Observations of magnetic fields in H I and molecular clouds are essential for understanding their role in the formation and evolution of dense clouds and in the star formation process. In this talk I will first briefly describe the observational techniques available for such observations -- the Zeeman effect, mapping of polarized dust emission, and mapping of linearly polarized line emission. I will then describe and discuss some exemplar observational results, for H I clouds, for low-mass and for high-mass star formation regions. Finally, I will use the available observations of magnetic field strengths and morphologies to test predictions for molecular cloud formation and for the two extreme paradigms for what drives star formation -- magnetic and thermal support with ambipolar diffusion, and compressible turbulence with negligible magnetic fields.
Tuesday, February 15th
Seminar is to be held at 4:00 PM in the conference room
on the second floor of Dearborn Observatory
Refreshments will be served at 3:30
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