Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Letter
  • Published:

Circular polarimetry reveals helical magnetic fields in the young stellar object HH 135–136

Nature volume 450, pages 71–73 (2007)Cite this article

Abstract

Magnetic fields are believed to have a vital role in regulating and shaping the flow of material onto and away from protostars during their initial mass accretion phase. It is becoming increasingly accepted1 that bipolar outflows are generated and collimated as material is driven along magnetic field lines and centrifugally accelerated off a rotating accretion disk. However, the precise role of the magnetic field is poorly understood and evidence for its shape and structure has not been forthcoming. Here we report imaging circular polarimetry in the near-infrared and Monte Carlo modelling showing that the magnetic field along the bipolar outflow of the HH 135–136 young stellar object is helical. The field retains this shape for large distances along the outflow, so the field structure can also provide the necessary magnetic pressure for collimation of the outflow. This result lends further weight to the hypothesis—central to any theory of star formation—that the outflow is an important instrument for the removal of high-angular-momentum material from the accretion disk, thereby allowing the central protostar to increase its mass.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on Springer Link
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1: Imaging circular polarimetry of the HH 135–136 outflow system.
Figure 2: Results of three-dimensional Monte Carlo light-scattering model21.
Figure 3: Helical magnetic field structures.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Ray, T. P., Dougados, C., Bacciotti, F., Eislöffel, J. & Chrysostomou, A. in Protostars & Planets V (eds Reipurth, B., Jewitt, D. & Keil, K.) 231–244 (Univ. of Arizona Press, Tucson, 2007)

    Google Scholar 

  2. Herbig, G. H. The spectrum of the nebulosity surrounding T Tauri. Astrophys. J. 111, 11–14 (1950)

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Haro, G. Herbig’s nebulous objects near NGC 1999. Astrophys. J. 115, 572 (1952)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  4. Hartigan, P., Morse, J. A., Tumlinson, J., Raymond, J. & Heathcore, S. Hubble Space Telescope faint object spectrograph optical and ultraviolet spectroscopy of the bow shock HH 47A. Astrophys. J. 512, 901–915 (1999)

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Reipurth, B. & Bertout, C. Herbig–Haro Flows and the Birth of Low-mass Stars. IAU Symposium No. 182 (Kluwer, Dordrecht, 1997)

    Book  Google Scholar 

  6. Shu, F. H., Najita, J. R., Shang, H. & Li, Z.-Y. in Protostars & Planets IV (eds Mannings, V., Boss, A. P. & Russell, S.) 789–813 (Univ. of Arizona Press, Tucson, 2000)

    Google Scholar 

  7. Ferreira, J. Magnetically driven jets from Keplerian accretion disks. Astron. Astrophys. 319, 340–359 (1997)

    ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. Bacciotti, F. et al. Hubble Space Telescope STIS spectroscopy of the optical outflow from DG Tauri: structure and kinematics on subarcsecond scales. Astrophys. J. 537, L49–L52 (2000)

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Takami, M. et al. Detection of a warm molecular wind in DG Tauri. Astron. Astrophys. 416, 213–219 (2004)

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. Dougados, C., Cabrit, S., Lavalley, C. & Ménard, F. T Tauri stars microjets resolved by adaptive optics. Astron. Astrophys. 357, L61–L64 (2000)

    ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  11. Pudritz, R. E., Ouyed, R., Fendt, C. & Brandenburg, A. in Protostars & Planets V (eds Reipurth, B., Jewitt, D. & Keil, K.) 277–294 (Univ. of Arizona Press, Tucson, 2007)

    Google Scholar 

  12. Chrysostomou, A., Hough, J. H., Burton, M. G. & Tamura, M. Twisting magnetic fields in the core region of OMC-1. Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc. 268, 325–334 (1994)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  13. Chrysostomou, A. et al. Polarimetry of young stellar objects—III. Circular polarimetry of OMC-1. Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc. 312, 103–115 (2000)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  14. Chrysostomou, A. et al. Polarimetry of young stellar objects—II. Circular polarization of GSS 30. Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc. 285, 750–758 (1997)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  15. Ogura, K. & Walsh, J. R. Spectacular Herbig–Haro objects in the Carina nebula. Astrophys. J. 400, 248–259 (1992)

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  16. Tamura, M. et al. Identification of the exciting source of Herbig–Haro objects 135 and 136. Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc. 287, 894–898 (1997)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  17. Whitney, B. & Wolff, M. J. Scattering and absorption by aligned grains in circumstellar environments. Astrophys. J. 574, 205–231 (2002)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  18. Lucas, P. W. Computation of light scattering in young stellar objects. J. Quant. Spectrosc. Radiat. Transf. 79, 921–937 (2003)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  19. Ménard, F., Chrysostomou, A., Gledhill, T. M., Hough, J. H. & Bailey, J. A. in Bioastronomy 99: A New Era in the Search for Life. ASP Conference Series, Vol. 213 (eds Lemarchand, G. & Meech, K.) 355–358 (Astronomical Society of the Pacific, San Francisco, 2000)

    Google Scholar 

  20. Gledhill, T. M., Chrysostomou, A. & Hough, J. H. Linear and circular imaging polarimetry of the Chamaeleon infrared nebula. Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc. 282, 1418–1436 (1996)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  21. Lucas, P. W. et al. High-resolution imaging polarimetry of HL Tau and magnetic field structure. Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc. 352, 1347–1364 (2004)

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  22. Lucas, P. W. et al. UV circular polarization in star formation regions: the origin of homochirality? Orig. Life Evol. Biosphs 35, 29–60 (2005)

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  23. Buschermöhle, M. et al. An extended search for circularly polarized infrared radiation from the OMC-1 region of Orion. Astrophys. J. 624, 821–826 (2005)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  24. Gredel, R. HH135/136—a luminous H2 outflow towards a high-mass protostar. Astron. Astrophys. 457, 157–166 (2006)

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  25. Arce, H. G. et al. in Protostars & Planets V (eds Reipurth, B., Jewitt, D. & Keil, K.) 245–260 (Univ. of Arizona Press, Tucson, 2007)

    Google Scholar 

  26. Rodrigues, C. V., Hickel, G. R., Cerqueira, A. H. & Targon, C. G. Optical polarimetry of HH135/136. Astron. J. 133, 2334–2342 (2007)

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

We thank M. Tamura for discussions on HH 135 and for providing us with his linear polarimetry data to aid our analyses. This work was supported by a grant from the UK Science and Technologies Facilities Council (to P.W.L.).

Author Contributions All authors contributed equally to this work. A.C. and J.H.H. conducted the observations at the telescope. A.C. reduced the data, and P.W.L. performed the Monte Carlo modelling. A.C. wrote the main paper, and P.W.L. wrote the Supplementary Information. All authors discussed the results and implications and commented on the manuscript at all stages.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre for Astrophysics Research, Science and Technology Research Institute, University of Hertfordshire, Hatfield, Herts. AL10 9AB, UK ,

    Antonio Chrysostomou, Philip W. Lucas & James H. Hough

Authors
  1. Antonio Chrysostomou
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Philip W. Lucas
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. James H. Hough
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Antonio Chrysostomou or Philip W. Lucas.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing financial interests.

Supplementary information

Supplementary Methods and Notes

The file contains Supplementary Methods and Notes. This document describes the model and technique. Details on the equations describing the density distribution and the magnetic field geometry in the model are given. (PDF 139 kb)

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Chrysostomou, A., Lucas, P. & Hough, J. Circular polarimetry reveals helical magnetic fields in the young stellar object HH 135–136. Nature 450, 71–73 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature06220

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nature06220

This article is cited by

Comments

By submitting a comment you agree to abide by our Terms and Community Guidelines. If you find something abusive or that does not comply with our terms or guidelines please flag it as inappropriate.

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing