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Science 11 August 2006:
Vol. 313. no. 5788, pp. 812 - 814
DOI: 10.1126/science.1129093
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Reports

Magnetic Fields in the Formation of Sun-Like Stars

Josep M. Girart,1* Ramprasad Rao,2,3 Daniel P. Marrone2

We report high-angular-resolution measurements of polarized dust emission toward the low-mass protostellar system NGC 1333 IRAS 4A. We show that in this system the observed magnetic field morphology is in agreement with the standard theoretical models of the formation of Sun-like stars in magnetized molecular clouds at scales of a few hundred astronomical units; gravity has overcome magnetic support, and the magnetic field traces a clear hourglass shape. The magnetic field is substantially more important than turbulence in the evolution of the system, and the initial misalignment of the magnetic and spin axes may have been important in the formation of the binary system.

1 Institut de Ciències de l'Espai (CSIC-IEEC), Campus UAB–Facultat de Ciències, Torre C5–Parell 2a, Bellaterra, Catalunya 08193, Spain.
2 Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.
3 Academia Sinica, Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics, 645 North Aohoku Place, Hilo, HI 96720, USA.

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: girart{at}ieec.uab.es

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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)