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Magnetic fields play an important role in shaping and regulating star formation in molecular clouds. Here, we present one of the first studies examining the relative orientations between magnetic ($B$) fields and the dust emission, gas column density, and velocity centroid gradients on the 0.02 pc (core) scales, using the BISTRO and VLA+GBT observations of the NGC 1333 star-forming clump. We quantified these relative orientations using the Project Rayleigh Statistic (PRS) and found preferential global parallel alignment between the $B$ field and dust emission gradients, consistent with large-scale studies with Planck. No preferential global alignments, however, are found between the $B$ field and velocity gradients. Local PRS calculated for subregions defined by either dust emission or velocity coherence further revealed that the $B$ field does not preferentially align with dust emission gradients in most emission-defined subregions, except in the warmest ones. The velocity-coherent structures, on the other hand, also showed no preferred $B$ field alignments with velocity gradients, except for one potentially bubble-compressed region. Interestingly, the velocity gradient magnitude in NGC 1333 ubiquitously features prominent ripple-like structures that are indicative of magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) waves. Finally, we found $B$ field alignments with the emission gradients to correlate with dust temperature and anticorrelate with column density, velocity dispersion, and velocity gradient magnitude. The latter two anticorrelations suggest that alignments between gas structures and $B$ fields can be perturbed by physical processes that elevate velocity dispersion and velocity gradients, such as infall, accretions, and MHD waves., Comment: Accepted to the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society Main Journal

High-latitude ($|b|>30^{\circ}$) molecular clouds have virial parameters that exceed 1, but whether these clouds can form stars has not been studied systematically. Using JCMT SCUBA-2 archival data, we surveyed 70 fields that target high-latitude Planck galactic cold clumps (HLPCs) to find dense cores with density of $10^{5}$-$10^{6}$ cm$^{-3}$ and size of $<0.1$ pc. The sample benefits from both the representativeness of the parent sample and covering densest clumps at the high column density end ($>1\times10^{21}$ cm$^{-2}$). At an average noise rms of 15 mJy/beam, we detected Galactic dense cores in only one field, G6.04+36.77 (L183), while also identifying 12 extragalactic objects and two young stellar objects. Compared to the low-latitude clumps, dense cores are scarce in HLPCs. With synthetic observations, the densities of cores are constrained to be $n_c\lesssim10^5$ cm$^{-3}$, should they exist in HLPCs. Low-latitude clumps, Taurus clumps, and HLPCs form a sequence where a higher virial parameter corresponds to a lower dense core detection rate. If HLPCs were affected by the Local Bubble, the scarcity should favor turbulence-inhibited rather than supernova-driven star formation. Studies of the formation mechanism of the L183 molecular cloud are warranted., Comment: 9 pages for the main text. 4 figures, 1 table. Published in Astrophysical Journal Letter

We report 850 $\mu$m continuum polarization observations toward the filamentary high-mass star-forming region NGC 2264, taken as part of the B-fields In STar forming Regions Observations (BISTRO) large program on the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope (JCMT). These data reveal a well-structured non-uniform magnetic field in the NGC 2264C and 2264D regions with a prevailing orientation around 30 deg from north to east. Field strengths estimates and a virial analysis for the major clumps indicate that NGC 2264C is globally dominated by gravity while in 2264D magnetic, gravitational, and kinetic energies are roughly balanced. We present an analysis scheme that utilizes the locally resolved magnetic field structures, together with the locally measured gravitational vector field and the extracted filamentary network. From this, we infer statistical trends showing that this network consists of two main groups of filaments oriented approximately perpendicular to one another. Additionally, gravity shows one dominating converging direction that is roughly perpendicular to one of the filament orientations, which is suggestive of mass accretion along this direction. Beyond these statistical trends, we identify two types of filaments. The type-I filament is perpendicular to the magnetic field with local gravity transitioning from parallel to perpendicular to the magnetic field from the outside to the filament ridge. The type-II filament is parallel to the magnetic field and local gravity. We interpret these two types of filaments as originating from the competition between radial collapsing, driven by filament self-gravity, and the longitudinal collapsing, driven by the region's global gravity., Comment: Accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journal. 43 pages, 32 figures, and 4 tables (including Appendix)

The Galactic global magnetic field is thought to play a vital role in shaping Galactic structures such as spiral arms and giant molecular clouds. However, our knowledge of magnetic field structures in the Galactic plane at different distances is limited, as measurements used to map the magnetic field are the integrated effect along the line of sight. In this study, we present the first-ever tomographic imaging of magnetic field structures in a Galactic spiral arm. Using optical stellar polarimetry over a $17' \times 10'$ field of view, we probe the Sagittarius spiral arm. Combining these data with stellar distances from the $Gaia$ mission, we can isolate the contributions of five individual clouds along the line of sight by analyzing the polarimetry data as a function of distance. The observed clouds include a foreground cloud ($d < 200$ pc) and four clouds in the Sagittarius arm at 1.23 kpc, 1.47 kpc, 1.63 kpc, and 2.23 kpc. The column densities of these clouds range from 0.5 to $2.8 \times 10^{21}~\mathrm{cm}^{-2}$. The magnetic fields associated with each cloud show smooth spatial distributions within their observed regions on scales smaller than 10 pc and display distinct orientations. The position angles projected on the plane-of-sky, measured from the Galactic north to east, for the clouds in increasing order of distance are $135^\circ$, $46^\circ$, $58^\circ$, $150^\circ$, and $40^\circ$, with uncertainties of a few degrees. Notably, these position angles deviate significantly from the direction parallel to the Galactic plane., Comment: Accepted for publication in ApJ

We present observations of polarized dust emission at 850 $\mu$m from the L43 molecular cloud which sits in the Ophiuchus cloud complex. The data were taken using SCUBA-2/POL-2 on the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope as a part of the BISTRO large program. L43 is a dense ($N_{\rm H_2}\sim 10^{22}$-10$^{23}$ cm$^{-2}$) complex molecular cloud with a submillimetre-bright starless core and two protostellar sources. There appears to be an evolutionary gradient along the isolated filament that L43 is embedded within, with the most evolved source closest to the Sco OB2 association. One of the protostars drives a CO outflow that has created a cavity to the southeast. We see a magnetic field that appears to be aligned with the cavity walls of the outflow, suggesting interaction with the outflow. We also find a magnetic field strength of up to $\sim$160$\pm$30 $\mu$G in the main starless core and up to $\sim$90$\pm$40 $\mu$G in the more diffuse, extended region. These field strengths give magnetically super- and sub-critical values respectively and both are found to be roughly trans-Alfv\'enic. We also present a new method of data reduction for these denser but fainter objects like starless cores., Comment: Accepted for publication in ApJ. 23 pages, 9 figures (7 main text, 2 appendix)

We present BISTRO Survey 850 {\mu}m dust emission polarisation observations of the L1495A-B10 region of the Taurus molecular cloud, taken at the JCMT. We observe a roughly triangular network of dense filaments. We detect 9 of the dense starless cores embedded within these filaments in polarisation, finding that the plane-of-sky orientation of the core-scale magnetic field lies roughly perpendicular to the filaments in almost all cases. We also find that the large-scale magnetic field orientation measured by Planck is not correlated with any of the core or filament structures, except in the case of the lowest-density core. We propose a scenario for early prestellar evolution that is both an extension to, and consistent with, previous models, introducing an additional evolutionary transitional stage between field-dominated and matter-dominated evolution, observed here for the first time. In this scenario, the cloud collapses first to a sheet-like structure. Uniquely, we appear to be seeing this sheet almost face-on. The sheet fragments into filaments, which in turn form cores. However, the material must reach a certain critical density before the evolution changes from being field-dominated to being matter-dominated. We measure the sheet surface density and the magnetic field strength at that transition for the first time and show consistency with an analytical prediction that had previously gone untested for over 50 years (Mestel 1965)., Comment: 14 pages, 5 figures. ApJ accepted

We study the HII regions associated with the NGC 6334 molecular cloud observed in the sub-millimeter and taken as part of the B-fields In STar-forming Region Observations (BISTRO) Survey. In particular, we investigate the polarization patterns and magnetic field morphologies associated with these HII regions. Through polarization pattern and pressure calculation analyses, several of these bubbles indicate that the gas and magnetic field lines have been pushed away from the bubble, toward an almost tangential (to the bubble) magnetic field morphology. In the densest part of NGC 6334, where the magnetic field morphology is similar to an hourglass, the polarization observations do not exhibit observable impact from HII regions. We detect two nested radial polarization patterns in a bubble to the south of NGC 6334 that correspond to the previously observed bipolar structure in this bubble. Finally, using the results of this study, we present steps (incorporating computer vision; circular Hough Transform) that can be used in future studies to identify bubbles that have physically impacted magnetic field lines., Comment: Accepted for publication in Astrophysical Journal (ApJ)

We present 850 $\mu$m dust polarization observations of the massive DR21 filament from the B-fields In STar-forming Region Observations (BISTRO) survey, using the POL-2 polarimeter and the SCUBA-2 camera on the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope. We detect ordered magnetic fields perpendicular to the parsec-scale ridge of the DR21 main filament. In the sub-filaments, the magnetic fields are mainly parallel to the filamentary structures and smoothly connect to the magnetic fields of the main filament. We compare the POL-2 and Planck dust polarization observations to study the magnetic field structures of the DR21 filament on 0.1--10 pc scales. The magnetic fields revealed in the Planck data are well aligned with those of the POL-2 data, indicating a smooth variation of magnetic fields from large to small scales. The plane-of-sky magnetic field strengths derived from angular dispersion functions of dust polarization are 0.6--1.0 mG in the DR21 filament and $\sim$ 0.1 mG in the surrounding ambient gas. The mass-to-flux ratios are found to be magnetically supercritical in the filament and slightly subcritical to nearly critical in the ambient gas. The alignment between column density structures and magnetic fields changes from random alignment in the low-density ambient gas probed by Planck to mostly perpendicular in the high-density main filament probed by JCMT. The magnetic field structures of the DR21 filament are in agreement with MHD simulations of a strongly magnetized medium, suggesting that magnetic fields play an important role in shaping the DR21 main filament and sub-filaments., Comment: 26 pages, 13 figures, ApJ accepted

We present and analyze observations of polarized dust emission at 850 $\mu$m towards the central 1 pc $\times$ 1 pc hub-filament structure of Monoceros R2 (Mon R2). The data are obtained with SCUBA-2/POL-2 on the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope (JCMT) as part of the BISTRO (B-fields in Star-forming Region Observations) survey. The orientations of the magnetic field follow the spiral structure of Mon R2, which are well-described by an axisymmetric magnetic field model. We estimate the turbulent component of the magnetic field using the angle difference between our observations and the best-fit model of the underlying large-scale mean magnetic field. This estimate is used to calculate the magnetic field strength using the Davis-Chandrasekhar-Fermi method, for which we also obtain the distribution of volume density and velocity dispersion using a column density map derived from $Herschel$ data and the C$^{18}$O ($J$ = 3-2) data taken with HARP on the JCMT, respectively. We make maps of magnetic field strengths and mass-to-flux ratios, finding that magnetic field strengths vary from 0.02 to 3.64 mG with a mean value of 1.0 $\pm$ 0.06 mG, and the mean critical mass-to-flux ratio is 0.47 $\pm$ 0.02. Additionally, the mean Alfv\'en Mach number is 0.35 $\pm$ 0.01. This suggests that in Mon R2, magnetic fields provide resistance against large-scale gravitational collapse, and magnetic pressure exceeds turbulent pressure. We also investigate the properties of each filament in Mon R2. Most of the filaments are aligned along the magnetic field direction and are magnetically sub-critical., Comment: This paper is accepted to the ApJ

We present 850 $\mu$m polarimetric observations toward the Serpens Main molecular cloud obtained using the POL-2 polarimeter on the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope (JCMT) as part of the B-fields In STar-forming Region Observations (BISTRO) survey. These observations probe the magnetic field morphology of the Serpens Main molecular cloud on about 6000 au scales, which consists of cores and six filaments with different physical properties such as density and star formation activity. Using the histogram of relative orientation (HRO) technique, we find that magnetic fields are parallel to filaments in less dense filamentary structures where $N_{H_2} < 0.93\times 10^{22}$ cm$^{-2}$ (magnetic fields perpendicular to density gradients), while being perpendicular to filaments (magnetic fields parallel to density gradients) in dense filamentary structures with star formation activity. Moreover, applying the HRO technique to denser core regions, we find that magnetic field orientations change to become perpendicular to density gradients again at $N_{H_2} \approx 4.6 \times 10^{22}$ cm$^{-2}$. This can be interpreted as a signature of core formation. At $N_{H_2} \approx 16 \times 10^{22}$ cm$^{-2}$ magnetic fields change back to being parallel to density gradients once again, which can be understood to be due to magnetic fields being dragged in by infalling material. In addition, we estimate the magnetic field strengths of the filaments ($B_{POS} = 60-300~\mu$G)) using the Davis-Chandrasekhar-Fermi method and discuss whether the filaments are gravitationally unstable based on magnetic field and turbulence energy densities., Comment: 18 pages, accepted for publication in ApJ

We investigate the internal 3D magnetic structure of dense interstellar filaments within NGC 1333 using polarization data at $850 \mu\mathrm{m}$ from the $B$-fields In STar-forming Region Observations survey at the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope. Theoretical models predict that the magnetic field lines in a filament will tend to be dragged radially inward (i.e., pinched) toward the central axis due to the filament's self-gravity. We study the cross-sectional profiles of the total intensity ($I$) and polarized intensity (PI) of dust emission in four segments of filaments unaffected by local star formation that are expected to retain a pristine magnetic field structure. We find that the filaments' FWHM in PI are not the same as those in $I$, with two segments being appreciably narrower in PI (FWHM ratio $\simeq 0.7-0.8$) and one segment being wider (FWHM ratio $\simeq 1.3$). The filament profiles of the polarization fraction ($P$) do not show a minimum at the spine of the filament, which is not in line with an anticorrelation between $P$ and $I$ normally seen in molecular clouds and protostellar cores. Dust grain alignment variation with density cannot reproduce the observed $P$ distribution. We demonstrate numerically that the $I$ and PI cross-sectional profiles of filaments in magnetohydrostatic equilibrium will have differing relative widths depending on the viewing angle. The observed variations of FWHM ratios in NGC 1333 are therefore consistent with models of pinched magnetic field structures inside filaments, and especially if they are magnetically near-critical or supercritical., Comment: Accepted for publication in ApJL

We present the results of simultaneous 450 $\mu$m and 850 $\mu$m polarization observations toward the massive star forming region NGC 2071IR, a target of the BISTRO (B-fields in Star-Forming Region Observations) Survey, using the POL-2 polarimeter and SCUBA-2 camera mounted on the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope. We find a pinched magnetic field morphology in the central dense core region, which could be due to a rotating toroidal disk-like structure and a bipolar outflow originating from the central young stellar object, IRS 3. Using the modified Davis-Chandrasekhar-Fermi method, we obtain a plane-of-sky magnetic field strength of 563$\pm$421 $\mu$G in the central $\sim$0.12 pc region from 850 $\mu$m polarization data. The corresponding magnetic energy density of 2.04$\times$10$^{-8}$ erg cm$^{-3}$ is comparable to the turbulent and gravitational energy densities in the region. We find that the magnetic field direction is very well aligned with the whole of the IRS 3 bipolar outflow structure. We find that the median value of polarization fractions, 3.0 \%, at 450 $\mu$m in the central 3 arcminute region, which is larger than the median value of 1.2 \% at 850 $\mu$m. The trend could be due to the better alignment of warmer dust in the strong radiation environment. We also find that polarization fractions decrease with intensity at both wavelengths, with slopes, determined by fitting a Rician noise model, of $0.59 \pm 0.03$ at 450 $\mu$m and $0.36 \pm 0.04$ at 850 $\mu$m, respectively. We think that the shallow slope at 850 $\mu$m is due to grain alignment at the center being assisted by strong radiation from the central young stellar objects., Comment: 17 pages, 11 figures, 4 tables

Optical stellar polarimetry in the Perseus molecular cloud direction is known to show a fully mixed bi-modal distribution of position angles across the cloud (Goodman et al. 1990). We study the Gaia trigonometric distances to each of these stars and reveal that the two components in position angles trace two different dust clouds along the line of sight. One component, which shows a polarization angle of -37.6 deg +/- 35.2 deg and a higher polarization fraction of 2.0 +/- 1.7%, primarily traces the Perseus molecular cloud at a distance of 300 pc. The other component, which shows a polarization angle of +66.8 deg +/- 19.1 deg and a lower polarization fraction of 0.8 +/- 0.6%, traces a foreground cloud at a distance of 150 pc. The foreground cloud is faint, with a maximum visual extinction of < 1 mag. We identify that foreground cloud as the outer edge of the Taurus molecular cloud. Between the Perseus and Taurus molecular clouds, we identify a lower-density ellipsoidal dust cavity with a size of 100 -- 160 pc. This dust cavity locates at l = 170 deg, b = -20 deg, and d = 240 pc, which corresponds to an HI shell generally associated with the Per OB2 association. The two-component polarization signature observed toward the Perseus molecular cloud can therefore be explained by a combination of the plane-of-sky orientations of the magnetic field both at the front and at the back of this dust cavity., Comment: Accepted for publication in ApJ

We have obtained sensitive dust continuum polarization observations at 850 $\mu$m in the B213 region of Taurus using POL-2 on SCUBA-2 at the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope (JCMT), as part of the BISTRO (B-fields in STar-forming Region Observations) survey. These observations allow us to probe magnetic field (B-field) at high spatial resolution ($\sim$2000 au or $\sim$0.01 pc at 140 pc) in two protostellar cores (K04166 and K04169) and one prestellar core (Miz-8b) that lie within the B213 filament. Using the Davis-Chandrasekhar-Fermi method, we estimate the B-field strengths in K04166, K04169, and Miz-8b to be 38$\pm$14 $\mu$G, 44$\pm$16 $\mu$G, and 12$\pm$5 $\mu$G, respectively. These cores show distinct mean B-field orientations. B-field in K04166 is well ordered and aligned parallel to the orientations of the core minor axis, outflows, core rotation axis, and large-scale uniform B-field, in accordance with magnetically regulated star formation via ambipolar diffusion taking place in K04166. B-field in K04169 is found to be ordered but oriented nearly perpendicular to the core minor axis and large-scale B-field, and not well-correlated with other axes. In contrast, Miz-8b exhibits disordered B-field which show no preferred alignment with the core minor axis or large-scale field. We found that only one core, K04166, retains a memory of the large-scale uniform B-field. The other two cores, K04169 and Miz-8b, are decoupled from the large-scale field. Such a complex B-field configuration could be caused by gas inflow onto the filament, even in the presence of a substantial magnetic flux., Comment: 20 pages (10 are main), 5 figures (3 are main), and 3 tables (2 are main); Accepted for its publication in ApJL

We report the first high spatial resolution measurement of magnetic fields surrounding LkH$\alpha$ 101, a part of the Auriga-California molecular cloud. The observations were taken with the POL-2 polarimeter on the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope within the framework of the B-fields In Star-forming Region Observations (BISTRO) survey. Observed polarization of thermal dust emission at 850 $\mu$m is found to be mostly associated with the red-shifted gas component of the cloud. The magnetic field displays a relatively complex morphology. Two variants of the Davis-Chandrasekhar-Fermi method, unsharp masking and structure function, are used to calculate the strength of magnetic fields in the plane of the sky, yielding a similar result of $B_{\rm POS}\sim 115$ $\mathrm{\mu}$G. The mass-to-magnetic-flux ratio in critical value units, $\lambda\sim0.3$, is the smallest among the values obtained for other regions surveyed by POL-2. This implies that the LkH$\alpha$ 101 region is sub-critical and the magnetic field is strong enough to prevent gravitational collapse. The inferred $\delta B/B_0\sim 0.3$ implies that the large scale component of the magnetic field dominates the turbulent one. The variation of the polarization fraction with total emission intensity can be fitted by a power-law with an index of $\alpha=0.82\pm0.03$, which lies in the range previously reported for molecular clouds. We find that the polarization fraction decreases rapidly with proximity to the only early B star (LkH$\alpha$ 101) in the region. The magnetic field tangling and the joint effect of grain alignment and rotational disruption by radiative torques are potential of explaining such a decreasing trend., Comment: 25 pages, 19 figures, Accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal

We present 850$\mu$m polarization observations of the L1689 molecular cloud, part of the nearby Ophiuchus molecular cloud complex, taken with the POL-2 polarimeter on the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope (JCMT). We observe three regions of L1689: the clump L1689N which houses the IRAS 16293-2422 protostellar system, the starless clump SMM-16, and the starless core L1689B. We use the Davis-Chandrasekhar-Fermi method to estimate plane-of-sky field strengths of $366\pm 55$ $\mu$G in L1689N, $284\pm 34$ $\mu$G in SMM-16, and $72\pm 33$ $\mu$G in L1689B, for our fiducial value of dust opacity. These values indicate that all three regions are likely to be magnetically trans-critical with sub-Alfv\'{e}nic turbulence. In all three regions, the inferred mean magnetic field direction is approximately perpendicular to the local filament direction identified in $Herschel$ Space Telescope observations. The core-scale field morphologies for L1689N and L1689B are consistent with the cloud-scale field morphology measured by the $Planck$ Space Observatory, suggesting that material can flow freely from large to small scales for these sources. Based on these magnetic field measurements, we posit that accretion from the cloud onto L1689N and L1689B may be magnetically regulated. However, in SMM-16, the clump-scale field is nearly perpendicular to the field seen on cloud scales by $Planck$, suggesting that it may be unable to efficiently accrete further material from its surroundings., Comment: 29 pages, 9 figures, 4 tables. Accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journal

We compare the directions of molecular outflows of 62 low-mass Class 0 and I protostars in nearby (<450 pc) star-forming regions with the mean orientations of the magnetic fields on 0.05-0.5 pc scales in the dense cores/clumps where they are embedded. The magnetic field orientations were measured using the JCMT POL-2 data taken by the BISTRO-1 survey and from the archive. The outflow directions were observed with interferometers in the literature. The observed distribution of the angles between the outflows and the magnetic fields peaks between 15 and 35 degrees. After considering projection effects, our results could suggest that the outflows tend to be misaligned with the magnetic fields by 50+/-15 degrees in three-dimensional space and are less likely (but not ruled out) randomly oriented with respect to the magnetic fields. There is no correlation between the misalignment and the bolometric temperatures in our sample. In several sources, the small-scale (1000-3000 au) magnetic fields is more misaligned with the outflows than their large-scale magnetic fields, suggesting that the small-scale magnetic field has been twisted by the dynamics. In comparison with turbulent MHD simulations of core formation, our observational results are more consistent with models in which the energy densities in the magnetic field and the turbulence of the gas are comparable. Our results also suggest that the misalignment alone cannot sufficiently reduce the efficiency of magnetic braking to enable formation of the observed number of large Keplerian disks with sizes larger than 30-50 au., Comment: 27 pages, 14 figures, Accepted by ApJ

We present new observations of the active star-formation region NGC 1333 in the Perseus molecular cloud complex from the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope B-Fields In Star-forming Region Observations (BISTRO) survey with the POL-2 instrument. The BISTRO data cover the entire NGC 1333 complex (~1.5 pc x 2 pc) at 0.02 pc resolution and spatially resolve the polarized emission from individual filamentary structures for the first time. The inferred magnetic field structure is complex as a whole, with each individual filament aligned at different position angles relative to the local field orientation. We combine the BISTRO data with low- and high- resolution data derived from Planck and interferometers to study the multiscale magnetic field structure in this region. The magnetic field morphology drastically changes below a scale of ~1 pc and remains continuous from the scales of filaments (~0.1 pc) to that of protostellar envelopes (~0.005 pc or ~1000 au). Finally, we construct simple models in which we assume that the magnetic field is always perpendicular to the long axis of the filaments. We demonstrate that the observed variation of the relative orientation between the filament axes and the magnetic field angles are well reproduced by this model, taking into account the projection effects of the magnetic field and filaments relative to the plane of the sky. These projection effects may explain the apparent complexity of the magnetic field structure observed at the resolution of BISTRO data toward the filament network., Comment: 33 pages, 21 figures, accepted for publication in ApJ

The anomalous microwave emission (AME) still lacks a conclusive explanation. This excess of emission, roughly between 10 and 50 GHz, tends to defy attempts to explain it as synchrotron or free-free emission. The overlap with frequencies important for cosmic microwave background explorations, combined with a strong correlation with interstellar dust, drive cross-disciplinary collaboration between interstellar medium and observational cosmology. The apparent relationship with dust has prompted a ``spinning dust'' hypothesis. The typical peak frequency range of the AME profile implicates spinning grains on the order of 1 nm. This points to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). We use data from the AKARI/Infrared Camera (IRC), due to its thorough PAH-band coverage, to compare AME from the Planck Collaboration astrophysical component separation product with infrared dust emission in the Orionis AME-prominent region. We look also at infrared dust emission from other mid IR and far-IR bands. The results and discussion contained here apply to an angular scale of approximately 1{\deg}. We find that certainly dust mass correlates with AME, and that PAH-related emission in the AKARI/IRC 9 {\mu}m band correlates slightly more strongly. Using hierarchical Bayesian inference and full dust spectral energy distribution (SED) modeling we argue that AME in {\lambda}Orionis correlates more strongly with PAH mass than with total dust mass, lending support for a spinning PAH hypothesis within this region. We emphasize that future efforts to understand AME should focus on individual regions, and a detailed comparison of the PAH features with the variation of the AME SED., Comment: 31 pages, 22 figures. Accepted by PASJ

We started a multi-scale analysis of G202.3+2.5, an intertwined filamentary region of Monoceros OB1. In Paper I, we examined the distributions of dense cores and protostars and found enhanced star formation (SF) activity in the junction region of the filaments. In this second paper, we aim to unveil the connections between the core and filament evolutions, and between the filament dynamics and the global evolution of the cloud. We characterise the gas dynamics and energy balance using Herschel and WISE observations and molecular tracers observed with the IRAM 30m and TRAO 14m telescopes. The velocity field of the cloud is examined and velocity-coherent structures are put in perspective with the cloud environment. Two main velocity components (VCs) are revealed, well separated in the north and merged around the location of intense N2H+ emission where Paper I found the peak of SF activity. The relative position of the two VCs along the sightline, and the velocity gradient in N2H+ emission imply that the VCs have been undergoing collision for ~10^5 yrs. The dense gas where N2H+ is detected is interpreted as the compressed region between the two filaments, which corresponds to a high mass inflow rate of ~1e-3 Msun/yr and possibly leads to an increase in its SF efficiency. We identify a protostar in the junction region that possibly powers two crossed intermittent outflows. We show that the HII region around the nearby cluster NCG 2264 is still expanding and its role in the collision is examined. However, we cannot rule out the idea that the collision arises mostly from the global collapse of the cloud. The (sub-)filament-scale observables examined in this paper reveal a collision between G202.3+2.5 sub-structures and its probable role in feeding the cores in the junction region. One must now characterise the cloud morphology, its fragmentation, and magnetic field, all at high resolution., Comment: A&A, in press; IRAM and TRAO data cubes will be available at CDS

Current theories and models attempt to explain star formation globally, from core scales to giant molecular cloud scales. A multi-scale observational characterisation of an entire molecular complex is necessary to constrain them. We investigate star formation in G202.3+2.5, a ~10x3 pc sub-region of the Monoceros OB1 cloud with a complex morphology harbouring interconnected filamentary structures. We aim to connect the evolution of cores and filaments in G202.3+2.5 with the global evolution of the cloud and to identify the engines of the cloud dynamics. In this first paper, the star formation activity is evaluated by surveying the distributions of dense cores and protostars, and their evolutionary state, as characterised using both infrared observations from the Herschel and WISE telescopes and molecular line observations with the IRAM 30-m telescope. We find ongoing star formation in the whole cloud, with a local peak in star formation activity around the centre of G202.3+2.5 where a chain of massive cores (10-50 Msun) forms a massive ridge (>150 Msun). All evolutionary stages from starless cores to Class II protostars are found in G202.3+2.5, including a possibly starless, large column density (8x10^{22} cm-2), and massive (52 Msun) core. All the core-scale observables examined in this paper point to an enhanced star formation activity centred on the junction between the three main branches of the ramified structure of G202.3+2.5. This suggests that the increased star-formation activity results from the convergence of these branches. To further investigate the origin of this enhancement, it is now necessary to extend the analysis to larger scales, in order to examine the relationship between cores, filaments and their environment. We address these points through the analysis of the dynamics of G202.3+2.5 in a joint paper.

We present the POL-2 850 $\mu$m linear polarization map of the Barnard 1 clump in the Perseus molecular cloud complex from the B-fields In STar-forming Region Observations (BISTRO) survey at the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope. We find a trend of decreasing polarization fraction as a function of total intensity, which we link to depolarization effects towards higher density regions of the cloud. We then use the polarization data at 850 $\mu$m to infer the plane-of-sky orientation of the large-scale magnetic field in Barnard 1. This magnetic field runs North-South across most of the cloud, with the exception of B1-c where it turns more East-West. From the dispersion of polarization angles, we calculate a turbulence correlation length of $5.0 \pm 2.5$ arcsec ($1500$ au), and a turbulent-to-total magnetic energy ratio of $0.5 \pm 0.3$ inside the cloud. We combine this turbulent-to-total magnetic energy ratio with observations of NH$_3$ molecular lines from the Green Bank Ammonia Survey (GAS) to estimate the strength of the plane-of-sky component of the magnetic field through the Davis-Chandrasekhar-Fermi method. With a plane-of-sky amplitude of $120 \pm 60$ $\mu$G and a criticality criterion $\lambda_c = 3.0 \pm 1.5$, we find that Barnard 1 is a supercritical molecular cloud with a magnetic field nearly dominated by its turbulent component., Comment: 22 pages, 7 figures, accepted in the Astrophysical Journal

We report 850~$\mu$m dust polarization observations of a low-mass ($\sim$12 $M_{\odot}$) starless core in the $\rho$ Ophiuchus cloud, Ophiuchus C, made with the POL-2 instrument on the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope (JCMT) as part of the JCMT B-fields In STar-forming Region Observations (BISTRO) survey. We detect an ordered magnetic field projected on the plane of sky in the starless core. The magnetic field across the $\sim$0.1~pc core shows a predominant northeast-southwest orientation centering between $\sim$40$^\circ$ to $\sim$100$^\circ$, indicating that the field in the core is well aligned with the magnetic field in lower-density regions of the cloud probed by near-infrared observations and also the cloud-scale magnetic field traced by Planck observations. The polarization percentage ($P$) decreases with an increasing total intensity ($I$) with a power-law index of $-$1.03 $\pm$ 0.05. We estimate the plane-of-sky field strength ($B_{\mathrm{pos}}$) using modified Davis-Chandrasekhar-Fermi (DCF) methods based on structure function (SF), auto-correlation (ACF), and unsharp masking (UM) analyses. We find that the estimates from the SF, ACF, and UM methods yield strengths of 103 $\pm$ 46 $\mu$G, 136 $\pm$ 69 $\mu$G, and 213 $\pm$ 115 $\mu$G, respectively. Our calculations suggest that the Ophiuchus C core is near magnetically critical or slightly magnetically supercritical (i.e. unstable to collapse). The total magnetic energy calculated from the SF method is comparable to the turbulent energy in Ophiuchus C, while the ACF method and the UM method only set upper limits for the total magnetic energy because of large uncertainties., Comment: 22 pages, 12 figures

We present the 850 $\mu$m polarization observations toward the IC5146 filamentary cloud taken using the Submillimetre Common-User Bolometer Array 2 (SCUBA-2) and its associated polarimeter (POL-2), mounted on the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope (JCMT), as part of the B-fields In STar forming Regions Observations (BISTRO). This work is aimed at revealing the magnetic field morphology within a core-scale ($\lesssim 1.0$ pc) hub-filament structure (HFS) located at the end of a parsec-scale filament. To investigate whether or not the observed polarization traces the magnetic field in the HFS, we analyze the dependence between the observed polarization fraction and total intensity using a Bayesian approach with the polarization fraction described by the Rice likelihood function, which can correctly describe the probability density function (PDF) of the observed polarization fraction for low signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) data. We find a power-law dependence between the polarization fraction and total intensity with an index of 0.56 in $A_V\sim$ 20--300 mag regions, suggesting that the dust grains in these dense regions can still be aligned with magnetic fields in the IC5146 regions. Our polarization maps reveal a curved magnetic field, possibly dragged by the contraction along the parsec-scale filament. We further obtain a magnetic field strength of 0.5$\pm$0.2 mG toward the central hub using the Davis-Chandrasekhar-Fermi method, corresponding to a mass-to-flux criticality of $\sim$ $1.3\pm0.4$ and an Alfv\'{e}nic Mach number of $<$0.6. These results suggest that gravity and magnetic field is currently of comparable importance in the HFS, and turbulence is less important., Comment: 24 pages, 15 figures, accepted for publication in ApJ

We present the results of dust emission polarization measurements of Ophiuchus-B (Oph-B) carried out using the Submillimetre Common-User Bolometer Array 2 (SCUBA-2) camera with its associated polarimeter (POL-2) on the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope (JCMT) in Hawaii. This work is part of the B-fields In Star-forming Region Observations (BISTRO) survey initiated to understand the role of magnetic fields in star formation for nearby star-forming molecular clouds. We present a first look at the geometry and strength of magnetic fields in Oph-B. The field geometry is traced over $\sim$0.2 pc, with clear detection of both of the sub-clumps of Oph-B. The field pattern appears significantly disordered in sub-clump Oph-B1. The field geometry in Oph-B2 is more ordered, with a tendency to be along the major axis of the clump, parallel to the filamentary structure within which it lies. The degree of polarization decreases systematically towards the dense core material in the two sub-clumps. The field lines in the lower density material along the periphery are smoothly joined to the large scale magnetic fields probed by NIR polarization observations. We estimated a magnetic field strength of 630$\pm$410 $\mu$G in the Oph-B2 sub-clump using a Davis-Chandeasekhar-Fermi analysis. With this magnetic field strength, we find a mass-to-flux ratio $\lambda$= 1.6$\pm$1.1, which suggests that the Oph-B2 clump is slightly magnetically supercritical., Comment: 17 pages, 10 figures, Accepted for publication in ApJ

We present 850 $\mu$m imaging polarimetry data of the $\rho$ Oph-A core taken with the Submillimeter Common-User Bolometer Array-2 (SCUBA-2) and its polarimeter (POL-2), as part of our ongoing survey project, BISTRO (B-fields In STar forming RegiOns). The polarization vectors are used to identify the orientation of the magnetic field projected on the plane of the sky at a resolution of 0.01 pc. We identify 10 subregions with distinct polarization fractions and angles in the 0.2 pc $\rho$ Oph A core; some of them can be part of a coherent magnetic field structure in the $\rho$ Oph region. The results are consistent with previous observations of the brightest regions of $\rho$ Oph-A, where the degrees of polarization are at a level of a few percents, but our data reveal for the first time the magnetic field structures in the fainter regions surrounding the core where the degree of polarization is much higher ($> 5 \%$). A comparison with previous near-infrared polarimetric data shows that there are several magnetic field components which are consistent at near-infrared and submillimeter wavelengths. Using the Davis-Chandrasekhar-Fermi method, we also derive magnetic field strengths in several sub-core regions, which range from approximately 0.2 to 5 mG. We also find a correlation between the magnetic field orientations projected on the sky with the core centroid velocity components., Comment: 22 pages, 11 figures, accepted for publication in ApJ

We calculate accretion mass of interstellar objects (ISOs) like `Oumuamua onto low-mass population III stars (Pop.~III survivors), and estimate surface pollution of Pop.~III survivors. An ISO number density estimated from the discovery of `Oumuamua is so high ($\sim 0.2$~au$^{-3}$) that Pop.~III survivors have chances at colliding with ISOs $\gtrsim 10^5$ times per $1$~Gyr. `Oumuamua itself would be sublimated near Pop.~III survivors, since it has small size, $\sim 100$~m. However, ISOs with size $\gtrsim 3$~km would reach the Pop.~III survivor surfaces. Supposing an ISO cumulative number density with size larger than $D$ is $n \propto D^{-\alpha}$, Pop.~III survivors can accrete ISO mass $\gtrsim 10^{-16}M_\odot$, or ISO iron mass $\gtrsim 10^{-17}M_\odot$, if $\alpha < 4$. This iron mass is larger than the accretion mass of interstellar medium (ISM) by several orders of magnitude. Taking into account material mixing in a convection zone of Pop.~III survivors, we obtain their surface pollution is typically [Fe/H] $\lesssim -8$ in most cases, however the surface pollution of Pop.~III survivors with $0.8M_\odot$ can be [Fe/H] $\gtrsim -6$ because of the very shallow convective layer. If we apply to Pop.III survivors located at the Galactocentric distance of 8 kpc, the dependence of the metal pollustion is as follows. If $\alpha > 4$, Pop.~III survivors have no chance at colliding with ISOs with $D \gtrsim 3$~km, and keep metal-free. If $3 < \alpha < 4$, Pop.~III survivors would be most polluted by ISOs up to [Fe/H] $\sim -7$. If $\alpha < 3$ up to $D \sim 10$~km, Pop.~III survivors could hide in metal-poor stars so far discovered. Pop.~III survivors would be more polluted with decreasing the Galactocentric distance. Although the metal pollution depends on $\alpha$ and the Galactocentric distance, we first show the importance of ISOs for the metal pollution of Pop.~III survivors., Comment: 6 pages, 3 figures, accepted for publication in PASJ

The anomalous microwave emission (AME) still lacks a conclusive explanation. This excess of emission, roughly between 10 and 50 GHz, correlates spatially with interstellar dust, prompting a "spinning dust" hypothesis: electric dipole emission by rapidly rotating, small dust grains. The typical peak frequency range of the AME profile implicates grains on the order of ~1 nm, suggesting polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon molecules (PAHs). We compare AKARI/Infrared Camera (IRC), with its thorough PAH-band coverage, to AME intensity estimates from the Planck Collaboration, in the {\lambda} Orionis region. We look also at infrared dust emission from other mid IR and far-IR bands. The results and discussion contained here apply to an angular scale of approximately 1{\deg}. In general, our results support an AME-from-dust hypothesis. In {\lambda} Orionis, we find that certainly dust mass correlates with AME, and that PAH-related emission in the AKARI/IRC 9 {\mu}m band may correlate slightly more strongly., Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, to appear in proceedings of AKARI Conference 2017, "The Cosmic Wheel and the Legacy of the AKARI Archive: From Galaxies and Stars to Planets and Life", comments welcome

A significant number of the parameters of a gamma-ray burst (GRB) and its host galaxy are calculated from the afterglow. There are various methods obtaining extinction values for the necessary correction for galactic foreground. These are: galaxy counts, from HI 21 cm surveys, from spectroscopic measurements and colors of nearby Galactic stars, or using extinction maps calculated from infrared surveys towards the GRB. We demonstrate that AKARI Far-Infrared Surveyor sky surface brightness maps are useful uncovering the fine structure of the galactic foreground of GRBs. Galactic cirrus structures of a number of GRBs are calculated with a 2 arcminute resolution, and the results are compared to that of other methods.

We present the first results from the B-fields In STar-forming Region Observations (BISTRO) survey, using the Sub-millimetre Common-User Bolometer Array 2 (SCUBA-2) camera, with its associated polarimeter (POL-2), on the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope (JCMT) in Hawaii. We discuss the survey's aims and objectives. We describe the rationale behind the survey, and the questions which the survey will aim to answer. The most important of these is the role of magnetic fields in the star formation process on the scale of individual filaments and cores in dense regions. We describe the data acquisition and reduction processes for POL-2, demonstrating both repeatability and consistency with previous data. We present a first-look analysis of the first results from the BISTRO survey in the OMC 1 region. We see that the magnetic field lies approximately perpendicular to the famous 'integral filament' in the densest regions of that filament. Furthermore, we see an 'hour-glass' magnetic field morphology extending beyond the densest region of the integral filament into the less-dense surrounding material, and discuss possible causes for this. We also discuss the more complex morphology seen along the Orion Bar region. We examine the morphology of the field along the lower-density north-eastern filament. We find consistency with previous theoretical models that predict magnetic fields lying parallel to low-density, non-self-gravitating filaments, and perpendicular to higher-density, self-gravitating filaments., Comment: 12 pages, 8 figures, accepted for publication in ApJ

Zodiacal emission is thermal emission from interplanetary dust. Its contribution to the sky brightness is non-negligible in the region near the ecliptic plane, even in the far-infrared (far-IR) wavelength regime. We analyse zodiacal emission observed by the AKARI far-IR all-sky survey, which covers 97% of the entire sky at arcminute-scale resolution in four photometric bands, with central wavelengths of 65, 90, 140, and 160 $\mu$m. AKARI detected small-scale structures in the zodiacal dust cloud, including the asteroidal dust bands and the circumsolar ring, at far-IR wavelengths. Although the smooth component of the zodiacal emission structure in the far-IR sky can be reproduced well by models based on existing far-IR observations, previous zodiacal emission models have discrepancies in the small-scale structures compared with observations. We investigate the geometry of the small-scale dust-band structures in the AKARI far-IR all-sky maps and construct template maps of the asteroidal dust bands and the circumsolar ring components based on the AKARI far-IR maps. In the maps, $\pm 1.4\deg$, $\pm 2.1\deg$ and $\pm 10\deg$ asteroidal dust-band structures are detected in the 65 $\mu$m and 90 $\mu$m bands. A possible $\pm 17\deg$ band may also have been detected. No evident dust-band structures are identified in either the 140 $\mu$m or the 160 $\mu$m bands. By subtracting the dust-band templates constructed in this paper, we can achieve a similar level of flux calibration of the AKARI far-IR all-sky maps in the $|\beta| < 40\deg$ region to that in the region for $|\beta| > 40\deg$., Comment: 27 pages, 10 figures, and 3 tables, accepted for publication in PASJ

We perform image stacking analysis of Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) photometric galaxies over the AKARI Far-Infrared Surveyor (FIS) maps at 65{\mu}m, 90{\mu}m, and 140{\mu}m. The resulting image profiles are decomposed into the central galaxy component (single term) and the nearby galaxy component (clustering term), as a function of the r-band magnitude, m_r of the central galaxy. We find that the mean far-infrared (FIR) flux of a galaxy with magnitude m_r is well fitted with f^s_{90{\mu}m}=13*10^{0.306(18-m_r)}[mJy]. The FIR amplitude of the clustering term is consistent with that expected from the angular-correlation function of the SDSS galaxies, but galaxy morphology dependence needs to be taken into account for a more quantitative conclusion. We also fit the spectral energy distribution of stacked galaxies at 65{\mu}m, 90{\mu}m, and 140{\mu}m, and derive a mean dust temperature of ~30K. This is consistent with the typical dust temperature of galaxies that are FIR luminous and individually detected., Comment: 19 pages, 17 figures, 3tables, accepted for publication in PASJ

In the evolutionary path of interstellar medium inquiry, many new species of interstellar dust have been modeled and discovered. The modes by which these species interact and evolve are beginning to be understood, but in recent years a peculiar new feature has appeared in microwave surveys. Anomalous microwave emission (AME), appearing between 10 and 90 GHz, has been correlated with thermal dust emission, leading to the popular suggestion that this anomaly is electric dipole emission from spinning dust. The observed frequencies suggest that spinning grains should be on the order of 1 nm in size, hinting at poly-cyclic aromatic hydrocarbon molecules. We present data from AKARI/Infrared Camera (IRC), due to the effective PAH/Unidentified Infrared Band (UIR) coverage of its 9 micron survey to investigate their role within a few regions showing strong AME in the Planck low frequency data. We include the well studied Perseus and rho Ophiuchi clouds . We use the IRAS/IRIS 100 micron data to account for the overall dust temperature. We present our results as abundance maps for dust emitting around 9 micron, and 100 micron. Part of the AME in these regions may actually be attributed to thermal dust emission, or the star forming nature of these targets is masking the vibrational modes of PAHs which should be present there, suggesting further investigation for various galactic environments., Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures, Non-peer-reviewed conference proceedings (Life Cycle of Dust in the Universe 2013, Taipei). Minor typos corrected

We present an initial analysis of the properties of the all-sky image obtained by the Far-Infrared Surveyor (FIS) onboard the AKARI satellite, at 65~$\mu$m (N60), 90~$\mu$m (WIDE-S), 140~$\mu$m (WIDE-L),and 160~$\mu$m (N160). Absolute flux calibration was determined by comparing the data with the COBE/DIRBE data sets, and the intensity range was as wide as from a few MJy~sr$^{-1}$ to $>$1~GJy~sr$^{-1}$. The uncertainties are considered to be the standard deviations with respect to the DIRBE data, and they are less than 10\% for intensities above 10, 3, 25, and 26~MJy~sr$^{-1}$ at the N60, WIDE-S, WIDE-L, and N160 bands, respectively. The characteristics of point sources in the image were also determined by stacking maps centred on photometric standard stars. The full width at half maxima of the point spread functions (PSFs) were 63$"$, 78$"$, and 88$"$ at the N60, WIDE-S, and WIDE-L bands, respectively. The PSF at the N160 band was not obtained due to the sensitivity, but it is thought to be the same as that of the WIDE-L one., Comment: 7 pages, 5 figures, accepted for publication in PASJ

We present a far-infrared all-sky atlas from a sensitive all-sky survey using the Japanese $AKARI$ satellite. The survey covers $> 99$% of the sky in four photometric bands centred at 65 $\mu$m, 90 $\mu$m, 140 $\mu$m, and 160 $\mu$m with spatial resolutions ranging from 1 to 1.5 arcmin. These data provide crucial information for the investigation and characterisation of the properties of dusty material in the Interstellar Medium (ISM), since significant portion of its energy is emitted between $\sim$50 and 200 $\mu$m. The large-scale distribution of interstellar clouds, their thermal dust temperatures and column densities, can be investigated with the improved spatial resolution compared to earlier all-sky survey observations. In addition to the point source distribution, the large-scale distribution of ISM cirrus emission, and its filamentary structure, are well traced. We have made the first public release of the full-sky data to provide a legacy data set for use by the astronomical community., Comment: 22 pages, 18 figures, accepted to PASJ

Investigations of the point spread functions (PSFs) and flux calibrations for stacking analysis have been performed with the far-infrared (wavelengths range of 60 to 140 um all-sky maps taken by the Far-Infrared Surveyor (FIS) onboard the AKARI satellite. The PSFs are investigated by stacking the maps at the positions of standard stars with their fluxes of 0.02 -10 Jy. The derived full widths at the half maximum (FWHMs) of the PSFs are ~ 60 arcsec at 65 and 90 um and ~ 90 arcsec at 140 um, which are much smaller than that of the previous all-sky maps obtained with IRAS (~ 6 arcmin). Any flux dependence in the PSFs is not seen on the investigated flux range. By performing the flux calibrations, we found that absolute photometry for faint sources can be carried out with constant calibration factors, which range from 0.6 to 0.8. After applying the calibration factors, the photometric accuracies for the stacked sources in the 65, 90, and 140 um bands are 9, 3, and 21 %, respectively, even below the detection limits of the survey. Any systematic dependence between the observed flux and model flux is not found. These results indicate that the FIS map is a useful dataset for the stacking analyses of faint sources at far-infrared wavelengths., Comment: 15 pages, 6 figures, PASJ, in press

Far-infrared observations provide crucial data for the investigation and characterisation of the properties of dusty material in the Interstellar Medium (ISM), since most of its energy is emitted between ~100 and 200 um. We present the first all-sky image from a sensitive all-sky survey using the Japanese AKARI satellite, in the wavelength range 50 -- 180 um. Covering >99% of the sky in four photometric bands with four filters centred at 65 um, 90 um, 140 um, and 160 um wavelengths, this achieved spatial resolutions from 1 to 2 arcmin and a detection limit of <10 MJy sr-1, with absolute and relative photometric accuracies of <20%. All-sky images of the Galactic dust continuum emission enable astronomers to map the large-scale distribution of the diffuse ISM cirrus, to study its thermal dust temperature, emissivity and column density, and to measure the interaction of the Galactic radiation field and embedded objects with the surrounding ISM. In addition to the point source population of stars, protostars, star-forming regions, and galaxies, the high Galactic latitude sky is shown to be covered with a diffuse filamentary-web of dusty emission that traces the potential sites of high latitude star formation. We show that the temperature of dust particles in thermal equilibrium with the ambient interstellar radiation field can be estimated by using 90 um, 140 um, and 160 um data. The FIR AKARI full-sky maps provide a rich new data set within which astronomers can investigate the distribution of interstellar matter throughout our Galaxy, and beyond., Comment: Accepted for Publications of the Korean Astronomical Society (September 30, 2012 issue, volume 27, No. 3), Proceedings of the Second AKARI conference, Legacy of AKARI: A Panoramic View of the Dusty Universe. 6 pages

The Far-Infrared Surveyor (FIS) onboard the AKARI satellite has a spectroscopic capability provided by a Fourier transform spectrometer (FIS-FTS). FIS-FTS is the first space-borne imaging FTS dedicated to far-infrared astronomical observations. We describe the calibration process of the FIS-FTS and discuss its accuracy and reliability. The calibration is based on the observational data of bright astronomical sources as well as two instrumental sources. We have compared the FIS-FTS spectra with the spectra obtained from the Long Wavelength Spectrometer (LWS) of the Infrared Space Observatory (ISO) having a similar spectral coverage. The present calibration method accurately reproduces the spectra of several solar system objects having a reliable spectral model. Under this condition the relative uncertainty of the calibration of the continuum is estimated to be $\pm$ 15% for SW, $\pm$ 10% for 70-85 cm^(-1) of LW, and $\pm$ 20% for 60-70 cm^(-1) of LW; and the absolute uncertainty is estimated to be +35/-55% for SW, +35/-55% for 70-85 cm^(-1) of LW, and +40/-60% for 60-70 cm^(-1) of LW. These values are confirmed by comparison with theoretical models and previous observations by the ISO/LWS., Comment: 22 pages, 10 figures

We present the characterization and calibration of the Slow-Scan observation mode of the Far-Infrared Surveyor (FIS) onboard the AKARI satellite. The FIS, one of the two focal-plane instruments on AKARI, has four photometric bands between 50--180 um with two types of Ge:Ga array detectors. In addition to the All-Sky Survey, FIS has also taken detailed far-infrared images of selected targets by using the Slow-Scan mode. The sensitivity of the Slow-Scan mode is one to two orders of magnitude better than that of the All-Sky Survey, because the exposure time on a targeted source is much longer. The point spread functions (PSFs) were obtained by observing several bright point-like objects such as asteroids, stars, and galaxies. The derived full widths at the half maximum (FWHMs) are ~30'' for the two shorter wavelength bands and ~40'' for the two longer wavelength bands, being consistent with those expected by the optical simulation, although a certain amount of excess is seen in the tails of the PSFs. The flux calibration has been performed by the observations of well-established photometric calibration standards (asteroids and stars) in a wide range of fluxes. After establishing the method of aperture photometry, the photometric accuracy for point-sources is better than +-15% in all of the bands expect for the longest wavelength., Comment: 25 pages, 7 figures, accepted publication in PASJ

We have developed an imaging Fourier transform spectrometer (FTS) for space-based far-infrared astronomical observations. The FTS employs a newly developed photoconductive detector arrays with a capacitive trans-impedance amplifier, which makes the FTS a completely unique instrument. The FTS was installed as a function of the far-infrared instrument (FIS: Far-Infrared Surveyor) on the Japanese astronomical satellite, AKARI, which was launched on February 21, 2006 (UT) from the Uchinoura Space Center. The FIS-FTS had been operated for more than one year before liquid helium ran out on August 26, 2007. The FIS-FTS was operated nearly six hundreds times, which corresponds to more than one hundred hours of astronomical observations and almost the same amount of time for calibrations. As expected from laboratory measurements, the FIS-FTS performed well and has produced a large set of astronomical data for valuable objects. Meanwhile, it becomes clear that the detector transient effect is a considerable factor for FTSs with photoconductive detectors. In this paper, the instrumentation of the FIS-FTS and interesting phenomena related to FTS using photoconductive detectors are described, and future applications of this kind of FTS system are discussed., Comment: 10 pages, 6 figures, 2 tables, accepted for publication in PASJ AKARI special issue

The Far-Infrared Surveyor (FIS) is one of two focal plane instruments on the AKARI satellite. FIS has four photometric bands at 65, 90, 140, and 160 um, and uses two kinds of array detectors. The FIS arrays and optics are designed to sweep the sky with high spatial resolution and redundancy. The actual scan width is more than eight arcmin, and the pixel pitch is matches the diffraction limit of the telescope. Derived point spread functions (PSFs) from observations of asteroids are similar to the optical model. Significant excesses, however, are clearly seen around tails of the PSFs, whose contributions are about 30% of the total power. All FIS functions are operating well in orbit, and its performance meets the laboratory characterizations, except for the two longer wavelength bands, which are not performing as well as characterized. Furthermore, the FIS has a spectroscopic capability using a Fourier transform spectrometer (FTS). Because the FTS takes advantage of the optics and detectors of the photometer, it can simultaneously make a spectral map. This paper summarizes the in-flight technical and operational performance of the FIS., Comment: 23 pages, 10 figures, and 2 tables. Accepted for publication in the AKARI special issue of the Publications of the Astronomical Society of Japan

We present the observations of the reflection nebulae IC4954 and IC4955 region with the Infrared Camera (IRC) and the Far-Infrared Surveyor (FIS) on board the infrared astronomical satellite AKARI during its performance verification phase. We obtained 7 band images from 7 to 160um with higher spatial resolution and higher sensitivities than previous observations. The mid-infrared color of the S9W (9um) and L18W (18um) bands shows a systematic variation around the exciting sources. The spatial variation in the mid-infrared color suggests that the star-formation in IC4954/4955 is progressing from south-west to north-east. The FIS data also clearly resolve two nebulae for the first time in the far-infrared. The FIS 4-band data from 65um to 160um allow us to correctly estimate the total infrared luminosity from the region, which is about one sixth of the energy emitted from the existing stellar sources. Five candidates for young stellar objects have been detected as point sources for the first time in the 11um image. They are located in the red S9W to L18W color regions, suggesting that current star-formation has been triggered by previous star-formation activities. A wide area map of the size of about 1 x 1 (deg^2) around the IC4954/4955 region was created from the AKARI mid-infrared all-sky survey data. Together with the HI 21cm data, it suggests a large hollow structure of a degree scale, on whose edge the IC4954/4955 region has been created, indicating star formation over three generations in largely different spatial scales., Comment: 23 pages, 7 figures, accepted for publication in PASJ AKARI special issue

We present the spatially resolved observations of IRAS sources from the Japanese infrared astronomy satellite AKARI All-Sky Survey during the performance verification (PV) phase of the mission. We extracted reliable point sources matched with IRAS point source catalogue. By comparing IRAS and AKARI fluxes, we found that the flux measurements of some IRAS sources could have been over or underestimated and affected by the local background rather than the global background. We also found possible candidates for new AKARI sources and confirmed that AKARI observations resolved IRAS sources into multiple sources. All-Sky Survey observations are expected to verify the accuracies of IRAS flux measurements and to find new extragalactic point sources., Comment: 11 pages, 7 figures, accepted publication in PASJ AKARI special issue

We report initial results of far-infrared observations of the Lockman hole with Far-Infrared Surveyor (FIS) onboard the AKARI infrared satellite. On the basis of slow scan observations of a 0.6 deg x 1.2 deg contiguous area, we obtained source number counts at 65, 90 and 140 um down to 77, 26 and 194 mJy (3 sigma), respectively. The counts at 65 and 140 um show good agreement with the Spitzer results. However, our 90 um counts are clearly lower than the predicted counts by recent evolutionary models that fit the Spitzer counts in all the MIPS bands. Our 90 um counts above 26 mJy account for about 7% of the cosmic background. These results provide strong constraints on the evolutionary scenario and suggest that the current models may require modifications., Comment: 25 pages, 8 figures, Publications of the Astronomical Society of Japan, in press

We present results of our survey observations of the [C II] 158 micron line emission from the Galactic plane using the Balloon-borne Infrared Carbon Explorer (BICE). Our survey covers a wide area (350 deg < l < 25 deg, |b| < 3 deg) with a spatial resolution of 15'. We employed a new observing method called the ``fast spectral scanning'' to make large-scale observations efficiently. Strong [C II] line emission was detected from almost all areas we observed. In the general Galactic plane, the spatial distribution of the [C II] line emission correlates very well with that of far-infrared continuum emission, but diffuse components are more prominent in the [C II] line emission; the I_[CII]/I_FIR ratio is ~0.6 % for diffuse components but is ~0.2 % for compact sources such as active star-forming regions. In the Galactic center region, on the other hand, the distribution of the [C II] line emission is quite different from that of the far-infrared continuum emission, and the I_[CII]/I_FIR ratio is systematically lower there. The FWHM velocity resolution of our instrument is 175 km/s, but we determined the central velocity of the line at each observed point very precisely with statistical errors as small as +- 6 km/s. The longitudinal distribution of the central velocity clearly shows the differential rotation pattern of the Galactic disk and also violent velocity fields around the Galactic center., Comment: ApJ Supplement accepted. 22 pagess, 14 figures. Postscript figures also available at http://koala.astro.isas.ac.jp/~nakagawa/preprint/gp1/abstract.html

We have observed the [CII] 158 micron line emission from the Galactic plane (-10 deg < l < 25 deg, |b| <= 3 deg) with the Balloon-borne Infrared Carbon Explorer (BICE). The observed longitudinal distribution of the [CII] line emission is clearly different from that of the far-infrared continuum emission; the Galactic center is not the dominant peak in the [CII] emission. Indeed, the ratio of the [CII] line emission to far-infrared continuum (I_[CII] / I_FIR) is systematically low within the central several hundred parsecs of the Galaxy. The observational results indicate that the abundance of the C+ ions themselves is low in the Galactic center. We attribute this low abundance mainly to soft UV radiation with fewer C-ionizing photons. This soft radiation field, together with the pervasively high molecular gas density, makes the molecular self-shielding more effective in the Galactic center. The self-shielding further reduces the abundance of C+ ions, and raises the temperature of molecular gas at the C+/C/CO transition zone., Comment: Compressed uuencoded postcript, 15 pages with 2 figures, to appear in the Astrophysical Journal (Letters)