Probing 3D Magnetic Fields Using Thermal Dust Polarization and Grain Alignment Theory

Abstract

Magnetic fields are ubiquitous in the Universe and are thought to play an important role in various astrophysical processes. Polarization of thermal emission from dust grains aligned with the magnetic field is widely used to measure the 2D magnetic field projected onto the plane of the sky, but its component along the line of sight is not yet constrained. Here, we introduce a new method to infer 3D magnetic fields using thermal dust polarization and grain alignment physics. We first develop a physical model of thermal dust polarization using the modern grain alignment theory based on the magnetically enhanced radiative torque alignment theory. We then test this model with synthetic observations of magnetohydrodynamic simulations of a filamentary cloud with our updated POLARIS code. Combining the tested physical polarization model with synthetic polarization, we show that the B-field inclination angles can be accurately constrained by the polarization degree from synthetic observations. Compared to the true 3D magnetic fields, our method based on grain alignment physics is more accurate than the previous methods that assume uniform grain alignment. This new technique paves the way for tracing 3D B-fields using thermal dust polarization and grain alignment theory and for constraining dust properties and grain alignment physics.