Oral Presentation

Estimating Magnetic Field Strength Distributions in OMC-1 and Mon R2 Using an Enhanced DCF Method

Author(s): Jongsoo Kim (Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute)

Presenter: Jongsoo Kim (Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute)

This study presents an enhanced application of the Davis–Chandrasekhar–Fermi (DCF) method to determine the distribution of magnetic field strengths within molecular clouds. Historically, the DCF method has provided an average magnetic field strength across vast sections of a molecular cloud. This was mainly due to the low sensitivity of past polarization observations, which yielded limited measurements across different molecular clouds. Our new approach refines the DCF method, facilitating its use in various subregions of molecular clouds, provided there are adequate polarization measurements for each subsection. We applied this method to JCMT polarization observations in the OMC-1 and Mon R2 regions, producing detailed distributions of magnetic field strengths for both areas. Furthermore, we generated maps showcasing the mass-to-flux ratio in terms of a critical value and the Alfvén Mach number. This advanced method is readily adaptable to the latest millimeter and submillimeter polarization observations from telescopes such as the Balloon-borne Large-Aperture Submillimeter Telescope for polarization (BLAST-pol), HAWC+ on SOFIA, and the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA).