Abstract
Clarifying the role of magnetic fields in the star formation process is crucial. Observations have already shown that magnetic fields play an important role in the early stages of star formation. The high spatial resolution (∼0.01 to 0.05 pc) provided by NIKA2-Pol 1.2 mm imaging polarimetry of nearby clouds will help us clarify the geometry of the B-field within dense cores and molecular filaments as part of the IRAM 30m large program B-FUN. There are numerous challenging issues in the validation of NIKA2-Pol such as the calibration of instrumental polarization. The commissioning phase of NIKA2-Pol is underway and is helping us characterize the intensity-to-polarization “leakage” pattern of the instrument. We present a preliminary analysis of the leakage pattern and its dependence with elevation. We also present the current leakage correction made possible by the NIKA2 pipeline in polarization mode based on the NIKA2-Pol commissioning data taken in December 2018. Based on reduced Stokes I, Q, U data we find that the leakage pattern of NIKA2-Pol depends on elevation and is sensitive to the focus of the telescope.
Highlights
Herschel observations of nearby molecular clouds support a filament paradigm for star formation in which molecular filaments represent a key evolutionary step [2, 3, 8, 9]
This suggests that the magnetic field plays a crucial role in the growth of ISM structure leading to star formation
The angular resolution of Planck polarization data 1 is insufficient to investigate the link between the large-scale (>>0.1 pc) magnetic field in molecular clouds and the small-scale (
Summary
Herschel observations of nearby molecular clouds support a filament paradigm for star formation in which molecular filaments represent a key evolutionary step [2, 3, 8, 9]. Dust polarization observations of the whole sky with the Planck satellite have revealed a regular morphology for magnetic field lines on large scales in interstellar clouds; the orientation of the field tends to be parallel to low-density structures and perpendicular to high-density filaments [11]. This suggests that the magnetic field plays a crucial role in the growth of ISM structure leading to star formation.
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