A Survey of Magnetic Field Strengths in the Envelopes of Molecular Clouds via the 18 cm OH Zeeman Effect

We present the results of an extensive Arecibo observational survey of magnetic field strengths in the inter-core regions of molecular clouds to determine their role in the evolution and collapse of molecular clouds as a whole. Sensitive 18 cm OH Zeeman observations of absorption lines from Galactic...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Astrophysical journal 2019-10, Vol.884 (1), p.49
Main Authors: Thompson, K. L., Troland, T. H., Heiles, C.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Astrophysics
Clouds
Field strength
Interstellar magnetic fields
Magnetic fields
Molecular clouds
Molecular gases
Polls & surveys
Star formation
Zeeman effect
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Summary:We present the results of an extensive Arecibo observational survey of magnetic field strengths in the inter-core regions of molecular clouds to determine their role in the evolution and collapse of molecular clouds as a whole. Sensitive 18 cm OH Zeeman observations of absorption lines from Galactic molecular gas in the direction of extragalactic continuum sources yielded 38 independent measurements of magnetic field strengths. Zeeman detections were achieved at the 3 level toward nine clouds, while the others revealed sensitive upper limits to the magnetic field strength. Our results suggest that total field strengths in the inter-core regions of giant molecular clouds (GMCs) are about 15 G.
ISSN:0004-637X
1538-4357
DOI:10.3847/1538-4357/ab364e