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Clustered stellar feedback creates expanding voids in the magnetized interstellar medium known as superbubbles. Although theory suggests that superbubble expansion is influenced by interstellar magnetic fields, direct observational data on 3D superbubble magnetic field geometry is limited. The Sun's location inside the Local Bubble provides a unique opportunity to infer a superbubble's 3D magnetic field orientation, under the assumptions that: $\mathrm{I}$) the Local Bubble's surface is the primary contributor to plane-of-the-sky polarization observations across much of the sky, and $\mathrm{II}$) the Local Bubble's magnetic field is tangent to its dust-traced shell. In this work, we validate these assumptions and construct a model of the Local Bubble's 3D B-field orientation from $\textit{Planck}$ 353 GHz polarization observations and a 3D-dust-derived model of the Local Bubble's shell. We test Assumption $\mathrm{I}$ by examining correlations between the Local Bubble's 3D geometry, dust polarization, and starlight polarization. We find that the Local Bubble likely dominates the polarized signal in the majority of lines of sight. We jointly test Assumptions $\mathrm{I}$ and $\mathrm{II}$ by applying our reconstruction method to a simulated superbubble, where we successfully reconstruct the 3D magnetic field orientation over the bulk of its surface. Finally, we use our 3D B-field model to infer the initial magnetic field orientation in the solar neighborhood prior to the Local Bubble's formation, and derive an orientation parallel to the present-day Local Arm of the galaxy. These findings provide new insights into the co-evolution of superbubbles and the magnetized interstellar medium., Comment: 29 pages, 16 figures. Submitted to ApJ

We present the largest Galactic neutral hydrogen HI absorption survey to date, utilizing the Australian SKA Pathfinder Telescope at an unprecedented spatial resolution of 30''. This survey, GASKAP-HI, unbiasedly targets 2,714 continuum background sources over 250 square degrees in the direction of the Magellanic Clouds, a significant increase compared to a total of 373 sources observed by previous Galactic absorption surveys across the entire Milky Way. We aim to investigate the physical properties of cold (CNM) and warm (WNM) neutral atomic gas in the Milky Way foreground, characterized by two prominent filaments at high Galactic latitudes (between $-45^{\circ}$ and $-25^{\circ}$). We detected strong HI absorption along 462 lines of sight above the 3$\sigma$ threshold, achieving an absorption detection rate of 17%. GASKAP-HI's unprecedented angular resolution allows for simultaneous absorption and emission measurements to sample almost the same gas clouds along a line of sight. A joint Gaussian decomposition is then applied to absorption-emission spectra to provide direct estimates of HI optical depths, temperatures, and column densities for the CNM and WNM components. The thermal properties of CNM components are consistent with those previously observed along a wide range of Solar neighborhood environments, indicating that cold HI properties are widely prevalent throughout the local interstellar medium. Across our region of interest, CNM accounts for ~30% of the total HI gas, with the CNM fraction increasing with column density toward the two filaments. Our analysis reveals an anti-correlation between CNM temperature and its optical depth, which implies that CNM with lower optical depth leads to a higher temperature., Comment: Largest Galactic HI Absorption Survey To Date (GASKAP-HI): Cold Atomic Gas in the Magellanic Cloud foreground using Australian SKA Pathfinder. This paper has 19 pages, 17 figures. This paper has been accepted for publication in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society Main Journal

Context. Turbulence is a key component of molecular cloud structure. It is usually described by a cascade of energy down to the dissipation scale. The power spectrum for subsonic incompressible turbulence is $k^{-5/3}$, while for supersonic turbulence it is $k^{-2}$. Aims. We aim to determine the power spectrum in an actively star-forming molecular cloud, from parsec scales down to the expected magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) wave cutoff (dissipation scale). Methods. We analyze observations of the nearby NGC 1333 star-forming region in three different tracers to cover the different scales from $\sim$10 pc down to 20 mpc. The largest scales are covered with the low density gas tracer $^{13}$CO (1-0) obtained with single dish, the intermediate scales are covered with single-dish observations of the C$^{18}$O (3-2) line, while the smallest scales are covered in H$^{13}$CO$^+$ (1-0) and HNC (1-0) with a combination of NOEMA interferometer and IRAM 30m single dish observations. The complementarity of these observations enables us to generate a combined power spectrum covering more than two orders of magnitude in spatial scale. Results. We derive the power spectrum in an active star-forming region spanning more than 2 decades of spatial scales. The power spectrum of the intensity maps shows a single power-law behavior, with an exponent of 2.9$\pm$0.1 and no evidence of dissipation. Moreover, there is evidence for the power-spectrum of the ions to have more power at smaller scales than the neutrals, which is opposite from theoretical expectations. Conclusions. We show new possibilities of studying the dissipation of energy at small scales in star-forming regions provided by interferometric observations., Comment: 6 pages (+2 appendix), 5 figures. Accepted to A&A Letters. GitHub repo with code available at https://github.com/jpinedaf/NGC1333_NOEMA_turbulence

We conducted a follow-up study on the analysis of the LOw Frequency ARray (LOFAR) Two-metre Sky Survey (LoTSS) mosaic in the high-latitude outer Galaxy presented in the first paper of this series. Here, we focus on the search for alignment between the magnetic field traced by dust, HI filaments, starlight optical linear polarisation, and linear depolarised structures (depolarisation canals) observed in low-frequency synchrotron polarisation. This alignment was previously found in several smaller fields observed with LOFAR, offering valuable insights into the nature of the interstellar medium and the 3D spatial distribution of the diffuse ionised medium. We aim to determine whether the alignment of the interstellar medium (ISM) phases observed through multiple tracers is a common occurrence or an exception. Additionally, in areas where depolarisation canals align with the magnetic field, we use starlight polarisation to constrain the distance to the structures associated with the observed canals. We employed the Rolling Hough Transform (RHT) and projected Rayleigh statistics (PRS) to identify and quantify the alignment between the different tracers. On the scale of the whole mosaic, we did not find any evidence of a universal alignment among the three tracers. However, in one particular area, the western region (Dec between $29^\circ$ and $70^\circ$ and RA between $\mathrm{7^h44^m}$ and $\mathrm{9^h20^m}$), we do find a significant alignment between the magnetic field, depolarisation canals, and HI filaments. Based on this alignment, we used the starlight polarisation of stars with known parallax distances to estimate that the minimum distance to the structures observed by LOFAR in this region lies within the range of 200 to 240 pc. We associate these structures with the edge of the Local Bubble., Comment: 11 pages, 10 figures; accepted for publication in A&A; data products are available at https://data.fulir.irb.hr/islandora/object/irb:367

Obtaining reliable distance estimates to gas clouds within the Milky Way is challenging in the absence of certain tracers. The kinematic distance approach has been used as an alternative, derived from the assumption of circular trajectories around the Galactic centre. Consequently, significant errors are expected in regions where gas flow deviates from purely circular motions. We aim to quantify the systematic errors that arise from the kinematic distance method in the presence of a Galactic potential that is non-axisymmetric. We investigate how these errors differ in certain regions of the Galaxy and how they relate to the underlying dynamics. We perform 2D isothermal hydrodynamical simulation of the gas disk with the moving-mesh code Arepo, adding the capability of using an external potential provided by the Agama library for galactic dynamics. We introduce a new analytic potential of the Milky Way, taking elements from existing models and adjusting parameters to match recent observational constraints. We find significant errors in the kinematic distance estimate for gas close to the Sun, along sight lines towards the Galactic centre and anti-centre, and significant deviations associated with the Galactic bar. Kinematic distance errors are low within the spiral arms as gas resides close to local potential minima and the resulting line-of-sight velocity is close to what is expected for an axisymmetric potential. Interarm regions exhibit large deviations at any given Galactic radius. This is caused by the gas being sped up or slowed down as it travels into or out of the spiral arm. We are able to define 'zones of avoidance' in the lv-diagram, where the kinematic distance method is particularly unreliable and should only be used with caution. We report a power law relation between the kinematic distance error and the deviation of the project line-of-sight velocity from circular motion., Comment: 23 pages, 22 figures, 6 tables, submitted to A&A

Molecular clouds (MC) are structures of dense gas in the interstellar medium (ISM), that extend from ten to a few hundred parsecs and form the main gas reservoir available for star formation. Hydrodynamical simulations of varying complexity are a promising way to investigate MC evolution and their properties. However, each simulation typically has a limited range in resolution and different cloud extraction algorithms are used, which complicates the comparison between simulations. In this work, we aim to extract clouds from different simulations covering a wide range of spatial scales. We compare their properties, such as size, shape, mass, internal velocity dispersion and virial state. We apply the Hop cloud detection algorithm on (M)HD numerical simulations of stratified ISM boxes and isolated galactic disk simulations that were produced using Flash Ramses and Arepo We find that the extracted clouds are complex in shape ranging from round objects to complex filamentary networks in all setups. Despite the wide range of scales, resolution, and sub-grid physics, we observe surprisingly robust trends in the investigated metrics. The mass spectrum matches in the overlap between simulations without rescaling and with a high-mass slope of $\mathrm{d} N/\mathrm{d}\ln M\propto-1$ in accordance with theoretical predictions. The internal velocity dispersion scales with the size of the cloud as $\sigma\propto R^{0.75}$ for large clouds ($R\gtrsim3\,\mathrm{pc}$). For small clouds we find larger sigma compared to the power-law scaling, as seen in observations, which is due to supernova-driven turbulence. Almost all clouds are gravitationally unbound with the virial parameter scaling as $\alpha_\mathrm{vir}\propto M^{-0.4}$, which is slightly flatter compared to observed scaling, but in agreement given the large scatter., Comment: 22 pages, 16 figures, proposed for acceptance in A&A

Sensitive wide-field observations of polarized thermal emission from interstellar dust grains will allow astronomers to address key outstanding questions about the life cycle of matter and energy driving the formation of stars and the evolution of galaxies. Stratospheric balloon-borne telescopes can map this polarized emission at far-infrared wavelengths near the peak of the dust thermal spectrum - wavelengths that are inaccessible from the ground. In this paper we address the sensitivity achievable by a Super Pressure Balloon (SPB) polarimetry mission, using as an example the Balloon-borne Large Aperture Submillimeter Telescope (BLAST) Observatory. By launching from Wanaka, New Zealand, BLAST Observatory can obtain a 30-day flight with excellent sky coverage - overcoming limitations of past experiments that suffered from short flight duration and/or launch sites with poor coverage of nearby star-forming regions. This proposed polarimetry mission will map large regions of the sky at sub-arcminute resolution, with simultaneous observations at 175, 250, and 350 $\mu m$, using a total of 8274 microwave kinetic inductance detectors. Here, we describe the scientific motivation for the BLAST Observatory, the proposed implementation, and the forecasting methods used to predict its sensitivity. We also compare our forecasted experiment sensitivity with other facilities., Comment: Published in PASP

We present an implementation of a Bayesian mixture model using Hamiltonian Monte Carlo (HMC) techniques to search for spatial separation of Galactic dust populations. Utilizing intensity measurements from Planck High Frequency Instrument (HFI), we apply this model to high-latitude Galactic dust emission. Our analysis reveals a strong preference for a spatially-varying two-population dust model over a one-population dust model, when the latter must capture the total variance in the sky. Each dust population is well characterized by a single-component spectral energy distribution (SED) and accommodates small variations. These populations could signify two distinct components, or may originate from a one-component model with different temperatures resulting in different SED scalings. While no spatial information is built into the likelihood, our investigation unveils large-scale spatially coherent structures with high significance, pointing to a physical origin for the observed spatial variation. These results are robust to our choice of likelihood and of input data. Furthermore, this spatially varying two-population model is the most favored from Bayesian evidence calculations. Incorporating IRAS 100 $\mu$m to constrain the Wein-side of the blackbody function, we find the dust populations differ at the 2.5$\sigma$ level in the spectral index ($\beta_d$) vs. temperature ($T_d$) plane. The presence of multiple dust populations has implications for component separation techniques frequently employed in the recovery of the cosmic microwave background., Comment: 19 pages, 8 figures. Accepted for publication in ApJ

We present the continued analysis of polarization and Faraday rotation for the supernova remnants (SNRs) G46.8-0.3 and G39.2-0.3 in L-band (1-2 GHz) radio continuum in The HI/OH/Recombination line (THOR) survey. In this work, we present our investigation of Faraday depth fluctuations from angular scales comparable to the size of the SNRs down to scales less than our 16" beam (<~0.7 pc) from Faraday dispersion (sigma_phi). From THOR, we find median sigma_phi of 15.9 +/- 3.2 rad m^-2 for G46.8-0.3 and 17.6 +/- 1.6 rad m^-2 for G39.2-0.3. When comparing to polarization at 6cm, we find evidence for sigma_phi >~ 30 rad m^-2 in localized regions where we detect no polarization in THOR. We combine Faraday depth dispersion with the rotation measure (RM) structure function (SF) and find evidence for a break in the SF on scales less than the THOR beam. We estimate the RM SF of the foreground interstellar medium (ISM) using the SF of extra-Galactic radio sources (EGRS) and pulsars to find that the RM fluctuations we measure originate within the SNRs for all but the largest angular scales., Comment: Has been accepted by ApJ for publication. Figures 3 and 4 did do not render well when using an internet browser to view them, but when the pdf file is downloaded these figures look as they should

Large-scale synchrotron loops are recognized as the main source of diffuse radio-continuum emission in the Galaxy at intermediate and high Galactic latitudes. Their origin, however, remains rather unexplained. Using a combination of multi-frequency data in the radio band of total and polarized intensities, for the first time in this letter, we associate one arc -- hereafter, the Orion-Taurus ridge -- with the wall of the most prominent stellar-feedback blown shell in the Solar neighborhood, namely the Orion-Eridanus superbubble. We traced the Orion-Taurus ridge using 3D maps of interstellar dust extinction and column-density maps of molecular gas, $N_{\rm H_2}$. We found the Orion-Taurus ridge at a distance of 400\,pc, with a plane-of-the-sky extent of $180$\,pc. Its median $N_{\rm H_2}$ value is $(1.4^{+2.6}_{-0.6})\times 10^{21}$ cm$^{-2}$. Thanks to the broadband observations below 100 MHz of the Long Wavelength Array, we also computed the low-frequency spectral-index map of synchrotron emissivity, $\beta$, in the Orion-Taurus ridge. We found a flat distribution of $\beta$ with a median value of $-2.24^{+0.03}_{-0.02}$ that we interpreted in terms of depletion of low-energy ($<$ GeV) cosmic-ray electrons in recent supernova remnants ($10^5$ - $10^6$ yrs). Our results are consistent with plane-of-the-sky magnetic-field strengths in the Orion-Taurus ridge larger than a few tens of $\mu$G ($> 30 - 40 \,\mu$G). We report the first detection of diffuse synchrotron emission from cold-neutral, partly molecular, gas in the surroundings of the Orion-Eridanus superbubble. This observation opens a new perspective to study the multiphase and magnetized interstellar medium with the advent of future high-sensitivity radio facilities, such as the C-Band All-Sky Survey and the Square Kilometre Array., Comment: Accepted for publication in Astronomy & Astrophysics

Aims: We introduce a new deep-learning approach for the reconstruction of 3D dust density and temperature distributions from multi-wavelength dust emission observations on the scale of individual star-forming cloud cores (<0.2pc). Methods: We construct a training data set by processing cloud cores from the Cloud Factory simulations with the POLARIS radiative transfer code to produce synthetic dust emission observations at 23 wavelengths between 12 and 1300 $\mu$m. We simplify the task by reconstructing the cloud structure along individual lines of sight and train a conditional invertible neural network (cINN) for this purpose. The cINN belongs to the group of normalising flow methods and is able to predict full posterior distributions for the target dust properties. We test different cINN setups, ranging from a scenario that includes all 23 wavelengths down to a more realistically limited case with observations at only seven wavelengths. We evaluate the predictive performance of these models on synthetic test data. Results: We report an excellent reconstruction performance for the 23-wavelengths cINN model, achieving median absolute relative errors of about 1.8% in $\log(n/m^{-3})$ and 1% in $\log(T_{dust}/K)$, respectively. We identify trends towards overestimation at the low end of the density range and towards underestimation at the high end of both the density and temperature values, which may be related to a bias in the training data. Limiting our coverage to a combination of only seven wavelengths, we still find a satisfactory performance with average absolute relative errors of about 3.3% and 2.5% in $\log(n/m^{-3})$ and $\log(T_{dust}/K)$. Conclusions: This proof-of-concept study shows that the cINN-based approach for 3D reconstruction of dust density and temperature is very promising and even compatible with a more realistically constrained wavelength coverage., Comment: 38 pages, 25 figures, accepted for publication in Astronomy & Astrophysics on 26.01.2024

The Cold Neutral Medium (CNM) is an important part of the galactic gas cycle and a precondition for the formation of molecular and star forming gas, yet its distribution is still not fully understood. In this work we present extremely high resolution simulations of spiral galaxies with time-dependent chemistry such that we can track the formation of the CNM, its distribution within the galaxy, and its correlation with star formation. We find no strong radial dependence between the CNM fraction and total HI due to the decreasing interstellar radiation field counterbalancing the decreasing gas column density at larger galactic radii.However, the CNM fraction does increase in spiral arms where the CNM distribution is clumpy, rather than continuous, overlapping more closely with H2. The CNM doesn't extend out radially as far as HI, and the vertical scale height is smaller in the outer galaxy compared to HI with no flaring. The CNM column density scales with total midplane pressure and disappears from the gas phase below values of PT/kB =1000 K/cm3. We find that the star formation rate density follows a similar scaling law with CNM column density to the total gas Kennicutt-Schmidt law. In the outer galaxy we produce realistic vertical velocity dispersions in the HI purely from galactic dynamics but our models do not predict CNM at the extremely large radii observed in HI absorption studies of the Milky Way. We suggest that extended spiral arms might produce isolated clumps of CNM at these radii., Comment: 13 pages, 20 figures, accepted by MNRAS

Barnard's Loop is a famous arc of H$\alpha$ emission located in the Orion star-forming region. Here, we provide evidence of a possible formation mechanism for Barnard's Loop and compare our results with recent work suggesting a major feedback event occurred in the region around 6 Myr ago. We present a 3D model of the large-scale Orion region, indicating coherent, radial, 3D expansion of the OBP-Near/Brice\~{n}o-1 (OBP-B1) cluster in the middle of a large dust cavity. The large-scale gas in the region also appears to be expanding from a central point, originally proposed to be Orion X. OBP-B1 appears to serve as another possible center, and we evaluate whether Orion X or OBP-B1 is more likely to be the cause of the expansion. We find that neither cluster served as the single expansion center, but rather a combination of feedback from both likely propelled the expansion. Recent 3D dust maps are used to characterize the 3D topology of the entire region, which shows Barnard's Loop's correspondence with a large dust cavity around the OPB-B1 cluster. The molecular clouds Orion A, Orion B, and Orion $\lambda$ reside on the shell of this cavity. Simple estimates of gravitational effects from both stars and gas indicate that the expansion of this asymmetric cavity likely induced anisotropy in the kinematics of OBP-B1. We conclude that feedback from OBP-B1 has affected the structure of the Orion A, Orion B, and Orion $\lambda$ molecular clouds and may have played a major role in the formation of Barnard's Loop., Comment: 25 pages, 10 figures. Submitted to ApJ

In spite of decades of theoretical efforts, the physical origin of the stellar initial mass function (IMF) is still debated. We aim at understanding the influence of various physical processes such as radiative stellar feedback, magnetic field and non-ideal magneto-hydrodynamics on the IMF. We present a series of numerical simulations of collapsing 1000 M$_\odot$ clumps taking into account radiative feedback and magnetic field with spatial resolution down to 1 AU. Both ideal and non-ideal MHD runs are performed and various radiative feedback efficiencies are considered. We also develop analytical models that we confront to the numerical results. The sum of the luminosities produced by the stars in the calculations is computed and it compares well with the bolometric luminosities reported in observations of massive star forming clumps. The temperatures, velocities and densities are also found to be in good agreement with recent observations. The stellar mass spectrum inferred for the simulations is, generally speaking, not strictly universal and in particular varies with magnetic intensity. It is also influenced by the choice of the radiative feedback efficiency. In all simulations, a sharp drop in the stellar distribution is found at about $M_{min} \simeq$ 0.1 M$_\odot$, which is likely a consequence of the adiabatic behaviour induced by dust opacities at high densities. As a consequence, when the combination of magnetic and thermal support is not too large, the mass distribution presents a peak located at 0.3-0.5 M$_\odot$. When magnetic and thermal support are large, the mass distribution is better described by a plateau, i.e. $d N / d \log M \propto M^{-\Gamma}$, $\Gamma \simeq 0$. Abridged, Comment: accepted for publication in A&A

The neutral hydrogen 21 cm line is an excellent tracer of the atomic interstellar medium in the cold and the warm phases. Combined 21 cm emission and absorption observations are very useful to study the properties of the gas over a wide range of density and temperature. In this work, we have used 21 cm absorption spectra from recent interferometric surveys, along with the corresponding emission spectra from earlier single dish surveys to study the properties of the atomic gas in the Milky Way. In particular, we focus on a comparison of properties between lines of sight through the gas disk in the Galactic plane and high Galactic latitude lines of sight through more diffuse gas. As expected, the analysis shows a lower average temperature for the gas in the Galactic plane compared to that along the high latitude lines of sight. The gas in the plane also has a higher molecular fraction, showing a sharp transition and flattening in the dust - gas correlation. On the other hand, the observed correlation between 21 cm brightness temperature and optical depth indicates some intrinsic difference in spin temperature distribution and a fraction of gas in the Galactic plane having intermediate optical depth (for 0.02 < $\tau$ < 0.2) but higher spin temperature, compared to that of the diffuse gas at high latitude with the same optical depth. This may be due to a small fraction of cold gas with slightly higher temperature and lower density present on the Galactic plane., Comment: 6 pages, 5 figures, submitted and accepted for publication in MNRAS

Many studies concluded that magnetic fields suppress star formation in molecular clouds and Milky Way like galaxies. However, most of these studies are based on fully developed fields that have reached the saturation level, with little work on investigating how an initial weak primordial field affects star formation in low metallicity environments. In this paper, we investigate the impact of a weak initial field on low metallicity dwarf galaxies. We perform high-resolution AREPO simulations of five isolated dwarf galaxies. Two models are hydrodynamical, two start with a primordial magnetic field of 10$^{-6} \mu$G and different sub-solar metallicities, and one starts with a saturated field of 10$^{-2} \mu$G. All models include a non-equilibrium, time-dependent chemical network that includes the effects of gas shielding from the ambient ultraviolet field. Sink particles form directly from the gravitational collapse of gas and are treated as star-forming clumps that can accrete gas. We vary the ambient uniform far ultraviolet field, and cosmic ray ionization rate between 1\% and 10\% of solar values. We find that the magnetic field has little impact on the global star formation rate, which is in tension with some previously published results. We further find that the initial field strength has little impact on the global star formation rate. We show that an increase in the mass fractions of both molecular hydrogen and cold gas, along with changes in the perpendicular gas velocity dispersion and the magnetic field acting in the weak-field model, overcome the expected suppression in star formation., Comment: 19 pages, 19 figures, accepted for publication in MNRAS

The mechanisms that maintain turbulence in the interstellar medium (ISM) are still not identified. This work investigates how we can distinguish between two fundamental driving mechanisms: the accumulated effect of stellar feedback versus the energy injection from Galactic scales. We perform a series of numerical simulations describing a stratified star forming ISM subject to self-consistent stellar feedback. Large scale external turbulent driving of various intensities is added to mimic galactic driving mechanisms. We analyse the resulting column density maps with a technique called Multi-scale non-Gaussian segmentation that separates the coherent structures and the Gaussian background. This effectively discriminates between the various simulations and is a promising method to understand the ISM structure. In particular the power spectrum of the coherent structures flattens above 60 pc when turbulence is driven only by stellar feedback. When large-scale driving is applied, the turn-over shifts to larger scales. A systematic comparison with the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) is then performed. Only 1 out of 25 regions has a coherent power spectrum which is consistent with the feedback-only simulation. A detailed study of the turn-over scale leads us to conclude that regular stellar feedback is not enough to explain the observed ISM structure on scales larger than 60 pc. Extreme feedback in the form of supergiant shells likely plays an important role but cannot explain all the regions of the LMC. If we assume ISM structure is generated by turbulence, another large scale driving mechanism is needed to explain the entirety of the observations., Comment: 15 pages, 11 figures, to be published in MNRAS

We present a study of the filamentary structure in the atomic hydrogen (HI) emission at the 21 cm wavelength toward the Galactic plane using the observations in the HI4PI survey. Using the Hessian matrix method across radial velocity channels, we identified the filamentary structures and quantified their orientations using circular statistics. We found that the regions of the Milky Way's disk beyond 10 kpc and up to roughly 18 kpc from the Galactic center display HI filamentary structures predominantly parallel to the Galactic plane. For regions at lower Galactocentric radii, we found that the HI filaments are mostly perpendicular or do not have a preferred orientation with respect to the Galactic plane. We interpret these results as the imprint of supernova feedback in the inner Galaxy and Galactic rotation in the outer Milky Way. We found that the HI filamentary structures follow the Galactic warp and that they highlight some of the variations interpreted as the effect of the gravitational interaction with satellite galaxies. In addition, the mean scale height of the filamentary structures is lower than that sampled by the bulk of the HI emission, thus indicating that the cold and warm atomic hydrogen phases have different scale heights in the outer galaxy. Finally, we found that the fraction of the column density in HI filaments is almost constant up to approximately 18 kpc from the Galactic center. This is possibly a result of the roughly constant ratio between the cold and warm atomic hydrogen phases inferred from the HI absorption studies. Our results indicate that the HI filamentary structures provide insight into the dynamical processes shaping the Galactic disk. Their orientations record how and where the stellar energy input, the Galactic fountain process, the cosmic ray diffusion, and the gas accretion have molded the diffuse interstellar medium in the Galactic plane., Comment: 33 pages. 39 figures. Accepted for publication in Astronomy & Astrophysics (06MAY2022)

The study of the development of structures on multiple scales in the cold interstellar medium has experienced rapid expansion in the past decade, on both the observational and the theoretical front. Spectral line studies at (sub-)millimeter wavelengths over a wide range of physical scales have provided unique probes of the kinematics of dense gas in star-forming regions, and have been complemented by extensive, high dynamic range dust continuum surveys of the column density structure of molecular cloud complexes, while dust polarization maps have highlighted the role of magnetic fields. This has been accompanied by increasingly sophisticated numerical simulations including new physics (e.g., supernova driving, cosmic rays, non-ideal magneto-hydrodynamics, radiation pressure) and new techniques such as zoom-in simulations allowing multi-scale studies. Taken together, these new data have emphasized the anisotropic growth of dense structures on all scales, from giant ISM bubbles driven by stellar feedback on $\sim$50-100 pc scales through parsec-scale molecular filaments down to $<$0.1 pc dense cores and $<$1000 au protostellar disks. Combining observations and theory, we present a coherent picture for the formation and evolution of these structures and synthesize a comprehensive physical scenario for the initial conditions and early stages of star and disk formation., Comment: 42 pages, 20 figures. To appear in Protostars and Planets VII, Editors: Shu-ichiro Inutsuka, Yuri Aikawa, Takayuki Muto, Kengo Tomida, and Motohide Tamura. Small changes to match proofs and the updated format

The BLAST Observatory is a proposed superpressure balloon-borne polarimeter designed for a future ultra-long duration balloon campaign from Wanaka, New Zealand. To maximize scientific output while staying within the stringent superpressure weight envelope, BLAST will feature new 1.8m off-axis optical system contained within a lightweight monocoque structure gondola. The payload will incorporate a 300L $^4$He cryogenic receiver which will cool 8,274 microwave kinetic inductance detectors (MKIDs) to 100mK through the use of an adiabatic demagnetization refrigerator (ADR) in combination with a $^3$He sorption refrigerator all backed by a liquid helium pumped pot operating at 2K. The detector readout utilizes a new Xilinx RFSOC-based system which will run the next-generation of the BLAST-TNG KIDPy software. With this instrument we aim to answer outstanding questions about dust dynamics as well as provide community access to the polarized submillimeter sky made possible by high-altitude observing unrestricted by atmospheric transmission. The BLAST Observatory is designed for a minimum 31-day flight of which 70$\%$ will be dedicated to observations for BLAST scientific goals and the remaining 30$\%$ will be open to proposals from the wider astronomical community through a shared-risk proposals program., Comment: Presented at SPIE Ground-based and Airborne Telescopes VIII, December 13-18, 2020

The Next Generation Balloon-borne Large Aperture Submillimeter Telescope (BLAST-TNG) is a submillimeter polarimeter designed to map interstellar dust and galactic foregrounds at 250, 350, and 500 microns during a 24-day Antarctic flight. The BLAST-TNG detector arrays are comprised of 918, 469, and 272 MKID pixels, respectively. The pixels are formed from two orthogonally oriented, crossed, linear-polarization sensitive MKID antennae. The arrays are cooled to sub 300mK temperatures and stabilized via a closed cycle $^3$He sorption fridge in combination with a $^4$He vacuum pot. The detectors are read out through a combination of the second-generation Reconfigurable Open Architecture Computing Hardware (ROACH2) and custom RF electronics designed for BLAST-TNG. The firmware and software designed to readout and characterize these detectors was built from scratch by the BLAST team around these detectors, and has been adapted for use by other MKID instruments such as TolTEC and OLIMPO. We present an overview of these systems as well as in-depth methodology of the ground-based characterization and the measured in-flight performance., Comment: Presented at SPIE Millimeter, Submillimeter, and Far-Infrared Detectors and Instrumentation for Astronomy X, December 13-18, 2020

The Next Generation Balloon-Borne Large Aperture Submillimeter Telescope (BLAST-TNG) was a unique instrument for characterizing the polarized submillimeter sky at high-angular resolution. BLAST-TNG flew from the Long Duration Balloon Facility in Antarctica in January 2020. Despite the short flight duration, the instrument worked very well and is providing significant information about each subsystem that will be invaluable for future balloon missions. In this contribution, we discuss the performance of telescope and gondola., Comment: Submitted to SPIE Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation, Ground-based and Airborne Telescopes VIII

Magnetic fields are a dynamically important agent for regulating structure formation in the interstellar medium. The study of the relative orientation between the local magnetic field and gas (column-) density gradient has become a powerful tool to analyse the magnetic field's impact on the dense gas formation in the Galaxy. In this study, we perform numerical simulations of a non-gravitating, isothermal gas, where the turbulence is driven either solenoidally or compressively. We find that only simulations with an initially strong magnetic field (plasma-$\beta<1$) show a change in the preferential orientation between the magnetic field and isodensity contours, from mostly parallel at low densities to mostly perpendicular at higher densities. Hence, compressive turbulence alone is not capable of inducing the transition observed towards nearby molecular clouds. At the same high initial magnetisation, we find that solenoidal modes produce a sharper transition in the relative orientation with increasing density than compressive modes. We further study the time evolution of the relative orientation and find that it remains unchanged by the turbulent forcing after one dynamical timescale., Comment: accepted for publication by MNRAS

Context: The Faraday rotation measure (RM) is often used to study the magnetic field strength and orientation within the ionized medium of the Milky Way. Observations indicate a RM in the spiral arms that exceeds the commonly assumed range. This raises the question of under what conditions spiral arms create such strong RM. Aims: We investigate the effect of spiral arms on Galactic RMs through shock compression of the interstellar medium (ISM). It has recently been suggested that the Sagittarius spiral arm creates a strong peak in RM where the line of sight (LOS) is tangent to the arm, and that enhanced RM follows along an intersecting LOS. We seek to understand the physical conditions that give rise to this effect and the role of viewing geometry. Methods: We apply a MHD simulation of the multi-phase ISM in a Milky Way type spiral galaxy disk in combination with radiative transfer to evaluate different tracers of spiral arm structures. For observers embedded in the disk, dust intensity, synchrotron emission and the kinematics of molecular gas observations are derived to identify spiral arm tangents. RMs are calculated through the disk and evaluated for different observer positions. The observer's perspective is related to the parameters of the local bubble surrounding the observer. Results: We reproduce a scattering of tangent points for different tracers of about $6^\circ$ per spiral arm similar to the Milky Way. As for the RM, the model shows that compression of the ISM and associated amplification of the magnetic field in spiral arms enhances RM by a few hundred rad $m^{-2}$ on top of the mean contribution of the disk. The arm-inter-arm contrast in RM along the LOS is approximately 10 in the inner Galaxy, fading to ~2 in the outer Galaxy. We identify a shark-fin like pattern in the RM Milky Way observations as well as the synthetic data that is characteristic for spiral arms., Comment: 16 pages, 10 Figures, 2 Tables

The unprecedented astrometry from Gaia DR2 provides us with an opportunity to study in detail molecular clouds in the solar neighbourhood. Extracting the wealth of information in these data remains a challenge, however. We have further improved our Gaussian Processes-based, three-dimensional dust mapping technique to allow us to study molecular clouds in more detail. These improvements include a significantly better scaling of the computational cost with the number of stars, and taking into account distance uncertainties to individual stars. Using Gaia DR2 astrometry together with 2MASS and WISE photometry for 30 000 stars, we infer the distribution of dust out to 600 pc in the direction of the Orion A molecular cloud. We identify a bubble-like structure in front of Orion A, centred at a distance of about 350 pc from the Sun. The main Orion A structure is visible at slightly larger distances, and we clearly see a tail extending over 100 pc that is curved and slightly inclined to the line-of-sight. The location of our foreground structure coincides with 5-10 Myr old stellar populations, suggesting a star formation episode that predates that of the Orion Nebula Cluster itself. We identify also the main structure of the Orion B molecular cloud, and in addition discover a background component to this at a distance of about 460 pc from the Sun. Finally, we associate our dust components at different distances with the plane-of-the-sky magnetic field orientation as mapped by Planck. This provides valuable information for modelling the magnetic field in 3D around star forming regions., Comment: Accepted for publication in Astronomy and Astrophysics. 9 pages, 12 figures

We present a study of the relative orientation between the magnetic field projected onto the plane of sky ($B_{\perp}$) on scales down to 0.4 pc, inferred from the polarized thermal emission of Galactic dust observed by Planck at 353 GHz, and the distribution of gas column density ($N_{\rm H}$) structures on scales down to 0.026 pc, derived from the observations by Herschel in submillimeter wavelengths, toward ten nearby ($d$$<$450 pc) molecular clouds. Using the histogram of relative orientation technique in combination with tools from circular statistics, we found that the mean relative orientation between $N_{\rm H}$ and $B_{\perp}$ toward these regions increases progressively from 0\deg, where the $N_{\rm H}$ structures lie mostly parallel to $B_{\perp}$, with increasing $N_{\rm H}$, in many cases reaching 90\deg, where the $N_{\rm H}$ structures lie mostly perpendicular to $B_{\perp}$. We also compared the relative orientation between $N_{\rm H}$ and $B_{\perp}$ and the distribution of $N_{\rm H}$, which is characterized by the slope of the tail of the $N_{\rm H}$ probability density functions (PDFs). We found that the slopes of the $N_{\rm H}$ PDF tail are steepest in regions where $N_{\rm H}$ and $B_{\perp}$ are close to perpendicular. This coupling between the $N_{\rm H}$ distribution and the magnetic field suggests that the magnetic fields play a significant role in structuring the interstellar medium in and around molecular clouds. However, we found no evident correlation between the star formation rates, estimated from the counts of young stellar objects, and the relative orientation between $N_{\rm H}$ and $B_{\perp}$ in these regions., Comment: Accepted for publication in Astronomy & Astrophysics (07AUG2019). 27 pages, 21 figures

Linear polarization maps of the Carina Nebula were obtained at 250, 350, and 500 $\mu$m during the 2012 flight of the BLASTPol balloon-borne telescope. These measurements are combined with Planck 850 $\mu$m data in order to produce a submillimeter spectrum of the polarization fraction of the dust emission, averaged over the cloud. This spectrum is flat to within $\pm$15% (relative to the 350 $\mu$m polarization fraction). In particular, there is no evidence for a pronounced minimum of the spectrum near 350 $\mu$m, as suggested by previous ground-based measurements of other molecular clouds. This result of a flat polarization spectrum in Carina is consistent with recently-published BLASTPol measurements of the Vela C molecular cloud, and also agrees with a published model for an externally-illuminated, dense molecular cloud by Bethell and collaborators. The shape of the spectrum in Carina does not show any dependence on the radiative environment of the dust, as quantified by the Planck-derived dust temperature or dust optical depth at 353 GHz., Comment: 13 pages, 12 figures, submitted to ApJ

The Next Generation Balloon-borne Large Aperture Submillimeter Telescope (BLAST-TNG) is a submillimeter mapping experiment planned for a 28 day long-duration balloon (LDB) flight from McMurdo Station, Antarctica during the 2018-2019 season. BLAST-TNG will detect submillimeter polarized interstellar dust emission, tracing magnetic fields in galactic molecular clouds. BLAST-TNG will be the first polarimeter with the sensitivity and resolution to probe the $\sim$0.1 parsec-scale features that are critical to understanding the origin of structures in the interstellar medium. With three detector arrays operating at 250, 350, and 500 $\mu$m (1200, 857, and 600 GHz), BLAST-TNG will obtain diffraction-limited resolution at each waveband of 30, 41, and 59 arcseconds respectively. To achieve the submillimeter resolution necessary for its science goals, the BLAST-TNG telescope features a 2.5 m aperture carbon fiber composite primary mirror, one of the largest mirrors flown on a balloon platform. Successful performance of such a large telescope on a balloon-borne platform requires stiff, lightweight optical components and mounting structures. Through a combination of optical metrology and finite element modeling of thermal and mechanical stresses on both the telescope optics and mounting structures, we expect diffraction-limited resolution at all our wavebands. We expect pointing errors due to deformation of the telescope mount to be negligible. We have developed a detailed thermal model of the sun shielding, gondola, and optical components to optimize our observing strategy and increase the stability of the telescope over the flight. We present preflight characterization of the telescope and its platform., Comment: 19 pages, 11 figures, 2018 SPIE Astronomical Telescopes & Instrumentation Conference

The Next Generation Balloon-borne Large Aperture Submillimeter Telescope (BLAST-TNG) is a submillimeter mapping experiment planned for a 28 day long-duration balloon (LDB) flight from McMurdo Station, Antarctica during the 2018-2019 season. BLAST-TNG will detect submillimeter polarized interstellar dust emission, tracing magnetic fields in galactic molecular clouds. BLAST-TNG will be the first polarimeter with the sensitivity and resolution to probe the $\sim$0.1 parsec-scale features that are critical to understanding the origin of structures in the interstellar medium. BLAST-TNG features three detector arrays operating at wavelengths of 250, 350, and 500 $\mu$m (1200, 857, and 600 GHz) comprised of 918, 469, and 272 dual-polarization pixels, respectively. Each pixel is made up of two crossed microwave kinetic inductance detectors (MKIDs). These arrays are cooled to 275 mK in a cryogenic receiver. Each MKID has a different resonant frequency, allowing hundreds of resonators to be read out on a single transmission line. This inherent ability to be frequency-domain multiplexed simplifies the cryogenic readout hardware, but requires careful optical testing to map out the physical location of each resonator on the focal plane. Receiver-level optical testing was carried out using both a cryogenic source mounted to a movable xy-stage with a shutter, and a beam-filling, heated blackbody source able to provide a 10-50 $^\circ$C temperature chop. The focal plane array noise properties, responsivity, polarization efficiency, instrumental polarization were measured. We present the preflight characterization of the BLAST-TNG cryogenic system and array-level optical testing of the MKID detector arrays in the flight receiver., Comment: 15 pages, 7 figures, SPIE Astronomical Telescopes and Instrumentation Conference

Anderson et al. (2017) identified seventy six candidate supernova remnants (SNRs) using data from The HI, OH, Recombination line survey of the Milky Way (THOR). The spectral index and polarization properties can help distinguish between SNRs and H II regions, which are often confused. We confirm two SNR candidates using spectral index data and morphology. However, we observe that the fractional linear polarization cannot distinguish between SNRs and H II regions, likely due to contamination by diffuse Galactic synchrotron emission. We also comment on the association of SNR candidates with pulsars through geometric and age considerations., Comment: 12 pages, 4 figures; Accepted for publication in ApJ

We compare the magnetic field orientation for the young giant molecular cloud Vela C inferred from 500-$\mu$m polarization maps made with the BLASTPol balloon-borne polarimeter to the orientation of structures in the integrated line emission maps from Mopra observations. Averaging over the entire cloud we find that elongated structures in integrated line-intensity, or zeroth-moment maps, for low density tracers such as $^{12}$CO and $^{13}$CO $J$ $\rightarrow$ 1 - 0 are statistically more likely to align parallel to the magnetic field, while intermediate or high density tracers show (on average) a tendency for alignment perpendicular to the magnetic field. This observation agrees with previous studies of the change in relative orientation with column density in Vela C, and supports a model where the magnetic field is strong enough to have influenced the formation of dense gas structures within Vela C. The transition from parallel to no preferred/perpendicular orientation appears to happen between the densities traced by $^{13}$CO and by C$^{18}$O $J$ $\rightarrow$ 1 - 0. Using RADEX radiative transfer models to estimate the characteristic number density traced by each molecular line we find that the transition occurs at a molecular hydrogen number density of approximately $10^3$ cm$^{-3}$. We also see that the Centre-Ridge (the highest column density and most active star-forming region within Vela C) appears to have a transition at a lower number density, suggesting that this may depend on the evolutionary state of the cloud., Comment: 27 pages, 15 figures, accepted for publication in ApJ

Polarized emission from aligned dust is a crucial tool for studies of magnetism in the ISM and a troublesome contaminant for studies of CMB polarization. In each case, an understanding of the significance of the polarization signal requires well-calibrated physical models of dust grains. Despite decades of progress in theory and observation, polarized dust models remain largely underconstrained. During its 2012 flight, the balloon-borne telescope BLASTPol obtained simultaneous broad-band polarimetric maps of a translucent molecular cloud at 250, 350, and 500 microns. Combining these data with polarimetry from the Planck 850 micron band, we have produced a submillimeter polarization spectrum for a cloud of this type for the first time. We find the polarization degree to be largely constant across the four bands. This result introduces a new observable with the potential to place strong empirical constraints on ISM dust polarization models in a previously inaccessible density regime. Comparing with models by Draine and Fraisse (2009), our result disfavors two of their models for which all polarization arises due only to aligned silicate grains. By creating simple models for polarized emission in a translucent cloud, we verify that extinction within the cloud should have only a small effect on the polarization spectrum shape compared to the diffuse ISM. Thus we expect the measured polarization spectrum to be a valid check on diffuse ISM dust models. The general flatness of the observed polarization spectrum suggests a challenge to models where temperature and alignment degree are strongly correlated across major dust components., Comment: 17 pages, 10 figures. Submitted to ApJ

We investigate the conditions of ideal magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) turbulence responsible for the relative orientation between density structures, characterized by their gradient, $\vec{\nabla}\rho$, and the magnetic field, $\vec{B}$, in molecular clouds (MCs). For that purpose, we construct an expression for the time evolution of the angle, $\phi$, between $\vec{\nabla}\rho$ and $\vec{B}$ based on the transport equations of MHD turbulence. Using this expression, we find that the configuration where $\vec{\nabla}\rho$ and $\vec{B}$ are mostly parallel, $\cos\phi=1$, and where $\vec{\nabla}\rho$ and $\vec{B}$ are mostly perpendicular, $\cos\phi=0$, constitute attractors, that is, the system tends to evolve towards either of these configurations and they are more represented than others. This fact would explain the predominant alignment or anti-alignment between column density, $N_H$, structures and the projected magnetic field orientation, $\hat{B}_\perp$, reported in observations. Additionally, we find that departures from the $\cos\phi=0$ configurations are related to convergent flows, quantified by the divergence of the velocity field, $\vec{\nabla}\cdot\vec{v}$, in the presence of a relatively strong magnetic field. This would explain the observed change in relative orientation between $N_H$-structures and $\hat{B}_\perp$ towards MCs, from mostly parallel at low $N_H$ to mostly perpendicular at the highest $N_H$, as the result of the gravitational collapse and/or convergence of flows. Finally, we show that the density threshold that marks the observed change in relative orientation towards MCs, from $N_H$ and $\hat{B}_\perp$ being mostly parallel at low $N_H$ to mostly perpendicular at the highest $N_H$, is related to the magnetic field strength and constitutes a crucial piece of information for determining the role of the magnetic field in the dynamics of MCs., Comment: 10 pages, 8 figures. Submitted to A&A

We investigate the origin of observed local star formation relations using radiative magnetohydrodynamic simulations with self-consistent star formation and ionising radiation. We compare these clouds to the density distributions of local star-forming clouds and find that the most diffuse simulated clouds match the observed clouds relatively well. We then compute both observationally-motivated and theoretically-motivated star formation efficiencies (SFEs) for these simulated clouds. By including ionising radiation, we can reproduce the observed SFEs in the clouds most similar to nearby Milky Way clouds. For denser clouds, the SFE can approach unity. These observed SFEs are typically 3 to 10 times larger than the "total" SFEs, i.e. the fraction of the initial cloud mass converted to stars. Converting observed to total SFEs is non-trivial. We suggest some techniques for doing so, though estimate up to a factor of ten error in the conversion., Comment: 13 pages, 9 figures, 2 tables. Version re-submitted to MNRAS, comments welcome

We present a highly frequency multiplexed readout for large-format superconducting detector arrays intended for use in the next generation of balloon-borne and space-based sub-millimeter and far-infrared missions. We will demonstrate this technology on the upcoming NASA Next Generation Balloon-borne Large Aperture Sub-millimeter Telescope (BLAST-TNG) to measure the polarized emission of Galactic dust at wavelengths of 250, 350 and 500 microns. The BLAST-TNG receiver incorporates the first arrays of Lumped Element Kinetic Inductance Detectors (LeKID) along with the first microwave multiplexing readout electronics to fly in a space-like environment and will significantly advance the TRL for these technologies. After the flight of BLAST-TNG, we will continue to improve the performance of the detectors and readout electronics for the next generation of balloon-borne instruments and for use in a future FIR Surveyor.

Polarized thermal emission from interstellar dust grains can be used to map magnetic fields in star forming molecular clouds and the diffuse interstellar medium (ISM). The Balloon-borne Large Aperture Submillimeter Telescope for Polarimetry (BLASTPol) flew from Antarctica in 2010 and 2012 and produced degree-scale polarization maps of several nearby molecular clouds with arcminute resolution. The success of BLASTPol has motivated a next-generation instrument, BLAST-TNG, which will use more than 3000 linear polarization sensitive microwave kinetic inductance detectors (MKIDs) combined with a 2.5m diameter carbon fiber primary mirror to make diffraction-limited observations at 250, 350, and 500 $\mu$m. With 16 times the mapping speed of BLASTPol, sub-arcminute resolution, and a longer flight time, BLAST-TNG will be able to examine nearby molecular clouds and the diffuse galactic dust polarization spectrum in unprecedented detail. The 250 $\mu$m detector array has been integrated into the new cryogenic receiver, and is undergoing testing to establish the optical and polarization characteristics of the instrument. BLAST-TNG will demonstrate the effectiveness of kilo-pixel MKID arrays for applications in submillimeter astronomy. BLAST-TNG is scheduled to fly from Antarctica in December 2017 for 28 days and will be the first balloon-borne telescope to offer a quarter of the flight for "shared risk" observing by the community., Comment: Presented at SPIE Millimeter, Submillimeter, and Far-Infrared Detectors and Instrumentation for Astronomy VIII, June 29th, 2016

We present results for Vela C obtained during the 2012 flight of the Balloon-borne Large Aperture Submillimeter Telescope for Polarimetry (BLASTPol). We mapped polarized intensity across almost the entire extent of this giant molecular cloud, in bands centered at 250, 350, and 500 {\mu}m. In this initial paper, we show our 500 {\mu}m data smoothed to a resolution of 2.5 arcminutes (approximately 0.5 pc). We show that the mean level of the fractional polarization p and most of its spatial variations can be accounted for using an empirical three-parameter power-law fit, p = p_0 N^(-0.4) S^(-0.6), where N is the hydrogen column density and S is the polarization-angle dispersion on 0.5 pc scales. The decrease of p with increasing S is expected because changes in the magnetic field direction within the cloud volume sampled by each measurement will lead to cancellation of polarization signals. The decrease of p with increasing N might be caused by the same effect, if magnetic field disorder increases for high column density sightlines. Alternatively, the intrinsic polarization efficiency of the dust grain population might be lower for material along higher density sightlines. We find no significant correlation between N and S. Comparison of observed submillimeter polarization maps with synthetic polarization maps derived from numerical simulations provides a promising method for testing star formation theories. Realistic simulations should allow for the possibility of variable intrinsic polarization efficiency. The measured levels of correlation among p, N, and S provide points of comparison between observations and simulations., Comment: 24 pages, 20 figures, and 2 tables. Accepted for publication in ApJ. Updated from originally submitted version

We present the technology and control methods developed for the pointing system of the SPIDER experiment. SPIDER is a balloon-borne polarimeter designed to detect the imprint of primordial gravitational waves in the polarization of the Cosmic Microwave Background radiation. We describe the two main components of the telescope's azimuth drive: the reaction wheel and the motorized pivot. A 13 kHz PI control loop runs on a digital signal processor, with feedback from fibre optic rate gyroscopes. This system can control azimuthal speed with < 0.02 deg/s RMS error. To control elevation, SPIDER uses stepper-motor-driven linear actuators to rotate the cryostat, which houses the optical instruments, relative to the outer frame. With the velocity in each axis controlled in this way, higher-level control loops on the onboard flight computers can implement the pointing and scanning observation modes required for the experiment. We have accomplished the non-trivial task of scanning a 5000 lb payload sinusoidally in azimuth at a peak acceleration of 0.8 deg/s$^2$, and a peak speed of 6 deg/s. We can do so while reliably achieving sub-arcminute pointing control accuracy., Comment: 20 pages, 12 figures, Presented at SPIE Ground-based and Airborne Telescopes V, June 23, 2014. To be published in Proceedings of SPIE Volume 9145