2007AJ....133.2334R

We present optical linear polarimetry in the line of sight to HH 135/HH 136. The polarimetry of the field stars reveals two populations: one corresponds to a foreground interstellar component; the other originates in the interstellar medium in the vicinity of the Herbig-Haro pair and, therefore, can be used to study the magnetic field in the star-forming region. Its direction is aligned with the jet of HH 135/HH 136, which could be an indication that the interstellar magnetic field is important in the outflow collimation. The interstellar magnetic field magnitude was estimated to be of order 90 µG. According to recent numerical simulations, an interstellar magnetic field of such strength can be important in the definition of the outflow direction. There is also evidence that the associated dark cloud has an elongation parallel to the magnetic field. Our image polarimetry of the extended emission associated with HH 135/HH 136 shows a centrosymmetric pattern pointing to knot E of HH 136. Previous near-infrared polarimetry traces a different illumination center, namely, IRAS 11101-5829, the probable exciting source of the system. This discrepancy can be explained if the young stellar object emission is completely blocked in optical wavelengths and the dominant optical source in the region is knot E, whose nature is uncertain. A discussion of the spectral energy distributions of HH 136-E and IRAS 11101-5829 is presented.