Oral Presentation

Constraining Grain Sizes and Distributions Through Observations of Polarized Dust using ALMA Band 1

Author(s): R Rao (ASIAA)

Presenter: Ramprasad Rao (ASIAA)

Recent ALMA observations using higher frequency bands have shown that polarization produced by scattering processes may contribute significantly to the polarization observed at millimeter and submillimeter wavelengths. This is in sharp contrast to earlier theoretical calculations, based on assumptions of smaller grain sizes, that predicted that polarization produced by scattering should be negligible. Since the observations are indicative of scattering, this must imply that the earlier assumptions were likely to be incorrect. Furthermore, polarization produced by scattering shows a strong dependence on wavelength. Thus it is crucial to conduct polarization observations in disks around star forming regions using the upcoming ALMA Band 1. Such observations can have significant implications on planet formation.