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In this paper, the results obtained from the polarimetric study of a Bok globule CB17 in both optical and sub-millimeter wavelength are presented. The optical polarimetric observations in R-band ($\lambda$ = 630 nm, $\Delta \lambda$ = 120 nm) were conducted from 1.04-meter Sampurnanand Telescope, ARIES, Nainital, India on 9th March 2016, while, the sub-mm polarimetric data are taken from the SCUPOL data archive which has been reanalyzed. The contours of Herschel\footnote{Herschel is an ESA space observatory with science instruments provided by European-led Principal Investigator consortia and with important participation from NASA.} SPIRE 500$\mu m$ dust continuum emissions of CB17 (typically a cometary-shaped globule) are overlaid on the DSS image of CB17 along with polarization vectors (optical and submm). The magnetic field strength at the core of the globule is estimated to be $99\mu$G. Using the Near-Infrared photometric technique and \emph{Gaia} data, the distance to CB17 is found to be $253 \pm 43$ parsec. A correlation between the various quantities of the globule is also studied. It is observed that the magnetic field in the cloud core as revealed by polarization measurements at the sub-millimeter dust emission is found to be almost aligned along the minor axis of the globule which fits the magnetically regulated star formation model. The misalignment between core-scale magnetic field direction and molecular outflow direction is also found., Comment: 24 pages, 6 figures, Accepted in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Journal (MNRAS)

We study the light scattering properties of moderately large dust aggregates ($0.8\mu m \lesssim R \lesssim 2.0\mu m$) with a wide variation of porosity ($\mathcal{P}$) from 0.57 to 0.98. The computations are performed using the Superposition T-matrix code with BAM2 cluster ($\mathcal{P} \sim 0.57-0.64$), BAM1 cluster ($\mathcal{P} \sim 0.74$), BA or BPCA cluster ($\mathcal{P} \sim 0.85-0.87$) and BCCA cluster ($\mathcal{P} \sim 0.98$). The effect of aggregate size parameter ($X$) on the light scattering properties of aggregates (BA and BAM2) having different porosities is explored in this study. We find that the positive polarization maximum ($P_{max}$), the amplitude of the negative polarization ($P_{min}$) and phase function at the exact backscattering direction ($S_{11}$(180$^\circ$)) are correlated with the porosity of aggregates. Compact aggregates show deeper negative polarization as compared to porous aggregates when the characteristic radius ($R$) of the aggregates are considered to be the same. Further lower porosity aggregates show higher $S_{11}$(180$^\circ$) and vice versa. When $\mathcal{P}$ is increased in a range from 0.64 to 0.98, both ${S}_{11}(180^\circ$) and $P_{min}$ decrease linearly, whereas P$_{max}$ increases linearly. We also find that the porosity of the aggregates plays a crucial role in determining the polarimetric color for high absorbing organic refractories. The compact clusters (BAM1 and BAM2) show the negative polarimetric color whereas BA clusters show almost positive polarimetric color at all values of scattering angle. We have also made some comparisons of our simulated results with PROGRA$^2$ experimental results., Comment: Accepted in Astrophysics & Space Science (15 pages, 2 tables, 10 figures)

We report the results of optical polarimetric observations of a Bok globule CB34 to study magnetic field structure on large scales ($10^5-10^6$ AU), which is combined with archival sub-mm observations to characterize the magnetic field structure of CB34 on small scales ($10^4 - 10^5$ AU). The optical polarization measurements indicate that the magnetic field in the globule is constrained to a maximum radius of $10^5$AU around the core, out to densities not smaller than $10^4$cm$^{-3}$. Our study is mainly concentrated on two submillimeter cores C1 and C2 of CB34. The direction of magnetic field of core C2 is found to be nearly perpendicular to the CO outflow direction of the globule. The magnetic field of core C1 is almost aligned with the minor axis of the core which is typical for magnetically dominated star formation models. The mean value of offset between the minor axis of core C2 and the outflow direction is found to be $14^\circ$ which suggests that the direction of the outflow is almost aligned with the minor axis of core C2. The magnetic field strength in the plane-of-sky for cores C1 and C2 is estimated to be $\approx 34\mu$G and $\approx 70\mu$G., Comment: Accepted in Astrophysics and Space Science Journal (15 pages, 5 figures, 7 tables)

We trace the peripheral magnetic field structure of Bok globule CB130, by estimating the linear polarization of its field stars in the R band. The magnetic field orientation sampled by these stars, aligned on average among themselves and the polarization produced within the cloud has a different direction from that of Galactic plane with an offset of 53$^\circ$. The offset between minor axis and the mean magnetic field of CB130 is found to be 80$^\circ$. The estimated strength of the magnetic field in the plane-of-the-sky is $\sim$ 116$\pm$19 $\mu$G. We constructed the visual extinction map using Near Infrared Color Excess (NICE) method to see the dust distribution around CB130. Contours of Herschel {Herschel is an ESA space observatory with science instruments provided by European-led Principal Investigator consortia and with important participation from NASA} SPIRE 500$\mu$m dust continuum emission maps of this cloud is over-plotted on the visual extinction map which shows the regions having higher optical extinction corresponds to higher densities of dust. Three distinct high dust density cores (named as C1, C2, and C3) are identified in the extinction map. It is observed that the cores C1 and C3 located close to two previously known cores CB130-1 and CB130-2 respectively. Estimate of visual extinction of some moderately obscured stars of CB130 are made utilizing near-infra red photometry. Its observed that there is a feeble dependence of polarization on extinction; and polarization efficiency (defined as $ \textit{p}$/A$ {V}$) of the dust grains decreases with the increase in extinction., Comment: Accepted in Astrophysics and Space Science journal (14 pages, 5 figures, 3 tables)

The distance determination of small Bok globules is often difficult because of its small size and opaqueness. In this work, we determine the distances to six small Bok globules CB 17, CB 24, CB 188, CB 224, CB 230 and CB 240 using near infra red photometry (2MASS $JHK_S$ colors). The distances to these clouds are estimated to be $478 \pm 88$, $293 \pm 54$, $262 \pm 49$, $378 \pm 70$, $293 \pm 54$ and $429 \pm 79$ parsec respectively., Comment: 20 pages, 13 figures (Accepted in MNRAS)

We report the results obtained from the optical polarimetric study of the light scattered by comets C/2013 V1 (Boattini) and 290P/Jager at lower phase angles. The polarimetric observations of two comets have been performed with the 1.04-m Sampurnanand telescope of Aryabhatta Research Institute of observational sciencES near Nainital in India on 2013 December 4 and 5 and on 2014 April 24 using R photometric band ($\lambda$ = 630 nm, $\Delta$$\lambda$ =120nm). We covered observations in both the pre and post perihelion passage of comets C/2013 V1 (Boattini) and 290P/Jager at two phase angles $\sim$ 13$^\circ$ and 27$^\circ$. The degree of polarization changes from ($-1.4$$\pm 0.3$)per cent to (+2.8$\pm 0.5$)per cent for comet C/2013 V1 (Boattini) and ($-1.6$$\pm 0.5$)per cent to (+2.5$\pm 0.5$)per cent for comet 290P/Jager at phase angles $\sim$ 13$^\circ$ and 27$^\circ$ respectively. The change in the physical properties of cometary dust is being well studied from the polarization maps obtained for both the period of observations. It is found that the aperture polarization values are comparable to those of other comets. The variation in the brightness profile of both the comets from the standard canonical nature is also being observed in both the solar and anti-solar direction during this phase which suggests the various physical evolution influencing the cometary comae., Comment: 14 pages, 5 figures (Accepted in MNRAS Journal on March 27, 2015)

We present the polarimetric results and analysis of comet C/2012 L2 (LINEAR) observed at 31$^\circ$.1 phase angle before perihelion passage. The observations of the comet were carried out using ARIES Imaging Polarimeter (AIMPOL) mounted on the 1.04-m Sampurnanand telescope of ARIES, Nainital, India on 11 and 12 March, 2013 using R photometric band ($\lambda$ = 630 nm, $\Delta$$\lambda$ =120nm). The extended coma of the comet ($\sim65000$ km) shows a significant variation in the intensity as well as polarization profile in all considered directions which suggest that the dust particles originate from the active areas of the nucleus. The elongation of the coma is prominent along the Sun-comet position angle. The polarization of Comet C/2012 L2 (LINEAR) does not show steep radial dependence on the aperture size during both the nights of observation. A jet extended in the antisolar direction is well observed in both intensity and polarization map., Comment: 21 pages, 4 figures, Accepted in Icarus on July 2, 2014

In this paper, we report the development of a java application for the Superposition T-matrix code, JaSTA (Java Superposition T-matrix App), to study the light scattering properties of aggregate structures. It has been developed using Netbeans 7.1.2, which is a java integrated development environment (IDE). The JaSTA uses double precession superposition codes for multi-sphere clusters in random orientation developed by Mackowski and Mischenko (1996). It consists of a graphical user interface (GUI) in the front hand and a database of related data in the back hand. Both the interactive GUI and database package directly enable a user to model by self-monitoring respective input parameters (namely, wavelength, complex refractive indices, grain size, etc.) to study the related optical properties of cosmic dust (namely, extinction, polarization, etc.) instantly, i.e., with zero computational time. This increases the efficiency of the user. The database of JaSTA is now created for a few sets of input parameters with a plan to create a large database in future. This application also has an option where users can compile and run the scattering code directly for aggregates in GUI environment. The JaSTA aims to provide convenient and quicker data analysis of the optical properties which can be used in different fields like planetary science, atmospheric science, nano science, etc. The current version of this software is developed for the Linux and Windows platform to study the light scattering properties of small aggregates which will be extended for larger aggregates using parallel codes in future., Comment: 12 pages, 18 figures

We present the polarization maps of three selected Bok globules CB56, CB60 and CB69 constructed using a V-band data from a CCD imaging polarimeter. The aim of this work is to measure the optical polarization ($p_v$) of background field stars in order to determine the polarization efficiency, $p_v/A_v$. We find that the local magnetic field of the cloud CB56 is almost aligned with the galactic field, but not in CB60 and CB69. A trend of decreasing polarization efficiency with increasing extinction ($A_v$) is observed: it can be well represented by a power law, $p_v/A_v \propto A_v^{-\alpha}$, where $\alpha = -0.56 \pm 0.36$, $-0.59 \pm 0.51$ and $-0.52 \pm 0.49$ for CB56, CB60 and CB69 respectively. This indicates that the linear polarization of the starlight due to aligned dust grains in these clouds is produced more efficiently in low extinction regions, compared with high obscured lines of sight., Comment: 13 pages, 8 figures

We present the optical imaging polarimetric observations of comet C/2009 P1(Garradd) at three different phase angles e.g., 28.2$^\circ$, 28.1$^\circ$ and 21.6$^\circ$. The observations were carried out using IUCAA Faint Object Spectrograph and Camera mounted on Cassegrain focus of the 2-m Telescope of IGO, IUCAA, Pune in R$_{comet}$, R photometric bands, on 21 and 22 March 2012 and ARIES Imaging Polarimeter mounted on Cassegrain focus of the 1.04-m Sampurnanand Telescope of ARIES, Nainital in R photometric band, on 23 May 2012. We show the presence of a jet activity in the rotational gradient treated image of comet Garradd at phase angle 28.1$^\circ$. These jets are mainly oriented towards the Sun and extended up to $\sim$ 5100 km from the cometary photocenter. The antisolar extension of jet seems to be fainter, which is extended up to $\sim$ 1800 km. It is found that the comet Garradd shows negative polarization at phase angle 21.6$^\circ$. The degree of polarization derived for Garradd is in good agreement with other comets at nearly similar phase angles e.g., comets 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, 22P/Kopff, 1P/Halley, C/1990 K1 (Levy), 4P/Faye, and C/1995 O1 (Hale-Bopp) at phase angle $\sim$ 28$^\circ$, and 47P/Ashbrook-Jackson at phase angle $\sim$ 21.6$^\circ$, respectively. It is also found that the degree of polarization of dusty coma of comet Garradd at phase angle $\sim$ 28$^\circ$ is high but, not as high as in the case of comet Hale-Bopp., Comment: (Accepted in MNRAS on September 26, 2013) 8 pages, 3 figures, 3 tables

The measurement of polarization of the background stars in the region of Bok globules is important to study the magnetic field geometry and dust grain characteristics in the globule. These parameters are important for the formation and evolution of dark clouds. We made polarimetric observations of Bok globule CB56 in the R-filter from the 2-metre telescope at IUCAA Girawali Observatory (IGO). The observations were carried out on 2011 March 4th and 5th. The CCD images obtained from the instrument (IFOSC) were analyzed, to produce the polarization map of the Bok globule CB56., Comment: 7 pages, 1 figure, 4 tables; To appear in the Bulletin of the Astronomical Society of India (BASI) in the June 2012 issue

Bidirectional reflectance of a surface is defined as the ratio of the scattered radiation at the detector to the incident irradiance as a function of geometry. The accurate knowledge of the bidirectional reflection function (BRF) of layers composed of discrete, randomly positioned scattering particles is very essential for many remote sensing, engineering, biophysical applications and in different areas of Astrophysics. The computations of BRF's for plane parallel particulate layers are usually reduced to solve the radiative transfer equation (RTE) by the existing techniques. In this work we present our laboratory data on bidirectional reflectance versus phase angle for two sample sizes of 0.3 and 1 $\mu m$ of Alumina for the He-Ne laser at 632.8 nm (red) and 543.5nm(green) wavelength. The nature of the phase curves of the asteroids depends on the parameters like- particle size, composition, porosity, roughness etc. In our present work we analyse the data which are being generated using single scattering phase function i.e. Mie theory considering particles to be compact sphere. The well known Hapke formula will be considered along with different particle phase function such as Mie and Henyey Greenstein etc to model the laboratory data obtained at the asteroid laboratory of Assam University., Comment: 5 pages, 5 figures [accepted for publication in Publications of the Astronomical Society of Australia (PASA) on 8 June, 2011]

Recently, the result obtained from `Stardust' mission suggests that the overall ratio of compact to aggregate particles is 65:35 (or 13:7) for Comet 81P/Wild 2 (Burchell et al. 2008). In the present work, we propose a model which considers cometary dust as a mixture of compact and aggregate particles, with composition of silicate and organic. We consider compact particles as spheroidal particles and aggregates as BCCA and BAM2 aggregate with some size distribution. For modeling Comet 1P/ Halley, the power-law size distribution n(a)= a^{-2.6}, for both compact and aggregate particles is taken. We take a mixture of BAM2 and BCCA aggregates with a lower and upper cutoff size around 0.20$\mu m$ and 1$\mu m$. We also take a mixture of prolate, spherical and oblate compact particles with axial ratio (E) from 0.8 to 1.2 where a lower and upper cutoff size around 0.1$\mu m$ and 10$\mu m$ are taken. Using T-matrix code, the average simulated polarization curves are generated which can best fit the observed polarization data at the four wavelengths $\lambda$ = 0.365$\mu m$, 0.485$\mu m$, 0.670$\mu m$ and 0.684$\mu m$. The suitable mixing percentage of aggregates emerging out from the present modeling corresponds to 50% BAM2 and 50% BCCA particles and silicate to organic mixing percentage corresponds to 78% silicate and 22% organic in terms of volume. The present model successfully reproduces the observed polarization data, especially the negative branch, more effectively as compared to other work done in the past. It is found that among the aggregates, the BAM2 aggregate plays a major role, in deciding the cross-over angle and depth of negative polarization branch., Comment: 7 pages, 5 figures (accepted for publication in MNRAS on May 4, 2011)

In our present study, the observed linear polarization data of comet Hyakutake are studied at wavelengths $\lambda=0.365\mu m$, $\lambda=0.485\mu m$ and 0.684$\mu m$ through simulations using Ballistic Particle-Cluster Aggregate and Ballistic Cluster-Cluster Aggregate aggregates of 128 spherical monomers. We first investigated that the size parameter of the monomer, $x$ $\sim$ 1.56 -- 1.70, turned out to be most suitable which provides the best fits to the observed dust scattering properties at three wavelengths $\lambda = 0.365$$\mu m$, 0.485$\mu m$ and 0.684$\mu m$. Thus the effective radius of the aggregate (r) lies in the range $0.45 \mu m \le r \le 0.49 \mu m$ at $\lambda = 0.365$$\mu m$; $ 0.60 \mu m \le r \le 0.66 \mu m$ at $\lambda = 0.485$$\mu m$ and $0.88 \mu m \le r \le 0.94 \mu m$ at $\lambda = 0.684$$\mu m$. Now using superposition \textsc{t-matrix} code and the power-law size distribution, $n(r) \sim r^{-3}$, the best-fitting values of complex refractive indices are calculated which can best fit the observed polarization data at the above three wavelengths. The best-fitting complex refractive indices $(n,k)$ are found to be (1.745, 0.095) at $\lambda = 0.365 $ $\mu m$, (1.743, 0.100) at $\lambda = 0.485 $ $\mu m$ and (1.695, 0.100) at $\lambda = 0.684$ $\mu m$. The refractive indices coming out from the present analysis correspond to mixture of both silicates and organics, which are in good agreement with the \textit{in situ} measurement of comets by different spacecraft., Comment: 9 pages, 3 figures

In the present work, the non-spherical dust grain characteristics of comet Hale-Bopp are studied using the T-matrix method and the modified power law distribution function. It is found that the observed data fits very well with the power index ($\alpha) = - 3$. The best fit values of complex refractive index $(n, k)$ and the aspect ratio (E) at $\alpha = - 3$ are calculated to be $(1.382, 0.035, 0.936)$ and $(1.379, 0.041,0.936)$ at $\lambda = 0.485 \mu m$ and $0.684\mu m$ respectively. Kerola & Larson (K-L) analysed the same comet using the T-matrix method and the power law distribution function ($\alpha = -3$), and found that the prolate grains can explain the observed polarization in a more satisfactory manner as compared to the other shapes. But their analysis could not reproduce the negative polarization branch beyond scattering angle $157^0$. However, the results obtained from the present work successfully generate the expected negative polarization curve beyond $157^0$ and the fitting in this case is much better than K-L's work. So it is concluded from the present study that the use of modified power law distribution function (with $\alpha = - 3$) can fit the observed data in a better way, as compared to the power law distribution function used by previous authors., Comment: 6 pages, 2 figures, 2 Tables

In the present work, the non-spherical grain characteristics of comet Halley are analysed using the T-matrix method at $\lambda = 0.365, 0.485$ and $0.684\mu m$ respectively. In order to analyse the polarisation data of comet Halley, the dust size distribution function derived by Das et al. (2004) for comet Halley is used in the present work. The size range of the grains is taken to be 0.01$\mu m \le$ s $\le 3\mu m$. Using the T-matrix method, the best fit values of complex refractive indices $(n, k)$ and aspect ratio ($E$) are determined at three different wavelengths $ 0.365, 0.485$ and $0.684\mu m$ and the corresponding values are given by $(1.380, 0.043, 0.962), (1.378, 0.049, 0.962)$ and $(1.377, 0.058,0.962)$ respectively. After comparing the above result with Mie theory result, it is found that prolate grains give the best fit to the observed polarisation data of comet Halley. Also the negative polarisation behaviour of comet Halley is discussed thereafter., Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures, 1 table

In the present work, the non-spherical dust grain characteristics of comet Levy 1990XX with different silicate grain compositions (both pyroxene and olivine) are studied using the T-matrix method. Considering amorphous pyroxene grain (Mg$_x$Fe$_{1-x}$SiO$_3$) with $x$ (= 0.4, 0.5, 0.6, 0.7, 0.8, 0.95, 1) and amorphous olivine grain (Mg$_{2y}$Fe$_{2-2y}$SiO$_4$) with $y$ (= 0.4, 0.5) (Dorschner et al. 1995), the observed polarization data of comet Levy1990XX are analyzed using the T-matrix code at $\lambda$ = 0.485 $\mu m$., Comment: 9 pages, 5 figures

The polarization observed for stars background to dark clouds (Bok Globules) is often used as diagnostic to study the ongoing star formation processes in these clouds. Such polarization in the optical have been reported for eight nearby clouds CB3, CB25, CB39, CB52, CB54, CB58, CB62 and CB246 in one of our previous work (Sen et. al. 2000). With a view to understand the origin of this polarization, the the present work attempts are made to look for any possible relation between this observed polarization and other physical parameters in the cloud (like temperature, turbulence etc.). The observed polarization does not seem to be clearly related to the dust and gas temperatures (T_d and T_g) in the cloud as expected from the Davis-Greenstein grain alignment mechanism (Davis & Greenstein, 1952). However, the average observed polarization p_av appears to be related to the turbulence delta V (measured by 12CO line width) by the mathematical relation p_av=2.95exp(-0.24delta V). The possible realtion between the direction of polarization vector and other physical parameters are also discussed. For this analysis, in addition to the data on above eight clouds, the data on CB4 (Kane et. al., 1995) are also included for comparison., Comment: 15 pages, 12 figures, To appear in MNRAS, 2005