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The magnetic field structure of a star-forming Bok globule BHR 71 was determined based on near-infrared polarimetric observations of background stars. The magnetic field in BHR 71 was mapped from 25 stars. By using a simple 2D parabolic function, the plane-of-sky magnetic axis of the core was found to be θmag = 125° ± 11°. The plane-of-sky mean magnetic field strength of BHR 71 was found to be Bpos = 8.8–15.0 μG, indicating that the BHR 71 core is magnetically supercritical with λ = 1.44–2.43. Taking into account the effect of thermal/turbulent pressure and the plane-of-sky magnetic field component, the critical mass of BHR 71 was Mcr = 14.5–18.7 M⊙, which is consistent with the observed core mass of Mcore ≈ 14.7 M⊙. We conclude that BHR 71 is in a condition close to a kinematically critical state, and the magnetic field direction lies close to the plane of sky. Since BHR 71 is a star-forming core, a significantly subcritical condition (i.e., the magnetic field direction deviating from the plane of sky) is unlikely, and collapsed from a condition close to a kinematically critical state. There are two possible scenarios to explain the curved magnetic fields of BHR 71, one is an hourglass-like field structure due to mass accumulation and the other is the Inoue & Fukui mechanism, which proposes the interaction of the core with a shock wave to create curved magnetic fields wrapping around the core. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, the detailed magnetic field structure of the dense protostellar core Barnard 335 (B335) was revealed, based on near-infrared polarimetric observations of background stars to measure dichroically polarized light produced by magnetically aligned dust grains in the core. Magnetic fields pervading B335 were mapped using 24 stars after subtracting unrelated ambient polarization components, revealing that they have an axisymmetrically distorted hourglass-shaped structure toward the protostellar core. On the basis of simple two- and three-dimensional magnetic field modeling, magnetic inclination angles in the plane-of-sky and line-of-sight directions were determined to be 90° ± 7° and 50° ± 10°, respectively. The total magnetic field strength of B335 was determined to be 30.2 ± 17.7 μG. The critical mass of B335, evaluated using both magnetic and thermal/turbulent support against collapse, was determined to be Mcr = 3.37 ± 0.94 M⊙, which is identical to the observed core mass of Mcore = 3.67 M⊙. We thus concluded that B335 started its contraction from a condition near equilibrium. We found a linear relationship in the polarization versus extinction diagram, up to AV ∼ 15 mag toward the stars with the greatest obscuration, which verified that our observations and analysis provide an accurate depiction of the core. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The detailed magnetic field structure of the starless dense core CB81 (L1774, Pipe 42) in the Pipe Nebula was determined based on near-infrared polarimetric observations of background stars to measure dichroically polarized light produced by magnetically aligned dust grains in the core. The magnetic fields pervading CB81 were mapped using 147 stars and axisymmetrically distorted hourglass-like fields were identified. On the basis of simple 2D and 3D magnetic field modeling, the magnetic inclination angles in the plane-of-sky and line-of-sight directions were determined to be 4° ± 8° and 20° ± 20°, respectively. The total magnetic field strength of CB81 was found to be 7.2 ± 2.3 μG. Taking into account the effects of thermal/turbulent pressure and magnetic fields, the critical mass of CB81 was calculated to be Mcr = 4.03 ± 0.40 M⊙, which is close to the observed core mass of Mcore = 3.37 ± 0.51 M⊙. We thus conclude that CB81 is in a condition close to the critical state. In addition, a spatial offset of 92″ was found between the center of the magnetic field geometry and the dust extinction distribution; this offset structure could not have been produced by self-gravity. The data also indicate a linear relationship between polarization and extinction up to AV ∼ 30 mag going toward the core center. This result confirms that near-infrared polarization can accurately trace the overall magnetic field structure of the core. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Observational data for the hourglass-like magnetic field toward the starless dense core FeSt 1–457 were compared with a flux freezing magnetic field model. Fitting of the observed plane-of-sky magnetic field using the flux freezing model gave a residual angle dispersion comparable to the results based on a simple 3D parabolic model. The best-fit parameters for the flux freezing model were a line-of-sight magnetic inclination angle of γmag = 35° ± 15° and a core center to ambient (background) density contrast of ρc/ρbkg = 75. The initial density for core formation (ρ0) was estimated to be ρc/75 = 4670 cm−3, which is about one order of magnitude higher than the expected density (∼300 cm−3) for the interclump medium of the Pipe Nebula. FeSt 1–457 is likely to have been formed from the accumulation of relatively dense gas, and the relatively dense background column density of AV ≃ 5 mag supports this scenario. The initial radius (core formation radius) R0 and the initial magnetic field strength B0 were obtained to be 0.15 pc (1.64R) and 10.8–14.6 μG, respectively. We found that the initial density ρ0 is consistent with the mean density of the nearly critical magnetized filament with magnetic field strength B0 and radius R0. The relatively dense initial condition for core formation can be naturally understood if the origin of the core is the fragmentation of magnetized filaments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The relationship between submillimeter dust emission polarization and near-infrared (NIR) H-band polarization produced by dust dichroic extinction was studied for the cold starless dense core FeSt 1–457. The distributions of polarization angles (90°-rotated for the submillimeter) and degrees were found to be very different between submillimeter and NIR wavelengths. The mean polarization angles for FeSt 1-457 at submillimeter and NIR wavelengths are 132.°1 ± 22.°0 and 2.°7 ± 16.°2, respectively. The correlation between PH and AV was found to be linear from the outermost regions to the relatively dense lines of sight of AV ≈ 25 mag, indicating that NIR polarization reflects the overall polarization (magnetic field) structure of the core, at least in this density range. The flat PH/AV versus AV correlations were confirmed, and the polarization efficiency was found to be comparable to the observational upper limit. On the other hand, as reported by Alves et al. submillimeter polarization degrees show a clear linearly decreasing trend against AV from AV ≈ 20 mag to the densest center (AV ≈ 41 mag), appearing as a “polarization hole” structure. The power-law index for the Psubmm versus AV relationship was obtained to be ≈−1, indicating that the alignment for the submillimeter-sensitive dust is lost. These very different polarization distributions at submillimeter and NIR wavelengths suggest either that (1) there are different radiation environments at these wavelengths or (2) submillimeter-sensitive dust is localized or (3) a combination of both. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the present study, the magnetic field scaling on density, , was revealed in a single starless core for the first time. The κ index of 0.78 ± 0.10 was obtained toward the starless dense core FeSt 1-457 based on the analysis of the radial distribution of the polarization angle dispersion of background stars measured at the near-infrared wavelengths. The result prefers κ = 2/3 for the case of isotropic contraction, and the difference of the observed value from κ = 1/2 is 2.8 sigma. The distribution of the ratio of mass-to-magnetic flux was evaluated. FeSt 1-457 was found to be magnetically supercritical near the center (λ ≈ 2), whereas nearly critical or slightly subcritical at the core boundary (λ ≈ 0.98). Ambipolar diffusion-regulated star formation models for the case of moderate magnetic field strength may explain the physical status of FeSt 1-457. The mass-to-flux ratio distribution for typical dense cores (critical Bonnor–Ebert sphere with central λ = 2 and κ = 1/2–2/3) was calculated, and found to be magnetically critical/subcritical at the core edge, which indicates that typical dense cores are embedded in and evolve from magnetically critical/subcritical diffuse surrounding medium. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The relationship between dust polarization and extinction was determined for the cold dense starless molecular cloud core FeSt 1-457 based on the background star polarimetry of dichroic extinction at near-infrared wavelengths. Owing to the known (three-dimensional) magnetic field structure, the observed polarizations from the core were corrected by considering (a) the subtraction of the ambient polarization component, (b) the depolarization effect of inclined distorted magnetic fields, and (c) the magnetic inclination angle of the core. After these corrections, a linear relationship between polarization and extinction was obtained for the core in the range up to AV ≈ 20 mag. The initial polarization versus extinction diagram changed dramatically after the corrections of (a) to (c), with the correlation coefficient being refined from 0.71 to 0.79. These corrections should affect the theoretical interpretation of the observational data. The slope of the finally obtained polarization–extinction relationship is , which is close to the statistically estimated upper limit of the interstellar polarization efficiency. This consistency suggests that the upper limit of interstellar polarization efficiency might be determined by the observational viewing angle toward polarized astronomical objects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Three-dimensional (3D) magnetic field information on molecular clouds and cores is important for revealing their kinematical stability (magnetic support) against gravity, which is fundamental for studying the initial conditions of star formation. In the present study, the 3D magnetic field structure of the dense starless core FeSt 1-457 is determined based on the near-infrared polarimetric observations of the dichroic polarization of background stars and simple 3D modeling. With an obtained angle of line-of-sight magnetic inclination axis of and previously determined plane-of-sky magnetic field strength of 23.8 ± 12.1 , the total magnetic field strength for FeSt 1-457 is derived to be 33.7 ± 18.0 . The critical mass of FeSt 1-457, evaluated using both magnetic and thermal/turbulent support is , which is identical to the observed core mass, . We thus conclude that the stability of FeSt 1-457 is in a condition close to the critical state. Without infalling gas motion and no associated young stars, the core is regarded to be in the earliest stage of star formation, i.e., the stage just before the onset of dynamical collapse following the attainment of a supercritical condition. These properties could make FeSt 1-457 one of the best starless cores for future studies of the initial conditions of star formation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Magnetic fields are believed to play an important role in controlling the stability and contraction of the dense condensations of gas and dust that lead to the formation of stars and planetary systems. In the present study, the magnetic field of FeSt 1–457, a cold starless molecular cloud core, was mapped on the basis of the polarized near-infrared light from 185 background stars after being dichroically absorbed by dust aligned with the magnetic field in the core. A distinct “hourglass-shaped” magnetic field was identified in the region of the core, and was interpreted as the first evidence of a magnetic field structure distorted by mass condensation in a starless core. The steep curvature of the magnetic field lines obtained in the present study indicates that the distortion was mainly created during the formation phase of the dense core. The derived mass-to-magnetic flux ratio indicates that the core is in a magnetically supercritical state. However, the stability of the core can be considered to be in a nearly critical state if the additional contributions from the thermal and turbulent support are included. Further diffusion of the magnetic field and/or turbulent dissipation would cause the onset of the dynamical collapse of the core. The geometrical relationship between the direction of the magnetic field lines and the elongation of the core was found to be in good agreement with theoretical predictions for the formation of Sun-like stars under the influence of a magnetic field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We have investigated the TUKH122 prestellar core in the Orion A cloud using ALMA 3 mm dust continuum, N2H+ (J = 1−0), and CH3OH () molecular-line observations. Previous studies showed that TUKH122 is likely on the verge of star formation because the turbulence is almost dissipated and chemically evolved among other starless cores in the Orion A cloud. By combining ALMA 12 m and ACA data, we recover extended emission with a resolution of ∼5″ corresponding to 0.01 pc and identify six condensations with a mass range of 0.1–0.4 M⊙ and a radius of ≲0.01 pc. These condensations are gravitationally bound following a virial analysis and are embedded in the filament, including the elongated core with a mass of ∼29 M⊙ and a radial density profile of r−1.6 derived by Herschel. The separation of these condensations is ∼0.035 pc, consistent with the thermal Jeans length at a density of 4.4 × 105 cm−3. This density is similar to the central part of the core. We also find a tendency for the N2H+ molecule to deplete at the dust peak condensation. This condensation may be beginning to collapse because the line width becomes broader. Therefore, the fragmentation still occurs in the prestellar core by thermal Jeans instability, and multiple stars are formed within the TUKH122 prestellar core. The CH3OH emission shows a large shell-like distribution and surrounds these condensations, suggesting that the CH3OH molecule formed on dust grains is released into the gas phase by nonthermal desorption such as photoevaporation caused by cosmic-ray-induced UV radiation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]