TY  - JOUR
A1  - Zhang, Heshou
A1  - Yan, Huirong
T1  - Polarization of submillimetre lines from interstellar medium
JF  - Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
N2  - Magnetic fields play important roles in many astrophysical processes. However, there is no universal diagnostic for the magnetic fields in the interstellar medium (ISM) and each magnetic tracer has its limitation. Any new detection method is thus valuable. Theoretical studies have shown that submillimetre fine-structure lines are polarized due to atomic alignment by ultraviolet photon-excitation, which opens up a new avenue to probe interstellar magnetic fields. We will, for the first time, perform synthetic observations on the simulated three-dimensional ISM to demonstrate the measurability of the polarization of submillimetre atomic lines. The maximum polarization for different absorption and emission lines expected from various sources, including star-forming regions are provided. Our results demonstrate that the polarization of submillimetre atomic lines is a powerful magnetic tracer and add great value to the observational studies of the submilimetre astronomy.
KW  - polarization
KW  - turbulence
KW  - H II regions
KW  - ISM: magnetic fields
KW  - photodissociation region (PDR)
KW  - submillimetre: ISM
Y1  - 2017
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stx3164
SN  - 0035-8711
SN  - 1365-2966
VL  - 475
IS  - 2
SP  - 2415
EP  - 2420
PB  - Oxford University Press
CY  - Oxford
ER  -