Ambipolar diffusion and turbulent magnetic fields in molecular clouds

Abstract

We review the introduction and development of a novel method for the characterization of magnetic fields in star-forming regions. The technique is based on the comparison of spectral line profiles from coexistent neutral and ion molecular species commonly detected in molecular clouds, sites of star formation. Unlike other methods used to study magnetic fields in the cold interstellar medium, this ion/neutral technique is not based on spin interactions with the field. Instead, it relies on and takes advantage of the strong cyclotron coupling between the ions and magnetic fields, thus exposing what is probably the clearest observational manifestation of magnetic fields in the cold, weakly ionized gas that characterizes the interior of molecular clouds. We will show how recent development and modeling of the ensuing ion line narrowing effect leads to a determination of the ambipolar diffusion scale involving the turbulent component of magnetic fields in star-forming regions, as well as the strength of the ordered component of the magnetic field.