Observations and Data Reduction
Abstract
This chapter focuses on astrophysical concepts and results. The first part of the chapter describes physical processes in the interstellar medium that relate to polarization science, including grain alignment, magnetohydrodynamics, and Faraday rotation. The chapter also discusses statistical techniques, including the Davis-Chandrasekhar-Fermi method and histograms of relative orientations. The chapter concludes with discussions of recent results in both polarization measurements of thermal emission from aligned dust grains in the interstellar medium and polarization measurements of the cosmic microwave background.
Fields of Study & Subjects
Astrophysics and Star Formation Studies
Radio Astronomy Observations and Technology
Astronomy and Astrophysical Research
Publication details
- Journal / source
- Institute of Physics eBooks
- Pages
- 6–1
- Publication date
- 1 March 2026
- Language
- EN
- Document type
- Book chapter