Near-infrared Polarimetry toward the Galactic Center - Magnetic Field Configuration in the Central One Degree Region -

TL;DR

This study uses near-infrared polarimetry to map the magnetic field structure in the Galactic center, revealing a predominantly toroidal field with possible transition to poloidal at higher latitudes.

Contribution

It provides the first detailed NIR polarimetric map of the central Galactic region, highlighting magnetic field configurations through polarization analysis.

Findings

Magnetic field is mainly toroidal along the Galactic plane.

At high latitudes, magnetic field orientation shifts from toroidal to poloidal.

Polarization data indicates magnetically aligned dust grains in the region.

Abstract

We present a NIR polarimetric map of the 1deg by 1deg region toward the Galactic center. Comparing Stokes parameters between highly reddened stars and less reddened ones, we have obtained a polarization originating from magnetically aligned dust grains at the central region of our Galaxy. The distribution of position angles shows a peak at the parallel direction to the Galactic plane, suggesting a toroidal magnetic field configuration. However, at high Galactic latitudes, the peak of the position angles departs from the direction of the Galactic plane. This may be a transition of a large-scale magnetic field configuration from toroidal to poloidal.