Shih-Ping Lai

(National Tsing Hua University University)

The major problem of the most commonly used method for probing magnetic fields, the dust polarization observation, is that it is incapable of differentiating the field structure along the line of sight. Since every molecular transition has a particular critical density, measuring the molecular line polarizations, the Goldreich-Kylafis effect (GK effect), provides a unique way to probe the three-dimensional structure in star-forming regions.   We have participated in the Submillimeter Array (SMA) polarization Legacy Project and have obtained polarization data from multiple molecular lines toward several massive star-forming regions.  By analyzing these data, we may be able to decouple the magnetic field structure of these regions along the line of sight and the results may help us apply for ALMA time in the future.  In addition, we have developed a preliminary computer program for modeling molecular polarization with uniform magnetic field and velocity gradient. Students can choose to (1) analyze the SMA data or (2) use the current program to model the expected results from ALMA for simple physical models.