: American Astronomical Society 2016
• Subjects: dust; extinction; instrumentation: polarimeters; ISM: individual objects (Vela C); ISM: magnetic fields; submillimeter: ISM; techniques: polarimetric; National Science Foundation Office of Polar Programs
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.3847/0004-637X/824/2/84

Polarization maps of the Vela C molecular cloud were obtained at 250, 350, and 500 μm during the 2012 flight of the balloon-borne telescope BLASTPol. These measurements are used in conjunction with 850 μm data from Planck to study the submillimeter spectrum of the polarization fraction for this cloud. The spectrum is relatively flat and does not exhibit a pronounced minimum at λ ~ 350 μm as suggested by previous measurements of other molecular clouds. The shape of the spectrum does not depend strongly on the radiative environment of the dust, as quantified by the column density or the dust temperature obtained from Herschel data. The polarization ratios observed in Vela C are consistent with a model of a porous clumpy molecular cloud being uniformly heated by the interstellar radiation field. © 2016 American Astronomical Society. Received 2015 December 21; accepted 2016 March 8; published 2016 June 16. The BLASTPol collaboration acknowledges support from NASA (through grant numbers NAG5-12785, NAG5-13301, NNGO-6GI11G, NNX0-9AB98G, and the Illinois Space Grant Consortium), the Canadian Space Agency, the Leverhulme Trust through the Research Project Grant F/00 407/BN, Canada's Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council, the Canada Foundation for Innovation, the Ontario Innovation Trust, and the US National Science Foundation Office of Polar Programs. Based on observations obtained with Planck (http://www.esa.int/Planck), an ESA science mission with instruments and contributions directly funded by ESA Member States, NASA, and Canada. C.B.N. also acknowledges support from the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research. F.P.S. is supported by the CAPES grant 2397/13-7. F.P. thanks the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (MINECO) under the Consolider-Ingenio project CSD2010-00064. P.A. is supported through Reach for the Stars, a GK-12 program supported by the National Science Foundation under grant DGE-0948017. Finally, we thank the Columbia Scientific Balloon Facility staff for their ...