SKA studies of in-situ synchrotron radiation from molecular clouds
Abstract
Observations of the properties of dense molecular clouds are critical in understanding the process of star-formation. One of the most important, but least understood, is the role of the magnetic fields. We discuss the possibility of using high-resolution, high-sensitivity radio observations with the SKA to measure for the first time the in-situ synchrotron radiation from these molecular clouds. If the cosmic-ray (CR) particles penetrate clouds as expected, then we can measure the B-field strength directly using radio data. So far, this signature has never been detected from the collapsing clouds themselves and would be a unique probe of the magnetic field. Dense cores are typically ~0.05 pc in size, corresponding to ~arcsec at ~kpc distances, and flux density estimates are ~mJy at 1 GHz. The SKA should be able to readily detect directly, for the first time, along lines-of-sight that are not contaminated by thermal emission or complex foreground/background synchrotron emission. Polarised synchrotron may also be detectable providing additional information about the regular/turbulent fields.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.1501.00804,
title = {SKA studies of in-situ synchrotron radiation from molecular clouds},
author = {Clive Dickinson and R. Beck and R. Crocker and R. M. Crutcher and R. D. Davies and K. Ferriere and G. Fuller and T. Jaffe and D. I. Jones and J. P. Leahy and E. J. Murphy and M. W. Peel and E. Orlando and T. Porter and R. J. Protheroe and T. Robishaw and A. W. Strong and R. A. Watson and F. Yusef-Zadeh},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1501.00804},
year = {2015}
}
Comments
10 pages, 1 figure, as part of "Cosmic Magnetism" in Proceedings "Advancing Astrophysics with the SKA (AASKA14)", PoS(AASKA14)102