Observations of Polarized Dust Emission at Far-infrared through Millimeter Wavelengths

TL;DR

This paper reviews recent observational studies of polarized dust emission across a range of celestial sources and scales, highlighting advances in understanding magnetic fields and dust grain properties in the interstellar medium.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive overview of recent multi-wavelength and multi-scale observations of polarized dust emission, emphasizing their role in testing models of grain alignment and cloud structure.

Findings

Polarized dust emission traces magnetic fields in diverse celestial sources.

Multi-wavelength observations enable empirical testing of grain alignment models.

High-resolution maps reveal detailed magnetic field structures.

Abstract

Interstellar polarization at far-infrared through millimeter wavelengths (0.1 - 1 mm) is primarily due to thermal emission from dust grains aligned with magnetic fields. This mechanism has led to studies of magnetic fields in a variety of celestial sources, as well as the physical characteristics of the dust grains and their interaction with the field. Observations have covered a diverse array of sources, from entire galaxies to molecular clouds and proto-stellar disks. Maps have been generated on a wide range of angular scales, from surveys covering large fractions of the sky, down to those with arcsecond spatial resolution. Additionally, the increasing availability of observations at multiple wavelengths in this band allows empirical tests of models of grain alignment and cloud structure. I review some of the recent work in this field, emphasizing comparisons of observations on multiple spatial scales and at multiple wavelengths.