Alignment Between Flattened Protostellar Infall Envelopes and Ambient Magnetic Fields

TL;DR

This study uses 350 micron polarization observations of seven low-mass protostellar cores to test magnetically regulated collapse models, finding evidence that magnetic fields align with core structures and influence gas infall and outflows.

Contribution

It provides observational evidence supporting magnetically regulated core-collapse models by analyzing magnetic field orientations in relation to protostellar structures.

Findings

Magnetic fields tend to align with pseudodisk axes.

Evidence of hour-glass magnetic field morphology.

Magnetic fields likely influence gas infall and outflow directions.

Abstract

We present 350 micron polarization observations of four low-mass cores containing Class 0 protostars: L483, L1157, L1448-IRS2, and Serp-FIR1. This is the second paper in a larger survey aimed at testing magnetically regulated models for core-collapse. One key prediction of these models is that the mean magnetic field in a core should be aligned with the symmetry axis (minor axis) of the flattened YSO inner envelope (aka pseudodisk). Furthermore, the field should exhibit a pinched or hour-glass shaped morphology as gravity drags the field inward towards the central protostar. We combine our results for the four cores with results for three similar cores that were published in the first paper from our survey. An analysis of the 350 micron polarization data for the seven cores yields evidence of a positive correlation between mean field direction and pseudodisk symmetry axis. Our rough estimate for the probability of obtaining by pure chance a correlation as strong as the one we found is about 5%. In addition, we combine together data for multiple cores to create a source-averaged magnetic field map having improved signal-to-noise ratio, and this map shows good agreement between mean field direction and pseudodisk axis (they are within 15 degrees). We also see hints of a magnetic pinch in the source-averaged map. We conclude that core-scale magnetic fields appear to be strong enough to guide gas infall, as predicted by the magnetically regulated models. Finally, we find evidence of a positive correlation between core magnetic field direction and bipolar outflow axis.