Radiation Transfer in Aligned Grains: Probing Magnetic Fields in Molecular Clouds, Protostars, and Disks

Space Science Institute, Boulder CO

Investigators

Abstract

AST-0507164 INSTITUTION: Space Science Institute PI: Barbara Whitney TITLE: Radiation Transfer in Aligned Grains: Probing Magnetic Fields in Molecular Clouds, Protostars, and Disks ABSTRACT Drs. Barbara Whitney (Space Science Institute), Fabian Heitsch (University Observatory, Munich, Germany), Alexandre Lazarian (University of Wisconsin, Madison) and Michael Wolff (Space Science Institute) will undertake a program to provide improved tools for interpreting polarization data in star formation regions. This will be accomplished by combining radiation transfer, magneto-hydrodynamic simulations, and grain alignment theories. Modification of existing codes will be used to calculate emission, extinction, and scattering from aligned grains while simultaneously solving for the temperature of the grains as a function of grain size, in arbitrary 3-D density structures with arbitrary luminosity sources. The codes will provide spectral energy distributions and images, including linear and circular polarization, at any wavelength. Computation of molecular cloud/cloud core density and magnetic field grids, using an MHD code using the latest grain alignment theories, will also be undertaken. The purpose of the program is to test grain alignment theories and probe magnetic structures in disks, protostellar envelopes, and molecular clouds. The tools developed in this research program will be made available to the general astronomical community, providing for a broader impact.