Polarimetry at the Caltech Submillimeter Observatory

芝加哥大学开发的远红外偏振测量技术已经使绘制银河系单个云团中数百个点的偏振图成为可能。这些云中的磁力线图可以通过旋转极化矢量90度来推断。这个由罗杰·希尔德布兰德（Roger Hildebrand）博士领导的项目的主要目标是验证这样一个假设，即来自嵌入云层的恒星的辐射或来自外部恒星辐射场的穿透云层的辐射，强烈地促进了导致热辐射的颗粒的磁排列。第二个目标是确定恒星形成区域的磁场特性。这些调查使用的是芝加哥大学的偏振计，即被称为赫兹的偏振计，安装在夏威夷莫纳克亚山的加州理工亚毫米天文台上。该项目由银河天文学计划资助

AST 9987441HildebrandTechniques of far-infrared polarimetry developed at the University of Chicago have made it possible to produce maps of polarization at hundreds of points in individual clouds in our Galaxy. Maps of magnetic field lines in these clouds can be inferred by rotating the polarization vectors through 90 degrees. The principal objective of this project, led by Dr. Roger Hildebrand, is to test the hypothesis that radiation from stars embedded in clouds or radiation penetrating the clouds from the external stellar radiation field strongly facilitates magnetic alignment of the grains that are responsible for the thermal emission. A second objective is to determine the properties of magnetic fields in star forming regions. These investigations use the University of Chicago polarimeter, known as Hertz, on the Cal Tech Submillimeter Observatory on Mauna Kea, Hawaii. This project is funded through the Galactic Astronomy Program.***