Understanding Magnetic Fields in the Milky Way Galaxy and in Star Forming Clouds

穿过银河系气体和尘埃的磁场已经被获奖者用他们自己的仪器Mimir绘制出来。Mimir是十多年前在NSF，NASA和W.M.的支持下建造的。凯克基金会。Mimir测量银河系中尘埃产生的红外光的偏振。大多数尘埃（和气体）存在于漂浮在太空中的大云层中。这些云在自身重量的作用下坍缩形成新的恒星。仔细分析这些尘埃云发出的偏振光，我们就能了解控制每片云的形状和大小的磁场。磁场也会影响云塌缩形成恒星的方式。大部分数据已经收集。获奖者现在需要资金来支持对数据的仔细检查。这些数据将与其他望远镜的观测结果一起使用，如平流层红外天文台（索菲亚）和NSF的阿塔卡马大型毫米波阵列（阿尔马），以测试银河系云和星星形成的模型。来自波士顿大学的学生将接受培训，学习如何获取Mimir数据并检查偏振测量结果。研究生将使用Mimir，索菲亚和阿尔马数据来完成他们的博士项目。本科生（包括许多非天文学专业的学生）将被带到亚利桑那州，在帕金斯望远镜上操作米米尔。这些望远镜之旅经常激励学生从事科学事业。其他学生将通过视频会议参与观察。该团队还将在波士顿科学博物馆寻求外展机会，波士顿大学天文学系每周在那里举行开放之夜。 获奖者正在使用Mimir，通过近红外H波段的背景星光偏振测量，调查银道面沿着和各种星星形成区域的磁场结构。他们的调查被称为银河平面红外偏振调查（GPPS），覆盖了76平方度的内盘，并探测了20个灭绝星等。互补中红外偏振测量用于探测星星形成的云高达50个灭绝的星等。 各种众所周知的技术（塞曼分裂，戴维斯-拉塞卡-费米方法等）将利用这些数据和补充档案数据推断整个调查地区的场强和方向。 这些数据的分析将提供银河系B场模型的定量测试和致密分子云中星星形成的约束理论。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并被认为是值得通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估的支持。

The magnetic field that threads through the gas and dust in the Milky Way Galaxy has been mapped by the awardees using their own instrument, Mimir. Mimir was built over a decade ago with support from NSF, NASA, and the W.M. Keck Foundation. Mimir measures the polarization of infrared light produced by the dust in the Milky Way. Most of the dust (and gas) is found in large clouds that drift through space. These clouds collapse under their own weight to form new stars. Careful analysis of the polarized light from these dusty clouds teaches us about the magnetic fields that control the shapes and sizes of each cloud. The magnetic fields also affect the way the clouds collapse to make stars. Much of the data has already been collected. The awardees now need funding to support the careful examination of the data. The data will be used, together with observations from other telescopes such as the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) and NSF's Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA), to test models of Milky Way clouds and star formation. Students from Boston University will be trained on how to take the Mimir data and examine the polarimetry results. A graduate student will use Mimir, SOFIA and ALMA data to complete their PhD project. Undergraduate students (including many who are not majoring in astronomy) will be brought to Arizona to operate Mimir on the Perkins telescope. These telescope trips often inspire students to follow careers in science. Other students will participate in the observing by videoconference. The team will also pursue outreach opportunities at the Boston Museum of Science, where the Department of Astronomy at Boston University holds weekly open nights. Mimir is being used by the awardees to survey the magnetic field structure along the galactic plane and in various star forming regions via background starlight polarization measurements in the near-infrared H-band. Their survey, dubbed the Galactic Plane Infrared Polarization Survey (GPIPS), covers 76 square degrees of the inner disk and probes up to 20 magnitudes of extinction. Complementary mid-IR polarization measurements are used to probe star forming clouds up to 50 magnitudes of extinction. Various well-known techniques (Zeeman splitting, the Davis-Chandrasekhar-Fermi method, etc.) will be used on these and complementary archival data to infer field strengths and orientations across the surveyed areas. Analysis of these data will provide quantitative tests of models of galactic B-fields and constrain theories of star formation in dense molecular clouds.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.