Taurus B213: Experts Found Diverse Magnetic Fields in Solar-Type Star-Forming Cores

Magnetic fields can be found practically everywhere in the universe and are crucial to all medium interstellar dynamics. Although other concerns remain unanswered. These include how solar-type stars arise from magnetized molecular clouds, whether the role of magnetic fields changes as molecular cloud sizes and densities change, and what causes can modify the morphology of magnetic fields in low-mass dense cores. These questions have been partially answered by a new study. The magnetic field morphologies in solar-type star-forming cores in the Taurus B213 area are shown.

(Photo: Pixabay)
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How Star-Forming Cores Are Created

The University of Oregon said stars develop within molecular clouds, which are high concentrations of interstellar gas and dust. These areas are severely cold (temperature about 10 to 20K, just above absolute zero). Gases become molecular at these temperatures, meaning atoms bind together. The most frequent compounds in interstellar gas clouds are CO and H2. The extreme cold also causes the gas to cluster together at extremely high densities. Stars arise when the density reaches a particular level.

Dark nebulae are dense regions that are opaque to visible light due to their density. We must explore them using infrared and radio telescopes because they do not glow by optical light.

When the denser sections of the cloud core collapse under their own weight/gravity, star formation occurs. In the form of gas and dust, these cores typically have masses of roughly 104 solar masses. Because the cores are denser than the outer cloud, they are the first to collapse. As the cores collapse, they shatter into clumps ranging in size from 0.1 parsecs to 10 to 50 solar masses. The protostars are formed from these aggregates, and the entire process takes around 10 million years.

How Scientists Obtained The Data From Taurus B213

The James Clerk Maxwell Telescope (JCMT) provided high-resolution and sensitive 850-micron dust emission polarization data for the investigation. The researchers used JCMT's SCUBA-2 camera and the POL-2 polarimeter to obtain high-resolution and sensitive data.

Taurus is a 450-light-year-distance star-forming zone. The Taurus Molecular Cloud's B211/B213 filament illustrates how material along filaments is not static.

"Even in the presence of substantial magnetic flux, local physical conditions can significantly affect magnetic field morphology and their role in star formation," Prof. Li Di said in a AZO Quantum report.

This is precisely the opposite of what one would expect based on the hypothesis that magnetic fields control star formation. Suppose a large-scale magnetic field dominates during cloud formation, core-collapse, and star formation, the magnetic field's mean position angle should be comparable across spatial scales.

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Gas Flow Affects Magnetic Field Arrangement

According to further examination of the gas velocity gradient, the kinematics of gas accretion flows onto the parental filament could have affected the magnetic field arrangement.

"Our current observations represent one of the deepest sub-millimeter polarimetry images ever taken using a single dish telescope toward a Galactic region," Prof. Qiu Keeping of Nanjing University, co-PI of the BISTRO project and a co-author of the study, said in a Eurekalert report.

In a statement released by the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Professor Li Di also suggested that more comprehensive analysis, in combination with Planck data and stellar polarimetry, may reveal more insights into the evolution of magnetic fields in this distinct low-mass star-forming region.

Experts uploaded their study titled "The JCMT BISTRO Survey: Revealing the Diverse Magnetic Field Morphologies in Taurus Dense Cores with Sensitive Submillimeter Polarimetry" in The Astrophysical Journal Letters on May 10.