CIRCULAR POLARIZATION AND HOMOCHIRALITY IN STAR FORMING REGIONS

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This research is based on the discovery of large circular polarization in the Orion star forming region by an international team including ours. A proposal that the homochirality of life is from space is emerged. In order to establish this idea, it is necessary to develop special polarimeters and to conduct observations of a number of star forming regions in our and in the Magellanic clouds. The outcome of such observations is a database of astronomical polarizations in star forming regions and this will be a clue to understand if the circular polarizations in star forming regions are imprinted in intercloud molecules, then brought to the Earth by meteors or comets. We have successfully developed a polarimeter for the Subaru 8.2m telescope (atop of Mauna Kea, in Hawaii), called CIAO polarimeter. We have also developed a portable ultra-accurate polarimeter. The former polarimeter is used in regular open observations. This enables astronomers to observe polarizations with a very high resolution (0.1 arcsec), about one order higher resolution than the conventional optical and infrared polarimetry. This capability on the Subaru telescope is the first among the world 8-10 meter class telescopes. The letter polarimeter can detect any polarizations due to the presence of extrasolar planets around nearby stars. This is currently one of the hottest topics in the extrasolar planets fields. The polarimeter has finished test observations at the University of Hawaii 2.2 meter telescope at Mauna Kea and we have confirmed the accuracy of the polarimeter is better than 10^(-6). We have also conducted a number of related observations in star forming regions.