Multiwavelength stellar polarimetry of the filamentary cloud IC5146. I. Dust properties
Files
Accepted manuscript
Date
2017-11-10
Authors
Wang, Jia-Wei
Lai, Shih-Ping
Eswaraiah, Chakali
Clemens, Dan P.
Chen, Wen-Ping
Pandey, Anil K.
Version
OA Version
Citation
Jia-Wei Wang, Shih-Ping Lai, Chakali Eswaraiah, Dan P Clemens, Wen-Ping Chen, Anil K Pandey. 2017. "Multiwavelength Stellar Polarimetry of the Filamentary Cloud IC5146. I. Dust Properties." ASTROPHYSICAL JOURNAL, Volume 849, Issue 2:157 (18pp).
Abstract
We present optical and near-infrared stellar polarization observations toward the dark filamentary clouds associated with IC5146. The data allow us to investigate the dust properties (this paper) and the magnetic field structure (Paper II). A total of 2022 background stars were detected in the Rc, i¢, H, and/or K bands to AV 25 mag. The ratio of the
polarization percentage at different wavelengths provides an estimate of lmax, the wavelength of the peak polarization,
which is an indicator of the small-size cutoff of the grain size distribution. The grain size distribution seems to
significantly change at AV ~ 3 mag, where both the average and dispersion of P P R H c decrease. In addition, we found lmax ~ 0.6 0.9 – μm for AV > 2.5 mag, which is larger than the ∼0.55 μm in the general interstellar medium (ISM),
suggesting that grain growth has already started in low-AV regions. Our data also reveal that polarization efficiency
(PE º P A l V ) decreases with AV as a power law in the Rc, i¢, and K bands with indices of −0.71 ± 0.10,
−1.23 ± 0.10, and −0.53 ± 0.09. However, H-band data show a power index change; the PE varies with AV steeply
(index of −0.95 ± 0.30) when AV < 2.88 0.67 mag, but softly (index of −0.25 ± 0.06) for greater AV values. The
soft decay of PE in high-AV regions is consistent with the radiative alignment torque model, suggesting that our data
trace the magnetic field to AV ~ 20 mag. Furthermore, the breakpoint found in the H band is similar to that for AV,
where we found the P P R H c dispersion significantly decreased. Therefore, the flat PE–AV in high-AV regions implies that the power-index changes result from additional grain growth.