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Order, Chaos and the Space Between the Stars Alyssa A. Goodman Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics WIYN Image: T.A. Rector (NOAO/AURA/NSF) and Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA/NASA)
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Truth Truth in (my) Science How does the gas between the stars arrange and re-arrange itself in the process of forming new stars? Truth in Religion What does it mean to lead a “good” life?
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History + Principles — Dogma = Truth
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Dogma The word dogma (Gr. dogma from dokein) signifies, in the writings of the ancient classical authors, sometimes, an opinion or that which seems true to a person; sometimes, the philosophical doctrines or tenets, and especially the distinctive philosophical doctrines, of a particular school of philosophers (cf. Cic. Ac., ii, 9), and sometimes, a public decree or ordinance, as dogma poieisthai.
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History + Principles — Dogma Truth -0.8 -0.6 -0.4 -0.2 0.0 120100806040200
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History + Principles — Dogma Truth …as applied to the formation of new stars, & the observation of magnetic fields in star-forming regions Tonight
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Order
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WIYN Image: T.A. Rector, B. Wolpa and G. Jacoby (NOAO/AURA/NSF) and Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA/NASA) Chaos
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Molecular or Dark Clouds "Cores" and Outflows “Order” Jets and Disks Extrasolar System 1 pc
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Magnetic Dogma, c. 1985 : Order
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Outflows Magnetohydrodynamic Waves Thermal Motions MHD Turbulence Inward Motions SNe/GRB H II Regions Chaos B
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The Truth: Order in a Sea of Chaos "Rolling Waves" by KanO Tsunenobu © The Idemitsu Museum of Arts.
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The “Truth” about Interstellar Magnetic Fields History Cosmic rays, synchrotron emission, polarization, Zeeman effect Principles Maxwell’s Equations + Fluid Equations = “magnetohydrodynamics” [MHD], Gravity Dogma Flux-freezing, Aligned Grains, The Angular Momentum Problem, Outflow Confinement, and other Words of the Wise Truth A difficult-to-measure and “messy” field whose role varies depending upon conditions. “Ongoing cosmic creativity.” (G. Kaufman)
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Pre-1980 History of B in the Galaxy 1949 discovery of polarization of background starlight (Hall, Hiltner) 1950 observational/theoretical understanding of cosmic ray confinement & strength of magnetic field in the Milky Way (Chandrasekhar, Fermi, Kiepenheuer, Spitzer) 1950+ optical & radio recognition of “synchrotron” emission 1950 interpretation of polarization as due to magnetically- aligned dust in space (Davis & Greenstein) 1968 Zeeman effect (direct measure of field strength) detected for the 1st time--strength as “predicted” (Verschuur) 1970’s large-scale mapping of “background starlight” polarization
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Pre-1980 History Relevant Tonight 1949 discovery of polarization of background starlight (Hall, Hiltner) 1968 Zeeman effect (direct measure of field strength) detected for the 1st time--strength as “predicted” (Verschuur) 1970’s large-scale mapping of “background starlight” polarization
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Principles: Gravity & Electromagnetism 1873 Maxwell publishes his unifying theory of electrodynamics, which is expressed in just four equations 1943 Alfvén publishes “On the Existence of Electromagnetic-Hydrodynamic Waves” 1687 Newton publishes the Principia, setting out his theory of gravity
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Principles: Fluids 1851 Stokes publishes “Navier-Stokes equations describing a “laminar” flow 1975 advent of “numerical simulations” of turbulent flow (Woodward publishes first hydrodynamic simulation of a molecular cloud (using bomb codes)) 1990’s 1st “magnetic” simulations carried out Woodward 1976
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Outflows Magnetohydrodynamic Waves Thermal Motions MHD Turbulence Inward Motions SNe/GRB H II Regions What is the true role/shape of the magnetic field here?
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One more bit of History (which later, unfortunately, became Dogma) AG’s Ph.D. thesis (1989) work showed… –Historical B-field measurements were, in Principle, consistent with a picture where B is strong enough to matter in cloud dynamics –New B-field measurement (just one!) confirmed this hypothesis “Dogmatic” view of “energetically significant” magnetic fields
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Outflows Magnetohydrodynamic Waves Thermal Motions MHD Turbulence Inward Motions SNe/GRB H II Regions What is the true role/shape of the magnetic field here?
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The History of a Star/Disk/Outflow System figure based on Kaifu et al. 1984
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Mapping Magnetic Fields: “Background Starlight Polarimetry”
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Rorschach Test
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Dogma, c. 1985
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Principle or Dogma? Dark CloudAmbient ISM Cloud Envelope 1 A =5>1051mag Cloud Envelope Background Star Observer Dark Cloud is a Local Denisty Maximum along l.o.s. --so the polarization observed gives B- field THERE "Dark Cloud" Density Distance along Line of Sight
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Recall the Dogma Uchida & Shibata 1985
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Does this violate Dogma, Steve? figure based on Kaifu et al. 1984
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Dark Cloud Complexes: 1-10 pc scales
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B216-217
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Cold Dark Clouds: Looking Inside(?) Goodman et al. 1992
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What if… Not all Grains are Created Equal? Less Dust, Much Polarization Much Dust, no Polarization Less Dust, Much Polarization Goodman et al. 1995
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Dark CloudAmbient ISM Cloud Envelope 1 A = V 5>1051mag Changes in the Efficiency of Polarization Along a Line of Sight Density Distance Along Line-of-Sight Polarization Efficiency Polarization Efficiency Drops w/in "Dark Cloud" is a Local Density Maximum Along l.o.s. Cloud Envelope Background Star Observer "Dark Cloud"
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Result: “Pioneering a Dead End” A V [magnitudes] Polariztion [%] ? Polarization May Show NO Increase with Extinction! "Dark Cloud" Affects the Extinction, but NOT the Polarization
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Polarization [%] Cold Dark Clouds: (Not) Looking Inside 3 2 1 0 1086420 Extinction [mag] B216-217 (Goodman et al. 1992) L1755 (Goodman et al. 1995) Galaxy (Jones, Klebe & Dickey 1992) Fit to these dark clouds More Stuff Amount of Polarization
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New History: Background Starlight Polarimetry cannot probe B-field “inside” Dark Clouds Not Sensitive to B-Field Here What does that mean?
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Dark Cloud Complexes: 1-10 pc scales
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“Go no further than A V ~1.3 mag.” 3.0 2.5 2.0 1.5 1.0 0.5 0.0 P R [%] 43210 43210 A V [mag] Background to Cold Dark Cloud Arce et al. 1998 Background to General ISM
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A Better Path to Truth? Look at the Grains’ Own Emission
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©National Geographic The “Canonical” Example: Orion
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Clinging to Dogma? Schleuning et al. 1998 HST/NICMOS
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What is the field doing? Figure from: Kannappan & Goodman 1998
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What is the field doing? Figure from: Kannappan & Goodman 1998 HII Region
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Does Any Polarimetry tell “The Truth”? Does polarization map give true field structure? Polarization drops as density increases (similar to background starlight story) Plots and data from Henning, Wolf, Launhart & Waters 2001
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Simulated Truth 3D MHD simulation of Gammie, Stone & Ostriker Field lines “look” straight-ish, even though B is significant.
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Simulated Truth Padoan, Goodman, Draine, Juvela,Nordlund, Rögnvaldsson 2001 3-D simulation super-sonic super-Alfvénic self-gravitating Model A: Uniform grain- alignment efficiency
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Simulated Truth Padoan, Goodman, Draine, Juvela,Nordlund, Rögnvaldsson 2001 3-D simulation super-sonic super-Alfvénic self-gravitating Model B: Poor Alignment at A V ≥3 mag
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Dense Cores Padoan, Goodman, Draine, Juvela,Nordlund, Rögnvaldsson 2001
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Polarization vs. How Much Stuff Padoan, Goodman, Draine, Juvela,Nordlund, Rögnvaldsson 2001
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Observations + Theory — unfounded generalization = Truth History + Principles — Dogma = Truth
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Dynamic Creativity work in progress by Bate, Bonnell & Bromm
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