A New Method for Estimating Magnetic Field Strength in Molecular Clouds
Abstract
It is believed that magnetic field plays an important role in various branches of astronomy, e.g. cloud and star formation. But the strength of magnetic field in molecular clouds is not easy to measure. Chandrasekhar-Fermi method is valid only when the field is oriented close enough to the plane of the sky. Moreover, it is limited to where polarimetry detection is possible, that is either cloud cores (submillimeter) or diffuse inter-cloud medium (optical). Zeeman Effect detects only the field component along the line of sight. We propose a complementary method to estimate the field strength of the plane-of-the-sky component, using line width difference between ions and neutrals in molecular clouds with Kolmogorov type of turbulence.
- Publication:
-
American Astronomical Society Meeting Abstracts #210
- Pub Date:
- May 2007
- Bibcode:
- 2007AAS...210.4401L