Related papers: Interstellar Grain Alignment - Observational Statu…
Recent (sub)millimeter polarization observations of protoplanetary disks reveal toroidally aligned, effectively prolate dust grains large enough (at least ~100 $\mu$m) to efficiently scatter millimeter light. The alignment mechanism for…
Circumstellar disk dust polarization in the (sub)millimeter is, for the most part, not from dust grain alignment with magnetic fields but rather indicative of a combination of dust self-scattering with a yet unknown alignment mechanism that…
Observations of cosmic microwave background in the range 10-90 GHz have revealed an anomalous foreground component well correlated with 12 \mum, 60 \mum and 100 \mum emission from interstellar dust. As the recent cross-correlation analysis…
This article reviews the current status of theoretical modeling of electric dipole radiation from spinning dust grains. The fundamentally simple problem of dust grain rotation appeals to a rich set of concepts of classical and quantum…
We present new multicolor photo-polarimetry of stars behind the Southern Coalsack. Analyzed together with multiband polarization data from the literature, probing the Chamaeleon I, Musca, rho Opiuchus, R CrA and Taurus clouds, we show that…
This paper gives a short summary of a mechanism of the enhanced paramagnetic relaxation that acts on rapidly rotating interstellar grains. We show that the Barnett magnetization that arises from grain rotation ensures that paramagnetic…
Polarized emission from aligned dust is a crucial tool for studies of magnetism in the ISM and a troublesome contaminant for studies of CMB polarization. In each case, an understanding of the significance of the polarization signal requires…
Observational studies of magnetic fields are crucial. We introduce a process "ground state alignment" as a new way to determine the magnetic field direction in diffuse medium. The alignment is due to anisotropic radiation impinging on the…
This paper provides testable predictions about starlight polarizations to constrain the geometry of the Galactic magnetic field, in particular the nature of the poloidal component. Galactic dynamo simulations and Galactic dust distributions…
If aspherical dust grains are immersed in an anisotropic radiation field, their temperature depends on the cross-sections projected in the direction of the anisotropy.It was shown that the temperature difference produces polarized thermal…
Although interstellar grains are known to be aspherical, their actual shapes remain poorly constrained. We assess whether three continuous distributions of ellipsoidal shapes from the literature are suitable for describing the shapes of…
The investigation of polarized light of protoplanetary disks is key for constraining the dust properties, disk morphology and embedded magnetic fields. However, different polarization mechanisms and the diversity of dust grain shapes and…
A model of spheroidal particles is used to calculate the steady-state temperature of dust grains immersed in the interstellar radiation field. It is found that the temperature of non-spherical grains with the aspect ratios a/b <= 2 deviates…
We performed an integrated optical polarization survey of 70 nearby galaxies to study the relationship between linear polarization and galaxy properties. To date this is the largest survey of its kind. The data were collected at McDonald…
The alignment of interstellar dust grains is described by the joint distribution function for certain ``internal'' and ``external'' variables, where the former describe the orientation of a grain's axes with respect to its angular momentum,…
The polarization of light is a critically under-utilized, rich source of information in astronomy. For stars in particular, surface magnetism polarization that can be detected and measured with spectro-polarimetry. Many questions about…
Aims: In this paper we present a case study to investigate conditions necessary to detect a characteristic magnetic field substructure embedded in a large-scale field. A helical magnetic field with a surrounding hourglass shaped field is…
We present an original data analysis and a physical model that provide new insights into the origin of, and relationship between, two observables of the dusty, polarized Galaxy at intermediate and high latitudes: (i) the misalignment…
Telescopes are now able to resolve dust polarization across circumstellar disks at multiple wavelengths, allowing the study of the polarization spectrum. Most disks show clear evidence of dust scattering through their unidirectional…
Dust clouds are ubiquitous in the atmospheres of hot Jupiters and affect their observable properties. The alignment of dust grains in the clouds and resulting dust polarization is a promising method to study magnetic fields of exoplanets.…