US-France Cooperative Research: A Study of Magnetic Fields in Interstellar Material

美法合作研究：星际物质磁场研究

• 批准号: 8815378
• 负责人: Thomas Troland
• 金额: $ 1.23万
• 依托单位: University of Kentucky
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 1989
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 1989-03-15 至 1992-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=8815378&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: US; France; Cooperative; Research; Study

This award will support collaborative research in astronomy between Dr. Thomas Troland, together with Dr. Richard Crutcher, University of Kentucky, and Dr. Ilya Kazes, Observatoire de Meudon, France. One of the most compelling problems of galactic astronomy today is the process whereby clouds of interstellar material gather together, form new stars and eventually disperse. Theoretical studies indicate that magnetic fields may play a crucial role in this evolutionary process. Yet magnetic field strengths are the least well determined of all relevant physical quantities in the interstellar medium, especially in molecular clouds. In the past few years, Drs. Troland and Crutcher have launched a major observational program to correct this deficiency. Their studies of the Zeeman effect in 18 centimeter OH lines have yielded most of the information that now exists regarding field strengths in molecular clouds. Most of these studies have been carried out with the Nancay radio telescope, which now functions very efficiently for this purpose. They seek to continue this work at Nancay, which will complement Zeeman effect observations in progress with the NRAO 43 meter telescope and the Arecibo telescope. Data collected at all sites will permit significant experimental tests of current theories on magnetic effects in the interstellar medium. The investigators also plan to begin work on another project, millimeter wavelength Zeeman effect observations with the IRAM 30 meter telescope. Moreover, additional observations made with the IRAM telescope will form part of a study of densities in regions searched for the Zeeman effect. The results of this proposed work may contribute significantly to our understanding of molecular clouds and of the star-forming processes within them.

该奖项将支持 Thomas Troland 博士与肯塔基大学 Richard Crutcher 博士以及法国默东天文台的 Ilya Kazes 博士之间的天文学合作研究。 当今银河天文学最引人注目的问题之一是星际物质云聚集在一起、形成新恒星并最终分散的过程。 理论研究表明，磁场可能在这一进化过程中发挥着至关重要的作用。 然而，在星际介质中，特别是在分子云中，磁场强度是所有相关物理量中最难确定的。 在过去的几年里，博士。特罗兰和克拉彻启动了一项重大观测计划来纠正这一缺陷。 他们对 18 厘米 OH 线中的塞曼效应的研究已经得出了目前存在的有关分子云场强的大部分信息。 大多数这些研究都是通过南凯射电望远镜进行的，该望远镜现在为此目的非常有效地发挥作用。 他们寻求在南凯继续这项工作，这将补充 NRAO 43 米望远镜和阿雷西博望远镜正在进行的塞曼效应观测。 在所有地点收集的数据将允许对星际介质中磁效应的当前理论进行重要的实验测试。 研究人员还计划开始另一个项目，即使用 IRAM 30 米望远镜进行毫米波长塞曼效应观测。 此外，利用 IRAM 望远镜进行的额外观测将成为塞曼效应搜索区域密度研究的一部分。 这项工作的结果可能会对我们对分子云及其内部恒星形成过程的理解做出重大贡献。