Polarization is an important phenomenon in

astronomy Astronomy () is a natural science that studies celestial objects and phenomena. It uses mathematics, physics, and chemistry in order to explain their origin and evolution. Objects of interest include planets, moons, stars, nebulae, g ...

Stars

The polarization of starlight was first observed by the

astronomer An astronomer is a scientist in the field of astronomy who focuses their studies on a specific question or field outside the scope of Earth. They observe astronomical objects such as stars, planets, moons, comets and galaxies – in either ...

s William Hiltner and John S. Hall in 1949. Subsequently, Jesse Greenstein and Leverett Davis, Jr. developed theories allowing the use of polarization data to trace interstellar magnetic fields. Though the integrated

thermal radiation Thermal radiation is electromagnetic radiation generated by the thermal motion of particles in matter. Thermal radiation is generated when heat from the movement of charges in the material (electrons and protons in common forms of matter) i ...

of stars is not usually appreciably polarized at source, scattering by

interstellar dust Cosmic dust, also called extraterrestrial dust, star dust or space dust, is dust which exists in outer space, or has fallen on Earth. Most cosmic dust particles measure between a few molecules and 0.1 mm (100 micrometers). Larger particles are c ...

can impose polarization on starlight over long distances. Net polarization at the source can occur if the photosphere itself is asymmetric, due to limb polarization. Plane polarization of starlight generated at the star itself is observed for

Ap star Ap and Bp stars are chemically peculiar stars (hence the "p") of spectral types A and B which show overabundances of some metals, such as strontium, chromium and europium. In addition, larger overabundances are often seen in praseodymium and neo ...

s (peculiar A type stars

Sun

Both circular polarization, circular and

linear polarization In electrodynamics, linear polarization or plane polarization of electromagnetic radiation is a confinement of the electric field vector or magnetic field vector to a given plane along the direction of propagation. The term ''linear polarizati ...

of sunlight has been measured. Circular polarization is mainly due to transmission and absorption effects in strongly magnetic regions of the Sun's surface. Another mechanism that gives rise to circular polarization is the so-called "alignment-to-orientation mechanism". Continuum light is linearly polarized at different locations across the face of the Sun (limb polarization) though taken as a whole, this polarization cancels. Linear polarization in spectral lines is usually created by anisotropic scattering of photons on atoms and ions which can themselves be polarized by this interaction. The linearly polarized spectrum of the Sun is often called the second solar spectrum. Atomic polarization can be modified in weak magnetic fields by the

Hanle effect Hanle can mean: * Hanle (village), located in eastern Indian Ladakh, near the Chinese border ** The Indian Astronomical Observatory, adjacent to Hanle village, location of the highest major astronomical telescopes in the world and colloquially know ...

. As a result, polarization of the scattered photons is also modified providing a diagnostics tool for understanding stellar magnetic fields.

Other sources

Polarization is also present in radiation from coherent astronomical sources due to the

Zeeman effect The Zeeman effect (; ) is the effect of splitting of a spectral line into several components in the presence of a static magnetic field. It is named after the Dutch physicist Pieter Zeeman, who discovered it in 1896 and received a Nobel priz ...

(e.g. hydroxyl or methanol masers). The large radio lobes in

active galaxies An active galactic nucleus (AGN) is a compact region at the center of a galaxy that has a much-higher-than-normal luminosity over at least some portion of the electromagnetic spectrum with characteristics indicating that the luminosity is not pr ...

and pulsar radio radiation (which may, it is speculated, sometimes be coherent) also show polarization. Apart from providing information on sources of radiation and scattering, polarization also probes the interstellar magnetic field in our galaxy as well as in radio galaxies via

Faraday rotation The Faraday effect or Faraday rotation, sometimes referred to as the magneto-optic Faraday effect (MOFE), is a physical magneto-optical phenomenon. The Faraday effect causes a polarization rotation which is proportional to the projection of the ...

. In some cases it can be difficult to determine how much of the Faraday rotation is in the external source and how much is local to our own galaxy, but in many cases it is possible to find another distant source nearby in the sky; thus by comparing the candidate source and the reference source, the results can be untangled.

Cosmic microwave background

The polarization of the

cosmic microwave background In Big Bang cosmology the cosmic microwave background (CMB, CMBR) is electromagnetic radiation that is a remnant from an early stage of the universe, also known as "relic radiation". The CMB is faint cosmic background radiation filling all spac ...

(CMB) is also being used to study the physics of the very

early universe The chronology of the universe describes the history and future of the universe according to Big Bang cosmology. Research published in 2015 estimates the earliest stages of the universe's existence as taking place 13.8 billion years ago, wit ...

. CMB exhibits 2 components of polarization: B-mode (divergence-free like magnetic field) and E-mode (curl-free gradient-only like electric field) polarization. The BICEP2 telescope located at the South Pole helped in the detection of B-mode polarization in the CMB. The polarization modes of the CMB may provide more information about the influence of gravitational waves on the development of the early universe. It has been suggested that astronomical sources of polarised light caused the chirality found in biological molecules on Earth.

References

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External links

Discovery by Hiltner and Hall, analysis by Greenstein
Astrophysics Polarization (waves) Articles containing video clips

Stars

Sun

Other sources

Cosmic microwave background

See also

References

External links