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| EPoS Contribution |
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The Magnetic Field Strength in Molecular Clouds
Paolo Padoan ICREA / ICC - University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain | |
| The magnetic field is believed to be important in the turbulent fragmentation process leading to the formation of collapsing protostellar cores. However, to fully understand its role in the dynamics of molecular clouds and in star formation in general, we need to estimate its strength averaged over large scales. The most direct way to measure the magnetic field strength in molecular clouds is through OH Zeeman measurements, but these measurements are hard to obtain and only few of them have yielded clear detections. Their interpretation requires the development of synthetic Zeeman measurements based on analytical or numerical models. I will present the latest results of the comparison of simulated OH Zeeman measurements with the observations. Our synthetic Zeeman measurements are based on radiative transfer calculations through snapshots of some of the largest simulations of supersonic MHD turbulence to date. The mean magnetic field strength in these simulations is varied to study its effect on the Zeeman measurements in the attempt to constrain its value in star-forming clouds. | |
| Collaborators: M. Juvela and T. Lunttila, Helsinki University Observatory, Finland A. Nordlund, Niels Bohr Institute, Copenhagen, Denmark |
Key publication
Suggested Session: Magnetic Fields, Molecular Clouds, Turbulence |