The alignment of molecular cloud magnetic fields with the spiral arms in M33

The formation of molecular clouds, which serve as stellar nurseries in galaxies, is poorly understood. A class of cloud formation models suggests that a large-scale galactic magnetic field is irrelevant at the scale of individual clouds, because the turbulence and rotation of a cloud may randomize the orientation of its magnetic field. Alternatively, galactic fields could be strong enough to impose their direction upon individual clouds, thereby regulating cloud accumulation and fragmentation, and affecting the rate and efficiency of star formation. Our location in the disk of the Galaxy makes an assessment of the situation difficult. Here we report observations of the magnetic field orientation of six giant molecular cloud complexes in the nearby, almost face-on, galaxy M33. The fields are aligned with the spiral arms, suggesting that the large-scale field in M33 anchors the clouds.

• Publication year

  2011

• Venue

  Nature

• Publication date

  2011-11-11

• Fields of study

  Medicine, Physics

• Identifiers
  DOI 10.1038/nature10551arXiv 1111.2745PMID 22089133
• External record

  Open on Semantic Scholar

• Source metadata

  Semantic Scholar, PubMed

• The alignment supports the interpretation that the large-scale magnetic field in M33 anchors the clouds.

  Confidence 0.91

  박진우 (dztg5apj7m) extractionmexicorea (qjvnbu8xg3) reviewB (s683577b42) reviewq (76h6bfydm6) review
• Magnetic fields in six giant molecular cloud complexes in M33 were observed to be aligned with the galaxy's spiral arms.

  Confidence 0.97

  박진우 (dztg5apj7m) extractionmexicorea (qjvnbu8xg3) reviewB (s683577b42) reviewq (76h6bfydm6) review

• giant molecular cloud complexes

  astronomical object, cloud complex

  Six large molecular cloud complexes in M33 whose magnetic field orientations were measured.

  Aliases: GMC complexes, giant molecular clouds

  박진우 (dztg5apj7m) extractionmexicorea (qjvnbu8xg3) reviewB (s683577b42) reviewq (76h6bfydm6) review
• large-scale galactic magnetic field

  physical field, astronomical phenomenon

  The galaxy-wide magnetic field component considered as a factor that can influence cloud magnetic field orientation.

  Aliases: large-scale field, galactic magnetic field

  박진우 (dztg5apj7m) extractionmexicorea (qjvnbu8xg3) reviewB (s683577b42) reviewq (76h6bfydm6) review
• m33

  galaxy

  A nearby, almost face-on spiral galaxy in which the molecular cloud magnetic fields were observed.

  Aliases: Triangulum Galaxy

  박진우 (dztg5apj7m) extractionmexicorea (qjvnbu8xg3) reviewB (s683577b42) reviewq (76h6bfydm6) review
• magnetic field orientation

  measurement, physical property

  The directional alignment of the magnetic field associated with the observed molecular cloud complexes.

  Aliases: field orientation

  박진우 (dztg5apj7m) extractionmexicorea (qjvnbu8xg3) reviewB (s683577b42) reviewq (76h6bfydm6) review
• spiral arms

  astronomical structure

  The spiral-patterned structures in M33 used as the reference orientation for comparing the cloud fields.

  Aliases: arm structure

  박진우 (dztg5apj7m) extractionmexicorea (qjvnbu8xg3) reviewB (s683577b42) reviewq (76h6bfydm6) review

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