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G. Novak, G. S. Griffin, M. Krejny, H. Li (Northwestern University), R. F. Loewenstein, M. G. Newcomb (University of Chicago), P. G. Calisse (Cardiff University, Wales, U.K.), D. T. Chuss (NASA - Goddard Space Flight Center)
We present results obtained in 2003 using the Submillimeter Polarimeter for Antarctic Remote Observations (SPARO). SPARO is an imaging polarimeter operating at 450 microns that is used together with the 2 meter Viper telescope at South Pole to map magnetic fields in the dense component of the Galactic ISM. In comparison with other submillimeter polarimeters currently in use, SPARO is especially sensitive to diffuse, extended submillimeter emission.
SPARO observed four Giant Molecular Clouds (GMCs) during April-July 2003, obtaining polarimetric detections for about 150 sky positions covering a total sky area of about 0.5 square degrees. The inferred projected magnetic field directions show a tendency to be parallel to the Galactic Plane except where disturbed by expanding bubbles. The bubbles are revealed by Midcourse Space Experiment (MSX) Band A (7-11 microns) images, as well as (in some cases) by optical recombination line maps. In the vicinity of the bubbles, the projected magnetic field directions tend to run parallel to the bubbles' limb-brightened shells, as expected for formation of a highly compressed shell of gas under flux-freezing conditions. We discuss the implications of our results for future studies of magnetohydrodynamic turbulence in GMCs to be carried out using instruments now under development such as the polarimeter for SCUBA2 at the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope, and the SHARP polarimeter at the Caltech Submillimeter Observatory.
SPARO is funded by the National Science Foundation's Office of Polar Programs.
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Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, 37 #2
© 2005. The American Astronomical Soceity.