Bibcode
DOI
Battistelli, E. S.; Rebolo, R.; Rubiño-Martín, J. A.; Hildebrandt, S. R.; Watson, R. A.; Gutiérrez, C.; Hoyland, R. J.
Bibliographical reference
The Astrophysical Journal, Volume 645, Issue 2, pp. L141-L144.
Advertised on:
7
2006
Journal
Citations
43
Refereed citations
36
Description
The anomalous microwave emission detected in the Perseus molecular
complex by Watson et al. has been observed at 11 GHz through dual
orthogonal polarizations with the COSMOSOMAS experiment. Stokes U and Q
maps were obtained at a resolution of ~0.9d for a 30°×30°
region including the Perseus molecular complex. Faint polarized emission
has been measured; we find Q=-0.2%+/-1.0% and
U=-3.4+1.8-1.4%, both at the 95% confidence level,
with a systematic uncertainty estimated to be lower than 1% determined
from tests of the instrumental performance using unpolarized sources in
our map as null hypothesis. The resulting total polarization level is
Π=3.4+1.5-1.9%. These are the first constraints
on the polarization properties of an anomalous microwave emission
source. The low level of polarization seems to indicate that the
particles responsible for this emission in the Perseus molecular complex
are not significantly aligned in a common direction over the whole
region, as a consequence of either a high structural symmetry in the
emitting particle or a low-intensity magnetic field. Our weak detection
is fully consistent with predictions from electric dipole emission and
resonance relaxation at this frequency.