Submillimeter Polarization Spectrum in the Vela C Molecular Cloud

Understand

Polarization maps of the Vela C molecular cloud were obtained at 250, 350, and 500um during the 2012 flight of the balloon-borne telescope BLASTPol.

• These measurements are used in conjunction with 850um data from Planck to study the submillimeter spectrum of the polarization fraction for this cloud.
• The spectrum is relatively flat and does not exhibit a pronounced minimum at \lambda ~350um as suggested by previous measurements of other molecular clouds.
• The shape of the spectrum does not depend strongly on the radiative environment of the dust, as quantified by the column density or the dust temperature obtained from Herschel data.