Magnetic field geometry of the large globule CB 34

Abstract

We report the results of optical polarimetric observations of a Bok globule CB34 to study magnetic field structure on large scales (105–106AU), which is combined with archival sub-mm observations to characterize the magnetic field structure of CB34 on small scales (104–105AU). The optical polarization measurements indicate that the magnetic field in the globule is constrained to a maximum radius of 105AU around the core, out to densities not smaller than 10 4cm − 3. Our study is mainly concentrated on two submillimeter cores C1 and C2 of CB34. The direction of magnetic field of core C2 is found to be nearly perpendicular to the CO outflow direction of the globule. The magnetic field of core C1 is almost aligned with the minor axis of the core which is typical for magnetically dominated star formation models. The mean value of offset between the minor axis of core C2 and the outflow direction is found to be 14 ∘ which suggests that the direct ion of the outflow is almost aligned with the minor axis of core C2. The magnetic field strength in the plane-of-sky for cores C1 and C2 is estimated to be ≈34μG and ≈70μG.