arXiv subjects

Haruka Fukihara

Publications and source records attributed to Haruka Fukihara.

3 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Probing the ion-neutral drift velocity towards the L1544 prestellar core: Detection of ambipolar diffusion using N$_2$D$^+$ and para-NH$_2$D

The dynamical role of the magnetic field in the star formation process is tightly linked to the coupling between matter and the field. This coupling is due to the interaction between ions and neutrals in the partially ionized interstellar medium. When the ionization degree drops in the dense environment of prestellar cores, the magnetic field and the matter may decouple, leading to differences in the infalling velocities of ions and neutrals known as ambipolar diffusion. The onset of gravitational collapse resulting from ion-neutral decoupling has never been observed. The aim of this work is to search for signatures of ambipolar diffusion within a prestellar core. We observed the deuterated N$_2$D$^+$ ion and the neutral para-NH$_2$D species towards the prototypical prestellar core L1544. These two species are ideal tracers of prestellar cores sampling the same high densities in the core interior. We compared the velocity centroid and linewidth maps of the ion-neutral pair. We find a mean ion-neutral velocity difference of $\sim$0.05 km/s towards the core. By comparing with predictions from self-consistent calculations of the ambipolar resistivity including dust grain growth, we interpret the observed ion-neutral velocity difference in L1544 as a signature of ambipolar diffusion. We do not detect a significant ion-neutral linewidth difference that may be attributed to the subsonic infall motions of the gas in L1544 and geometrical effects in the presence of inclination. These results emphasize the role of dust grain growth at the prestellar core stage in setting the ambipolar resistivity and regulating the dynamical evolution of dense cores towards their collapse into protostars. We propose that measurements of ion-neutral drift velocities provide new constraints on the total magnetic field strength and the dust size distribution within prestellar cores.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2026

Ion-Neutral Drift Velocity as a Diagnostic of Dust Growth and Magnetic Field in Star-Forming Environments

Recent observations have revealed that the ion-neutral drift velocity in star-forming molecular clouds and dense cores is on the order of 100 m s^-1. Theoretical studies have shown that, in ambipolar diffusion, the process responsible for the differential motion between ions and neutrals, the dust size distribution has a significant impact on the magnetic resistivities. In this study, we perform simulations to investigate how dust growth through accretion and coagulation affects the ion-neutral drift velocity in molecular clouds and cores. We find that, on core scales, both dust growth and a magnetic field strength of 200 microgauss are required to reproduce the observed drift velocity. We suggest that measurements of ion-neutral drift velocity, particularly on core scales, may serve as a new diagnostic to constrain the dust size distribution and magnetic field strength in such environments.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2024

A statistical approach for interpreting polarized dust emission of the filamentary molecular clouds toward the estimate of 3D magnetic field structure

In this study, we perform 3D magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) simulations of filamentary molecular clouds. We then generate synthetic observations based on the simulation results. Using these, we investigate how the new polarization data analysis method recently introduced by Doi et al. (2021) reflects the magnetic field structure in turbulent filamentary molecular clouds. Doi et al. (2021) proposed that the $R_{\rm{FWHM}}$, the ratio of the Full Width at Half Maximum (FWHM) of the polarized intensity ($PI$) to that of the total intensity ($I$) can be used to probe the three-dimensional structure of the magnetic field. We calculate the $R_{\rm{FWHM}}$ from the density and magnetic field structure obtained in the 3D-MHD simulations. We find that the mean and variance of $R_{\rm{FWHM}}$ within a filament are smaller and larger, respectively, with a larger inclination of the magnetic field to the plane-of-sky. We also find that both small-scale ($<0.1~\rm{pc}$) and large-scale ($\gtrsim 0.1~\rm{pc}$) turbulence affect the polarized intensity of the dust thermal emission. We conclude that future extensive observations of $R_{\rm{FWHM}}$ may be able to quantify the inclination of the magnetic field to the plane-of-sky in the filamentary molecular clouds.

astro-ph.GA↗