Polarimetric and photometric observations of CB54, with analysis of four other dark clouds

Abstract

ABSTRACT We present the results of our BVR-band photometric and R-band polarimetric observations of ∼40 stars in the periphery of the dark cloud CB54. From different photometric data, we estimate E(B − V) and E(J − H). After involving data from other sources, we discuss the extinction variations towards CB54. We reveal two main dust layers: a foreground, E(B − V) ≈ 0.1 mag, at ∼200 pc and an extended layer, $E(B-V) \gtrsim 0.3$ mag, at ∼1.5 kpc. CB54 belongs to the latter. Based on these results, we consider the reason for the random polarization map that we have observed for CB54. We find that the foreground is characterized by low polarization ($P \lesssim 0.5$ per cent) and a magnetic field parallel to the Galactic plane. The extended layer shows high polarization (P up to 5–7 per cent). We suggest that the field in this layer is nearly perpendicular to the Galactic plane and both layers are essentially inhomogeneous. This allows us to explain the randomness of polarization vectors around CB54 generally. The data – primarily observed by us in this work for CB54, by A. K. Sen and colleagues in previous works for three dark clouds CB3, CB25 and CB39, and by other authors for a region including the B1 cloud – are analysed to explore any correlation between polarization, the near-infrared, E(J − H), and optical, E(B − V), excesses, and the distance to the background stars. If polarization and extinction are caused by the same set of dust particles, we should expect good correlations. However, we find that, for all the clouds, the correlations are not strong.