A&A 605, A20 (2017) Astronomy DOI: 10.1051/0004-6361/201730858 & c ESO 2017 Astrophysics Zeeman effect in sulfur monoxide A tool to probe magnetic fields in star forming regions? Gabriele Cazzoli1, Valerio Lattanzi1;2, Sonia Coriani3, Jürgen Gauss4, Claudio Codella5, Andrés Asensio Ramos6, José Cernicharo7, and Cristina Puzzarini1; 5 1 Dipartimento di Chimica “Giacomo Ciamician”, Università di Bologna, via Selmi 2, 40126 Bologna, Italy e-mail:
[email protected] 2 Max-Planck-Institut für Extraterrestrische Physik, Giessenbachstraße 1, 85748 Garching, Germany 3 Department of Chemistry, Technical University of Denmark, Kemitorvet, Building 207, 2800 Kgs. Lyngby, Denmark 4 Institut für Physikalische Chemie, Universität Mainz, 55099 Mainz, Germany 5 INAF, Osservatorio Astonomico di Arcetri, Largo E. Fermi 5, 50125 Firenze, Italy 6 Grupo de Astrofísica Molecular, Instituto de CC. de Materiales de Madrid (ICMM-CSIC), Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz 3, Cantoblanco, 28049 Madrid, Spain 7 Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias, 38205 La Laguna, Spain Received 23 March 2017 / Accepted 4 May 2017 ABSTRACT Context. Magnetic fields play a fundamental role in star formation processes and the best method to evaluate their intensity is to measure the Zeeman effect of atomic and molecular lines. However, a direct measurement of the Zeeman spectral pattern from interstellar molecular species is challenging due to the high sensitivity and high spectral resolution required. So far, the Zeeman effect has been detected unambiguously in star forming regions for very few non-masing species, such as OH and CN. Aims. We decided to investigate the suitability of sulfur monoxide (SO), which is one of the most abundant species in star forming regions, for probing the intensity of magnetic fields via the Zeeman effect.