Related papers: Interstellar Grain Alignment - Observational Statu…
The dielectric function of interstellar dust material is modeled using observations of extinction and polarization in the infrared, together with estimates for the mass of interstellar dust. The "astrodust" material is assumed to be a mix…
Our understanding of the nature of interstellar grains has evolved considerably over the past half century with the present author and Fred Hoyle being intimately involved at several key stages of progress. The currently fashionable…
Polarized microwave emission from dust is an important foreground that may contaminate polarized CMB studies unless carefully accounted for. We discuss potential difficulties associated with this foreground, namely, the existence of…
Three-dimensional magnetic fields (3D B-fields) are essential to understand the formation and evolution of the interstellar medium and multi-scale star formation; however, the accurate measurement of 3D B-fields is still challenging. The…
As the next step toward an improved large scale Galactic magnetic field model, we present a simple comparison of polarised synchrotron and thermal dust emission on the Galactic plane. We find that the field configuration in our previous…
Measurements by dust detectors on interplanetary spacecraft appear to indicate a substantial flux of interstellar particles with masses exceeding 10^{-12}gram. The reported abundance of these massive grains cannot be typical of interstellar…
After decades of efforts, optical long-baseline interferometry has become a mainstream observational technique in terms of operation robustness and user friendliness. Interferometry has opened a new observational window, enabling…
We present a new method to constrain the grain size in protoplanetary disks with polarization observations at millimeter wavelengths. If dust grains are grown to the size comparable to the wavelengths, the dust grains are expected to have a…
Dust grains play a major role in many astrophysical contexts. They affect the chemical, magnetic, dynamical, and optical properties of their environment, from galaxies down to the interstellar medium, star-forming regions, and…
The configuration and evolution of the magnetic field in star-forming cores are investigated in order to directly compare simulations and observations. We prepare four different initial clouds having different magnetic field strengths and…
Observational studies of magnetic fields are vital as magnetic fields play a crucial role in various astrophysical processes, including star formation, accretion of matter, transport processes (e.g., transport of heat), and cosmic rays. We…
We interpret the relation between the polarizing efficiency $P_{\max}/E(B-V)$ and the wavelength of the maximum polarization $\lambda_{\max}$ observed for 17 objects (including 243 stars) separated into two groups: "dark clouds" and "open…
The azimuthal polarization patterns observed in some protoplanetary disks by ALMA at millimeter wavelength have raised doubts about their being produced by dust grains aligned with the magnetic field lines. These conclusions were based on…
Since the classical work by Purcell (1979) it has been generally accepted that most interstellar grains rotate suprathermally. Suprathermally rotating grains would be nearly perfectly aligned with the magnetic field by paramagnetic…
Nanometer- and micrometer-sized solid particles play an important role in the evolutionary cycle of stars and interstellar matter. The optical properties of cosmic grains determine the interaction of the radiation field with the solids,…
Polarized dust emission is a key tracer in the study of interstellar medium and of star formation. The observed polarization, however, is a product of magnetic field structure, dust grain properties and grain alignment efficiency, as well…
We explore the induction of circular polarization (CP) of near-infrared light in star-forming regions using three-dimensional radiative transfer calculations. The simulations trace the change of Stokes parameters at each…
Magnetic fields permeate the entire Galaxy and are essential to, for example, the regulation of several stages of the star formation process and cosmic ray transportation. Unraveling its properties, such as intensity and topology, is an…
The Planck mission detected a positive correlation between the intensity ($T$) and $B$-mode polarization of the Galactic thermal dust emission. The $TB$ correlation is a parity-odd signal, whose statistical mean vanishes in models with…
Observations of star-forming regions by the current and upcoming generation of submillimeter polarimeters will shed new light on the evolution of magnetic fields over the cloud-to-core size scales involved in the early stages of the star…