Title: New observations of interstellar magnetic fields
Speaker: Professor Giles Novak
Speaker Info: Northwestern U.
Brief Description:
Special Note:
Abstract:
Date: Friday, May 29, 1998The magnetic fields that permeate interstellar regions of the Milky Way galaxy are both dynamically important and difficult to observe. They may play crucial roles in the formation of stars, as well as in the accretion processes occuring at the Galactic nucleus, where a black hole with a mass of 2-3 million solar masses is believed to have formed. Using a recently developed technique for observing these fields, submillimeter/far-infrared polarimetry, my collaborators and I have been able to obtain new maps of magnetic field configurations in star forming regions and in Galactic Center clouds. I will present these maps and discuss their implications.