Shapes And Magnetic Field Orientations In Molecular Clouds: Constraining Models Of Molecular Cloud Formation And Evolution

Details Shapes And Magnetic Field Orientations In Molecular Clouds: Constraining Models Of Molecular Cloud Formation And Evolution Shapes And Magnetic Field Orientations In Molecular Clouds: Constraining Models Of Molecular Cloud Formation And Evolution

May 2009

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2009aas...21431003t&link_type=abstract

American Astronomical Society, AAS Meeting #214, #310.03; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 41, p.745

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astronomy

Scientific paper

Different models for the formation and evolution of molecular clouds predict different orientations for the mean magnetic field with respect to the intrinsic cloud axes, as well as different cloud shapes. However, due to projection effects, the shape and magnetic field orientation cannot be determined on a cloud-to-cloud basis. We have used a statistical treatment based on the assumption of randomly distributed lines of sight to overcome these difficulties. Using observations of the plane-of-the-sky magnetic field of 24 clouds with the Hertz polarimeter, as well as plane-of-the-sky shapes for the same objects, we draw conclusions regarding the best-fit distribution of shapes and field orientations in nature. We find that the most likely cloud shape is an oblate disk, with the magnetic field oriented close to the shortest cloud axis. We discuss the implications of these findings for theoretical models and future observations.

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