Astro2020: Decadal Survey on Astronomy and Astrophysics, science white papers: Polarization in Disks

STEPHENS, IAN; KATAOKA, AKIMASA; FERNÁNDEZ-LÓPEZ, MANUEL; YANG, HAIFENG; HULL, CHARLES L. H.; KWON, WOOJIN; LI, ZHI-YUN; LOONEY, LESLIE W.; SADAVOY, SARAH

BULLETIN - AMERICAN ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY

American Astronomical Society

Año: 2019 vol. 51

0002-7537

Polarized dust emission outside of disks reveal the magnetic field morphology of molecular clouds. Within disks, however, polarized dust emission can arise from very different mechanisms (e.g., self-scattering), and each of them are useful for constraining physical properties in the disk. For example, these mechanisms allow us to constrain the disk grain size distributions and grain/disk geometries, independent from current methods of measuring these parameters. To accurately model these features and disentangle the various polarization mechanisms, multiwavelength observations at very high resolution and sensitivity are required. With significant upgrades to current interferometric facilities, we can understand how grains evolve in disks during the planet formation process.