When Magnetic Fields Sculpt the Sky: The Riegel-Crutcher cloud in optical polarization

TL;DR

This study uses extensive optical polarization data to demonstrate that magnetic fields significantly influence the structure of the Riegel-Crutcher cloud, a nearby cold atomic gas filamentary region.

Contribution

It provides the first large-scale optical polarization survey of the Riegel-Crutcher cloud, revealing a coherent magnetic field aligned with H I filaments and supporting magnetic influence on cloud morphology.

Findings

Magnetic field orientation matches dust polarization from Planck data.

H I filaments are aligned with the magnetic field.

The cloud is located at approximately 150 parsecs.

Abstract

Filamentary structures are ubiquitous in the interstellar medium, yet the extent to which magnetic fields influence the morphology of cold atomic gas remains an open question. The nearby Riegel-Crutcher cloud, composed of long and narrow H I filaments observed in self-absorption, provides a critical test case. We present the most extensive optical polarimetric survey of this region to date, comprising more than 90,000 high signal-to-noise stellar polarization measurements combined with Gaia DR3 data. Using stellar polarization, extinction estimates, and archival Na I absorption data, we locate the cloud at a distance of $150 \pm 15$ pc, consistent with that of the Pipe Nebula. The plane-of-sky magnetic field traced by optical starlight polarization closely matches that inferred independently from Planck 353 GHz dust-emission polarization, revealing a coherent large-scale magnetic field across the region. A Rolling Hough Transform analysis shows that the H I filaments are tightly aligned with this field orientation. Together, these results provide strong observational evidence that the structure of the cold neutral medium in the Riegel-Crutcher cloud is closely linked to a highly ordered magnetic field. This level of coherence supports a scenario in which magnetic fields play a dynamically important role in shaping the cloud structure, and suggests that the Riegel-Crutcher cloud is part of a larger magnetized complex influencing gas flows in the solar neighborhood.