Related papers: On interstellar light polarization by diamagnetic …
Aligned non-spherical dust particles polarize starlight passing through the dust cloud. They also emit polarized far infrared and sub-mm radiation. Substantial progress in understanding of grain alignment theory makes the interpretation of…
Interstellar polarization in the optical/infrared has long been known to be due to asymmetrical dust grains aligned with the magnetic field and can potentially provide a resource effective way to probe both the topology and strength of the…
Interstellar dust grains are often aligned. If the grain alignment direction varies along the line of sight, the thermal emission becomes circularly-polarized. In the diffuse interstellar medium, the circular polarization at far-infrared…
We compiled the polarimetric data for a sample of lines of sight with known abundances of Mg, Si, and Fe. We correlated the degree of interstellar polarization $P$ and polarization efficiency (the ratio of $P$ to the colour excess $E(B-V)$…
Calculations are performed for the linear polarization of starlight due to extinction by aligned dust grains when the starlight traverses a medium with irregular magnetic fields. This medium is intended to represent the optically thick…
Polarimetry is one of the most informative techniques of studying magnetic fields in molecular clouds. How reliable the interpretation of the polarization maps in terms of magnetic fields is the issue that the grain alignment theory…
Interstellar polarization at far-infrared through millimeter wavelengths (0.1 - 1 mm) is primarily due to thermal emission from dust grains aligned with magnetic fields. This mechanism has led to studies of magnetic fields in a variety of…
The polarisation of light induced by aligned interstellar dust serves as a significant tool in investigating cosmic magnetic fields, dust properties, and poses a challenge in characterising the polarisation of the cosmic microwave…
The degree to which interstellar grains align with respect to the interstellar magnetic field depends on disaligning as well as aligning mechanisms. For decades, it was assumed that disalignment was due primarily to the random angular…
(abridged) The polarized thermal radiation at far infrared and submillimeter wavelengths from dust grains in interstellar clouds with irregular magnetic fields is simulated. We show that the polarization properties of quiescent clouds and…
Interstellar polarization from aligned dust grains can be measured both in transmission at visible and near-infrared wavelengths and in emission at far-infrared and sub-mm wavelengths. These observations can help predict the behavior of…
Dust in the diffuse interstellar medium remains incompletely understood with regard to the structure, composition, size distribution, and alignment properties of the grains. Joint observations of reddening, starlight polarisation spectra,…
Thermal dust continuum polarimetry is a powerful indirect probe of magnetic field geometry in dense molecular clouds while at the same time providing information on the alignment of dust grains with the magnetic field. The leading theory of…
The basic tenets of the alternative interpretation to be presented here are that the spectral profiles of the star light polarization peaks observed in the visible and near IR are a result of the optical properties of silicate grains in the…
Polarization carries information about the magnetic fields in interstellar clouds. The observations of polarized dust emission are used to study the role of magnetic fields in the evolution of molecular clouds and the initial phases of…
Most astrophysical systems, e.g. stellar winds, the diffuse interstellar medium, molecular clouds, are magnetized with magnetic fields that influence almost all of their properties. One of the most informative techniques of magnetic field…
We present a model for the diffuse interstellar dust that explains the observed wavelength-dependence of extinction, emission, linear and circular polarisation of light. The model is set-up with a small number of parameters. It consists of…
Observations of far-infrared (FIR) and submillimeter (SMM) polarized emission are used to study magnetic fields and dust grains in dense regions of the interstellar medium (ISM). These observations place constraints on models of molecular…
It is well known that aligned, aspherical dust grains emit polarized radiation and that the degree of polarization depends on the angle $\psi$ between the interstellar magnetic field and the line of sight. However, anisotropy of the dust…
Several mechanisms have been proposed to explain the alignment of grains with the interstellar magnetic field, including paramagnetic dissipation, radiative torques, and supersonic gas-grain streaming. These must compete with disaligning…