2007/03/01 by J. L. Han, Jinlin Han
Physics and Astronomy · #Astro and Planetary Science #Astrophysics and Star Formation Studies #Stellar, planetary, and galactic studies #astro-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1017/s1743921307012562
published as IAU Symposium, Volume 242, p. 55-63 (2008) · 9 pages. Invited Talk at IAU Symp.242, 'Astrophysical Masers and their Environments', Proceedings edited by J. M. Chapman & W. A. Baan
openalex publication_date 2007/03/01 · arxiv created 2007/05/29 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/04
Abstract Magnetic fields have been observed on all scales in our Galaxy, from AU to kpc. With pulsar dispersion measures and rotation measures, we can directly measure the magnetic fields in a very large region of the Galactic disk. The results show that the large-scale magnetic fields are aligned with the spiral arms but reverse their directions many times from the innermost arm (Norma) to the outer arm (Perseus). The Zeeman splitting measurements of masers in HII regions or star-formation regions not only show the structured fields inside clouds, but also have a clear pattern in the global Galactic distribution of all measured clouds which indicates the possible connection of the large-scale and small-scale magnetic fields.