Related papers: Experiences with Airborne and Ground-Based Polarim…
Spectropolarimetry from the near IR to the far UV of light scattered by dust provides a valuable diagnostic of the dust composition, grain size distribution and spatial distribution. To facilitate the use of this diagnostic, we present…
We extend previous theoretical works to gain a better understanding of the origin of observed polarisation degree spectra of molecular clouds, which show a so-called V-shape, i.e. a pronounced minimum around 350~$\mu$m. For this purpose, we…
We calculate the detectability of the polarization of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) as a function of the sky coverage, angular resolution, and instrumental sensitivity for a hypothetical experiment. We consider the gradient…
Polarization is a basic property of light and is fundamentally linked to the internal geometry of a source of radiation. Polarimetry complements photometric, spectroscopic, and imaging analyses of sources of radiation and has made possible…
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…
The observations of fluctuations in the cosmic microwave background provide information about primordial inhomogeneities in the universe. However, the B-mode polarization of the inflationary gravitational wave is contaminated by the…
We examine the cloud structure around the Planck detections in 71 fields observed with the Herschel SPIRE instrument. We wish to determine the general physical characteristics of the fields and to examine the morphology of the clouds where…
With polarization of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) now detected, and confirmed by several independent experiments, the next goal is to characterise accurately its statistical properties. In these lecture notes we review the physical…
Context. The discovery of an extrasolar planet with an ocean has crucial importance in the search for life beyond Earth. The polarimetric detection of specularly reflected light from a smooth liquid surface is anticipated theoretically,…
The dynamical state of star-forming molecular clouds cannot be understood without determining the structure and strength of their magnetic fields. Measurements of polarized far-infrared radiation from thermally aligned dust grains are used…
Using polarization measurements in remote sensing and optical studies allows retrieving more information. We consider relationship between the reflection coefficients of plane and rough surfaces for linearly polarized waves. Certain…
We present synthetic dust polarisation maps of 3D magneto-hydrodynamical simulations of molecular clouds before the onset of stellar feedback. The clouds are modelled within the SILCC-Zoom project and are embedded in their galactic…
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…
In addition to its spectrum and temperature anisotropy, the 2.7K Cosmic Microwave Background is also expected to exhibit a low level of polarization. The spatial power spectrum of the polarization can provide details about the formation of…
The motion of diamagnetic dust particles in interstellar magnetic fields is studied numerically with several different sets of parameters. Two types of behavior are observed, depending on the value of the critical number $R$, which is a…
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…
We present new deep near-infrared images of dark clouds in the Perseus molecular complex. These images show beautiful extended emission which we model as scattered ambient starlight and name ``cloudshine''. The brightness and color…
It is believed that magnetic field lines are twisted and bend by turbulent motions in the Galaxy. Therefore, both Galactic synchrotron emission and thermal emission from dust reflects statistics of Galactic turbulence. Our simple model of…
This is a review of a decade-long effort to develop novel tools for exploring magnetism in cold astrophysical media and to establish a new field of molecular spectropolarimetry since Berdyugina et al. (2000). It is most directly applicable…
Magnetic fields are ubiquitous in the universe and are thought to play an important role in various astrophysical processes. Polarization of thermal dust emission from dust grains aligned with the magnetic field is widely used to measure…