Mairi Nonhebel   (UK)

 manonhebel @ mpia.de

Magnetic fields in star formation

The importance of magnetic fields in the formation of stars has long been debated. The magnetic field on large scales has been studied with Planck, which revealed a coherent magnetic field that plays a key role in controlling gas dynamics, and thus the formation of structure, on scales > 10 pc. On small scales (< 0.1pc), the magnetic field has been studied with ALMA and the SMA, where observations have instead shown complex field morphologies influenced by turbulence and gravity. The missing link in our understanding of magnetic fields in star formation is the ~ 1pc scale, where we expect a transition from the magnetically-dominated to the gravitationally-dominated regime.
To this end, my PhD focuses on the interplay between magnetic fields and gas dynamics on the molecular cloud scale, using observations from the ongoing DYNAMAG large programme with the IRAM 30m. Dust polarimetry observations are performed with the NIKA2pol instrument, allowing us to characterise the magnetic field morphology and strength, while spectral line observations with the EMIR receiver are used to probe gas motions arising due to turbulence and gravitational collapse. Together with ancillary data, DYNAMAG will allow us to characterise quantitatively the interaction between magnetic fields and gas flows across scales.

Supervisor:    Henrik Beuther   (MPIA)