An official website of the United States government
We present the first degree-scale tomography map of the dusty magnetized interstellar medium (ISM) from stellar polarimetry and distance measurements. We used the RoboPol polarimeter at Skinakas Observatory to conduct a survey of the polarization of starlight in a region of the sky of about four square degrees. We propose a Bayesian method to decompose the stellar-polarization source field along the distance to invert the three-dimensional (3D) volume occupied by the observed stars. We used this method to obtain the first 3D map of the dusty magnetized ISM. Specifically, we produced a tomography map of the orientation of the plane-of-sky component of the magnetic field threading the diffuse, dusty regions responsible for the stellar polarization. For the targeted region centered on Galactic coordinates (l,b) ≈ (103.3°, 22.3°), we identified several ISM clouds. Most of the lines of sight intersect more than one cloud. A very nearby component was detected in the foreground of a dominant component from which most of the polarization signal comes and which we identified as being an intersection of the wall of the Local Bubble and the Cepheus Flare. Farther clouds, with a distance of up to 2 kpc, were similarly detected. Some of them likely correspond to intermediate-velocity clouds seen in HIspectra in this region of the sky. We found that the orientation of the plane-of-sky component of the magnetic field changes along distance for most of the lines of sight. Our study demonstrates that starlight polarization data coupled to distance measures have the power to reveal the great complexity of the dusty magnetized ISM in 3D and, in particular, to provide local measurements of the plane-of-sky component of the magnetic field in dusty regions. This demonstrates that the inversion of large data volumes, as expected from the PASIPHAEsurvey, will provide the necessary means to move forward in the modeling of the Galactic magnetic field and of the dusty magnetized ISM as a contaminant in observations of the cosmic microwave background polarization.
more »
« less
Starlight-polarization-based tomography of the magnetized ISM: PASIPHAE’s line-of-sight inversion method
We present the first Bayesian method for tomographic decomposition of the plane-of-sky orientation of the magnetic field with the use of stellar polarimetry and distance. This standalone tomographic inversion method presents an important step forward in reconstructing the magnetized interstellar medium (ISM) in three dimensions within dusty regions. We develop a model in which the polarization signal from the magnetized and dusty ISM is described by thin layers at various distances, a working assumption which should be satisfied in small-angular circular apertures. Our modeling makes it possible to infer the mean polarization (amplitude and orientation) induced by individual dusty clouds and to account for the turbulence-induced scatter in a generic way. We present a likelihood function that explicitly accounts for uncertainties in polarization and parallax. We develop a framework for reconstructing the magnetized ISM through the maximization of the log-likelihood using a nested sampling method. We test our Bayesian inversion method on mock data, representative of the high Galactic latitude sky, taking into account realistic uncertainties from Gaia and as expected for the optical polarization survey P ASIPHAE according to the currently planned observing strategy. We demonstrate that our method is effective at recovering the cloud properties as soon as the polarization induced by a cloud to its background stars is higher than ~0.1% for the adopted survey exposure time and level of systematic uncertainty. The larger the induced polarization is, the better the method’s performance, and the lower the number of required stars. Our method makes it possible to recover not only the mean polarization properties but also to characterize the intrinsic scatter, thus creating new ways to characterize ISM turbulence and the magnetic field strength. Finally, we apply our method to an existing data set of starlight polarization with known line-of-sight decomposition, demonstrating agreement with previous results and an improved quantification of uncertainties in cloud properties.
more »
« less
- Award ID(s):
- 2109127
- PAR ID:
- 10465505
- Author(s) / Creator(s):
- ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; more »
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Astronomy & Astrophysics
- Volume:
- 670
- ISSN:
- 0004-6361
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- A164
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
More Like this
-
-
Context. Atomic gas in the diffuse interstellar medium (ISM) is organized in filamentary structures. These structures usually host cold and dense molecular clumps. The Galactic magnetic field is considered to play an important role in the formation of these clumps. Aims. Our goal is to explore the role of the magnetic field in the H I -H 2 transition process. Methods. We targeted a diffuse ISM filamentary cloud toward the Ursa Major cirrus where gas transitions from atomic to molecular. We probed the magnetic field properties of the cloud with optical polarization observations. We performed multiwavelength spectroscopic observations of different species in order to probe the gas phase properties of the cloud. We observed the CO ( J = 1−0) and ( J = 2−1) lines in order to probe the molecular content of the cloud. We also obtained observations of the [C ii ] 157.6 µ m emission line in order to trace the CO-dark H 2 gas and estimate the mean volume density of the cloud. Results. We identified two distinct subregions within the cloud. One of the regions is mostly atomic, while the other is dominated by molecular gas, although most of it is CO-dark. The estimated plane-of-the-sky magnetic field strength between the two regions remains constant within uncertainties and lies in the range 13–30 µG. The total magnetic field strength does not scale with density. This implies that gas is compressed along the field lines. We also found that turbulence is trans-Alfvénic, with M A ≈ 1. In the molecular region, we detected an asymmetric CO clump whose minor axis is closer, with a 24° deviation, to the mean magnetic field orientation than the angle of its major axis. The H i velocity gradients are in general perpendicular to the mean magnetic field orientation except for the region close to the CO clump, where they tend to become parallel. This phenomenon is likely related to gas undergoing gravitational infall. The magnetic field morphology of the target cloud is parallel to the H i column density structure of the cloud in the atomic region, while it tends to become perpendicular to the H i structure in the molecular region. On the other hand, the magnetic field morphology seems to form a smaller offset angle with the total column density shape (including both atomic and molecular gas) of this transition cloud. Conclusions. In the target cloud where the H i –H 2 transition takes place, turbulence is trans-Alfvénic, and hence the magnetic field plays an important role in the cloud dynamics. Atomic gas probably accumulates preferentially along the magnetic field lines and creates overdensities where molecular gas can form. The magnetic field morphology is probed better by the total column density shape of the cloud, and not its H i column density shape.more » « less
-
ABSTRACT Observing 3D magnetic fields, including orientation and strength, within the interstellar medium is vital but notoriously difficult. However, recent advances in our understanding of anisotropic magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) turbulence demonstrate that MHD turbulence and 3D magnetic fields leave their imprints on the intensity features of spectroscopic observations. Leveraging these theoretical frameworks, we propose a novel Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) model to extract this embedded information, enabling the probe of 3D magnetic fields. This model examines the plane-of-the-sky magnetic field orientation (ϕ), the magnetic field’s inclination angle (γ) relative to the line-of-sight, and the total magnetization level (M$$_{\rm A}^{-1}$$) of the cloud. We train the model using synthetic emission lines of 13CO (J = 1–0) and C18O (J = 1–0), generated from 3D MHD simulations that span conditions from sub-Alfvénic to super-Alfvénic molecular clouds. Our tests confirm that the CNN model effectively reconstructs the 3D magnetic field topology and magnetization. The median uncertainties are under 5° for both ϕ and γ, and less than 0.2 for MA in sub-Alfvénic conditions (MA ≈ 0.5). In super-Alfvénic scenarios (MA ≈ 2.0), they are under 15° for ϕ and γ, and 1.5 for MA. We applied this trained CNN model to the L1478 molecular cloud. Results show a strong agreement between the CNN-predicted magnetic field orientation and that derived from Planck 353 GHz polarization. The CNN approach enabled us to construct the 3D magnetic field map for L1478, revealing a global inclination angle of ≈76° and a global MA of ≈1.07.more » « less
-
Context. Optical polarimeters are typically calibrated using measurements of stars with known and stable polarization parameters. However, there is a lack of such stars available across the sky. Many of the currently available standards are not suitable for medium and large telescopes due to their high brightness. Moreover, as we find, some of the polarimetric standards used are in fact variable or have polarization parameters that differ from their cataloged values. Aims. Our goal is to establish a sample of stable standards suitable for calibrating linear optical polarimeters with an accuracy down to 10 −3 in fractional polarization. Methods. For 4 yr, we have been running a monitoring campaign of a sample of standard candidates comprised of 107 stars distributed across the northern sky. We analyzed the variability of the linear polarization of these stars, taking into account the non-Gaussian nature of fractional polarization measurements. For a subsample of nine stars, we also performed multiband polarization measurements. Results. We created a new catalog of 65 stars (see Table 2) that are stable, have small uncertainties of measured polarimetric parameters, and can be used as calibrators of polarimeters at medium and large telescopes.more » « less
-
null (Ed.)Abstract We present measurements of cosmic shear two-point correlation functions (TPCFs) from Hyper Suprime-Cam Subaru Strategic Program (HSC) first-year data, and derive cosmological constraints based on a blind analysis. The HSC first-year shape catalog is divided into four tomographic redshift bins ranging from $z=0.3$ to 1.5 with equal widths of $$\Delta z =0.3$$. The unweighted galaxy number densities in each tomographic bin are 5.9, 5.9, 4.3, and $$2.4\:$$arcmin$$^{-2}$$ from the lowest to highest redshifts, respectively. We adopt the standard TPCF estimators, $$\xi _\pm$$, for our cosmological analysis, given that we find no evidence of significant B-mode shear. The TPCFs are detected at high significance for all 10 combinations of auto- and cross-tomographic bins over a wide angular range, yielding a total signal-to-noise ratio of 19 in the angular ranges adopted in the cosmological analysis, $$7^{\prime }<\theta <56^{\prime }$$ for $$\xi _+$$ and $$28^{\prime }<\theta <178^{\prime }$$ for $$\xi _-$$. We perform the standard Bayesian likelihood analysis for cosmological inference from the measured cosmic shear TPCFs, including contributions from intrinsic alignment of galaxies as well as systematic effects from PSF model errors, shear calibration uncertainty, and source redshift distribution errors. We adopt a covariance matrix derived from realistic mock catalogs constructed from full-sky gravitational lensing simulations that fully account for survey geometry and measurement noise. For a flat $$\Lambda$$ cold dark matter model, we find $$S\,_8 \equiv \sigma _8\sqrt{\Omega _{\rm m}/0.3}=0.804_{-0.029}^{+0.032}$$, and $$\Omega _{\rm m}=0.346_{-0.100}^{+0.052}$$. We carefully check the robustness of the cosmological results against astrophysical modeling uncertainties and systematic uncertainties in measurements, and find that none of them has a significant impact on the cosmological constraints.more » « less
- Free Publicly Accessible Full Text
-
Accepted Manuscript1.0
- Journal Article:
- https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/202244625
