We have now published two astronomy papers, with one more submitted recently and currently under review.  Click on "publications" above to read these papers, which report SHARP polarimetry of the star-forming clouds Orion and DR 21, and the protoplanetary disk DG Tau. 

A fourth astronomy paper, nearly ready for submission just submitted (May), deals with the low-mass star forming region NGC 1333 IRAS 4. Here observers had earlier discovered a "pinched" magnetic field, via interferometric polarimetry using the SMA array.  With SHARP we discovered that an ordered magnetic field exists just outside of the pinched-field region, with an orientation roughly parallel to the axis of the magnetic pinch (see figure at top right).  This is consistent with star forming theories that invoke magnetic control. 

We are currently finalizing the analysis for many other objects, including:

• IRAS 20126, an isolated high-mass star forming region.  For comparison purposes, we show our preliminary results together with JCMT data.
• The galaxy NGC 253.  Our preliminary map, if confirmed by further analysis, will be only the second instance of a submillimeter polarization map of an external galaxy.
• Sagittarius A*, which marks the location of a black hole at the Galactic center.  Preliminary analysis shows evidence of linear polarization.