PRIMAGAL: a PRIMAger Galactic Plane Far-IR polarization survey to quantify the magnetic fields' role in the formation and evolution of large star-forming filaments

TL;DR

PRIMAGAL is a proposed Far-IR polarization survey of the Galactic Plane aiming to statistically analyze magnetic fields' influence on filament formation and evolution in the interstellar medium.

Contribution

It introduces a large-scale, multi-band polarization survey with PRIMAger to study magnetic fields in Galactic filaments at unprecedented resolution and scope.

Findings

First statistically significant analysis of magnetic fields in filament formation.

Quantitative insights into magnetic field strength and orientation across diverse Galactic environments.

Enhanced understanding of magnetic influence on star formation processes.

Abstract

The PRIMAger instrument on board the proposed PRIMA satellite will offer the unprecedented capability to obtain hundreds of square-degree maps in polarised emission at sub-arcminute resolution in four Far-IR bands. This will open a unique window to study magnetic fields in our Galaxy. PRIMAGAL, a proposed survey of polarized dust emission in the Milky Way Galactic Plane will determine the strength and orientation of magnetic fields towards several thousands of filamentary clouds in a wide range of linear masses, column densities, evolution, star-formation rates and efficiencies, and Galactic environment. This survey will address for the first time in a statistically significant fashion the role that magnetic fields play in shaping the formation, evolution and fragmentation of dense ISM filaments down to a minimum scale of 0.4 pc up to 8 kpc distance from the Sun. A 4-band polarization survey of the Galactic Plane with |b|<1{\deg} (a total of 720 sq. deg.) can be executed by PRIMAger in about 1200 hours including all mapping and instrument overhead.