Magnetic Fields in the Infrared Dark Cloud G34.43+0.24

Abstract We present the B -fields mapped in IRDC G34.43+0.24 using 850 μ m polarized dust emission observed with the POL-2 instrument at the James Clerk Maxwell telescope. We examine the magnetic field geometries and strengths in the northern, central, and southern regions of the filament. The overall field geometry is ordered and aligned closely perpendicular to the filament’s main axis, particularly in regions containing the central clumps MM1 and MM2, whereas MM3 in the north has field orientations aligned with its major axis. The overall field orientations are uniform at large (POL-2 at 14″ and SHARP at 10″) to small scales (TADPOL at 2.″5 and SMA at 1.″5) in the MM1 and MM2 regions. SHARP/CSO observations in MM3 at 350 μ m from Tang et al. show a similar trend as seen in our POL-2 observations. TADPOL observations demonstrate a well-defined field geometry in MM1/MM2 consistent with MHD simulations of accreting filaments. We obtained a plane-of-sky magnetic field strength of 470 ± 190 μ G, 100 ± 40 μ G, and 60 ± 34 μ G in the central, northern, and southern regions of G34, respectively, using the updated Davis–Chandrasekhar–Fermi relation. The estimated value of field strength, combined with column density and velocity dispersion values available in the literature, suggests G34 to be marginally critical with criticality parameter λ values 0.8 ± 0.4, 1.1 ± 0.8, and 0.9 ± 0.5 in the central, northern, and southern regions, respectively. The turbulent motions in G34 are sub-Alfvénic with Alfvénic Mach numbers of 0.34 ± 0.13, 0.53 ± 0.30, and 0.49 ± 0.26 in the three regions. The observed aligned B -fields in G34.43+0.24 are consistent with theoretical models suggesting that B -fields play an important role in guiding the contraction of the cloud driven by gravity.