GTC/CanariCam Mid-infrared Polarimetry of Magnetic Fields in Star-forming Region W51 IRS2

Abstract

Abstract We present 0.″4 resolution imaging polarimetry at 8.7, 10.3, and 12.5 μm, obtained with CanariCam at the Gran Telescopio Canarias, of the central 0.11 pc × 0.28 pc (4.″2 × 10.″8) region of W51 IRS2. The polarization, as high as ∼14%, arises from silicate particles aligned by the interstellar magnetic field (B-field). We separate, or unfold, the polarization of each sightline into emission and absorption components, from which we infer the morphologies of the corresponding projected B-fields that thread the emitting- and foreground-absorbing regions. We conclude that the projected B-field in the foreground material is part of the larger-scale ambient field. The morphology of the projected B-field in the mid-infrared (mid-IR) emitting region spanning the cometary H ii region W51 IRS2W is similar to that in the absorbing region. Elsewhere, the two B-fields differ significantly with no clear relationship between them. The B-field across the W51 IRS2W cometary core appears to be an integral part of a champagne outflow of gas originating in the core and dominating the energetics there. The bipolar outflow, W51north jet, that appears to originate at or near SMA1/N1 coincides almost exactly with a clearly demarcated north–south swath of lower polarization. While speculative, comparison of mid-IR and submillimeter polarimetry on two different scales may support a picture in which SMA1/N1 plays a major role in the B-field structure across W51 IRS2.