Continuity between Magnetic Fields in GMCs and Large-scale Galactic Magnetic Fields

Details Continuity between Magnetic Fields in GMCs and Large-scale Galactic Magnetic Fields Continuity between Magnetic Fields in GMCs and Large-scale Galactic Magnetic Fields

Dec 2006

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2006aas...209.5502n&link_type=abstract

2007 AAS/AAPT Joint Meeting, American Astronomical Society Meeting 209, #55.02; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, V

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astronomy

1

Scientific paper

The magnetic fields that permeate star-forming Giant Molecular Clouds (GMCs) may play important roles in the star formation process. Submillimeter polarimetry has been used by many investigators to map magnetic fields in GMCs. Generally these maps cover only a very small fraction of a GMC's sky area, but our SPARO experiment at South Pole has for the first time produced maps of GMC fields that extend over a significant fraction of the GMCs' sky areas. Therefore, for the first time, it has become possible to observe the global magnetic fields of GMCs. We have found that there is a statistically significant correlation between the direction of these global GMC fields and the orientation of the Galactic plane (Li et al. 2006, Ap. J. 648, 340). This suggests that the GMC formation process tends to preserve the magnetic field direction. However, here we focus on an alternative hypothesis: Could the correlation between the GMC fields and Galactic plane orientation originate in the predicted tendency for GMCs to inherit Galactic angular momentum and to thus spin up about axes that are perpendicular to the Galactic plane? Based on recent measurements of GMC rotation axes, we argue that this hypothesis is not likely to be correct. Thus, our SPARO data indicate that there is indeed continuity between GMC fields and large-scale Galactic fields.

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