Magnetic Field Structure of Dense Cores Using Spectroscopic Methods

Authors

Sayantan Auddy, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
Philip C. Myers, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
Shantanu Basu, The University of Western OntarioFollow
Jorma Harju, Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics
Jaime E. Pineda, Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics
Rachel K. Friesen, National Radio Astronomy Observatory

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

1-1-2019

Journal

Astrophysical Journal

Volume

872

Issue

2

URL with Digital Object Identifier

10.3847/1538-4357/ab0086

Abstract

We develop a new "core field structure" (CFS) model to predict the magnetic field strength and magnetic field fluctuation profile of dense cores using gas kinematics. We use spatially resolved observations of the nonthermal velocity dispersion from the Green Bank Ammonia survey along with column density maps from SCUBA-2 to estimate the magnetic field strength across seven dense cores located in the L1688 region of Ophiuchus. The CFS model predicts the profile of the relative field fluctuation, which is related to the observable dispersion in the direction of the polarization vectors. Within the context of our model, we find that all of the cores have a transcritical mass-to-flux ratio.