Recently far infra-red (FIR) polarization of the 850μm continuum emission from T Tauri disks has been detected. The observed degree of polarization is around 3 %. Since thermal emission from dust grains dominates the spectral energy distribution at the FIR regime, dust grains might be the cause of the polarization. We explore alignment of dust grains by radiative torque in T Tauri disks and provide predictions for polarized emission for disks viewed at different wavelengths and viewing angles. In the presence of magnetic field, these aligned grains produce polarized emission in infrared wavelengths. When we take a Mathis-Rumpl-Nordsieck-type distribution with maximum grain size of 500-1000μm the degree of polarization is around 2-3 % level at wavelengths larger than ~100μm Our study indicates that multifrequency infrared polarimetric studies of protostellar disks can provide good insights into the details of their magnetic structure.
Turbulence is a crucial component of dynamics of astrophysical fluids dynamics, including those of ISM, clusters of galaxies and circumstellar regions. Doppler shifted spectral lines provide a unique source of information on turbulent velocities. We discuss Velocity-Channel Analysis (VCA) and its offspring Velocity Coordinate Spectrum (VCS) that are based on the analytical description of the spectral line statistics. Those techniques are well suited for studies of supersonic turbulence. We stress that a great advantage of VCS is that it does not necessary require good spatial resolution. Addressing the studies of mildly supersonic and subsonic turbulence we discuss the criterion that allows to determine whether Velocity Centroids are dominated by density or velocity. We briefly discuss ways of going beyond power spectra by using of higher order correlations as well as genus analysis. We outline the relation between Spectral Correlation Functions and the statistics available through VCA and VCS.
We discuss diffusion of particles in turbulent flows. In hydrodynamic turbulence, it is well known that distance between two particles imbedded in a turbulent flow exhibits a random walk behavior. The corresponding diffusion coefficient is ~ vinjlturb, where vinj is the amplitude of the turbulent velocity and lturb is the scale of the turbulent motions. It Is not clear whether or not we can use a similar expression for magnetohydrodynamic turbulence. However, numerical simulations show that mixing motions perpendicular to the local magnetic field are, up to high degree, hydrodynamical. This suggests that turbulent heat transport in magnetized turbulent fluid should be similar to that in non-magnetized one, which should have a diffusion coefficient ~ vinjlturb. We review numerical simulations that support this conclusion. The application of this idea to thermal conductivity in clusters of galaxies shows that this mechanism may dominate the diffusion of heat and may be efficient enough to prevent cooling flow formation when turbulence is vigorous.