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B.-G. Andersson, E. Vishniac (JHU), P.G. Wannier (JPL/Caltech)
We present a study of the small-scale variations in the magnetic field in the near-by molecular cloud L1457 based on polarization measurements of 240 individual background stars over the approximately 2x4deg field of the cloud and its surroundings. The variations are studied by means of the discreet, pairwise, autocorrelation function (ACF). Besides the azimuthally averaged ACF, the data set is rich enough to allow us to resolve the ACF into multiple angle sectors with respect to the direction between the stars in each pair. Significant variation is found in the ACF as a function of direction, indicating that the characteristic scale of variation in the field differs along and across the mean field direction. We compare these results to expectations based on recent developments in the theory of turbulence in a magnetized medium.
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