SOFIA Polarization Spectrum of Three Star-Forming Clouds
Abstract
The dust emission polarization spectrum -- how the polarization percentage changes with wavelength -- serves as a probe of dust grain properties in star-forming regions. In this paper, we present 89 m - 214 m polarization spectrum measurements obtained from SOFIA/HAWC+ for three star-forming clouds -- OMC1, M17, and W3. We find that all three clouds have an overall decreasing polarization percentage with increasing wavelength (i.e., a ``falling polarization spectrum''). We use SOFIA and Herschel data to create column density and temperature maps for each cloud. We fit for the slope of the polarization spectrum at each sky position in each cloud, and using the Pearson coefficient we probe each cloud for possible correlations of slope with column density and slope with temperature. We also create plots of slope vs. column density and slope vs. temperature for each cloud. For the case of OMC1, our results are consistent with those presented by J. Michail et al., who carried out a similar analysis for that cloud. Our plots of polarization spectrum slope vs. column density reveal that for each cloud there exists a critical column density below which a falling polarization spectrum is not observed. For these more diffuse sightlines, the polarization spectrum is instead flat or slightly rising. This finding is consistent with a hypothesis presented 25 years ago in a paper led by R. Hildebrand based on Kuiper Airborne Observatory data. This hypothesis is that regions shielded from near-IR radiation are required to produce a sharply falling polarization spectrum.
Cite
@article{arxiv.2509.13416,
title = {SOFIA Polarization Spectrum of Three Star-Forming Clouds},
author = {Erin G. Cox and Giles Novak and David T. Chuss and Dennis Lee and Marc Berthoud and Kaitlyn Karpovich and Joseph M. Michail and Zhi-Yun Li and Peter C. Ashton},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2509.13416},
year = {2025}
}