2020 Fiscal Year Research-status Report
Using ALMA to understand the origin of dust polarization in the Beta Pic debris disk
| Project/Area Number |
20K14527
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| Research Institution | National Astronomical Observatory of Japan |
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Principal Investigator |
HULL CHARLES 国立天文台, チリ観測所, 特任助教 (70814755)
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| Project Period (FY) |
2020-04-01 – 2022-03-31
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| Keywords | Star formation / Radio astronomy / Polarization / Dust / Debris disks / Magnetic fields / Scattering |
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| Outline of Annual Research Achievements |
The main goal for this grant is to publish the ALMA polarization observations of the Beta Pic debris disk and interpret the results. In FY2020, the data were (almost) fully observed. In spite of the observations not quite being finished, I was still able to download the data from the East Asian ALMA Archive and fully calibrated and imaged them. The data were sufficient for the purposes of our analysis. We have held several team meetings were held on Zoom to discuss both the observational and theoretical aspects of the project over the last year. As a result of these efforts, a paper draft is well underway -- it is currently 8 pages long.
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| Current Status of Research Progress |
Current Status of Research Progress
3: Progress in research has been slightly delayed.
Reason
The ability to access the raw observed data before the project was completely observed was critical for pushing this project forward. With the help of my colleagues at ALMA, I have been able to fully calibrate the data. We have been a bit delayed because our usual imaging scripts are not working as well as we expected on the Beta Pic data, probably because the source is fainter than the sources we typically observe. We are investigating the reasons now. The COVID-19 pandemic and a difficult job application season (both for me and for my main theory collaborator) have slowed progress down a bit over the last year.
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| Strategy for Future Research Activity |
In order to finish this project, the first major task that needs to be done is a careful re-imaging of the data to improve the final image quality. We have not detected polarization toward Beta Pic, so extremely careful imaging will be necessary to achieve the best possible upper limit on the polarization level, which we can then compare with our models. The second task that needs to be done is to finish exploring the parameter space in the models in order to compare with our observational results. This will be done by the primary theory collaborator, who will be second author on the paper. We will aim to submit the paper by the end of calendar year 2021.
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| Causes of Carryover |
As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, the planned amount of travel expenses were not incurred (although a small amount of travel was accomplished). Assuming that restrictions decrease over the next year, the plan for FY2021 will be to perform some in-person meetings using the FY2021 funding, and the remaining funding from FY2020.
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[Journal Article] Characterizing the Accuracy of ALMA Linear-polarization Mosaics2020
Author(s)
Hull, Charles L. H.; Cortes, Paulo C.; Gouellec, Valentin J. M. Le; Girart, Josep M.; Nagai, Hiroshi; Nakanishi, Kouichiro; Kameno, Seiji; Fomalont, Edward B.; Brogan, Crystal L.; Moellenbrock, George A.; Paladino, Rosita; Villard, Eric
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Journal Title
Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific
Volume: 132
Pages: 1015
DOI
Peer Reviewed / Open Access / Int'l Joint Research
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