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Creators/Authors contains: "Lei, Minjie"

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  1. Abstract Utilizing Planck polarized dust emission maps at 353 GHz and large-area maps of the neutral hydrogen (Hi) cold neutral medium (CNM) fraction (fCNM), we investigate the relationship between dust polarization fraction (p353) andfCNMin the diffuse high latitude ( b > 30 ° ) sky. We find that the correlation betweenp353andfCNMis qualitatively distinct from thep353–Hicolumn density (NHi) relationship. At low column densities (NHi< 4 × 1020cm−2) wherep353andNHiare uncorrelated, there is a strong positivep353–fCNMcorrelation. We fit thep353–fCNMcorrelation with data-driven models to constrain the degree of magnetic field disorder between phases along the line of sight. We argue that an increased magnetic field disorder in the warm neutral medium (WNM) relative to the CNM best explains the positivep353–fCNMcorrelation in diffuse regions. Modeling the CNM-associated dust column as being maximally polarized, with a polarization fractionpCNM∼ 0.2, we find that the best-fit mean polarization fraction in the WNM-associated dust column is 0.22pCNM. The model further suggests that a significantfCNM-correlated fraction of the non-CNM column (an additional 18.4% of the Himass on average) is also more magnetically ordered, and we speculate that the additional column is associated with the unstable medium. Our results constitute a new large-area constraint on the average relative disorder of magnetic fields between the neutral phases of the interstellar medium, and are consistent with the physical picture of a more magnetically aligned CNM column forming out of a disordered WNM. 
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