AST-9806026 Colome A polarimeter will be adapted to a newly constructed near-infrared (NIR) spectrograph, CoolSpec, which is currently used at McDonald Observatory of The University of Texas at Austin. The driving design of CoolSpec is to utilize the existing NIR camera: ROKCAM at McDonald Observatory, in order to achieve both direct imaging and spectroscopy in the NIR in a very cost-effective way. CoolSpec is optimized as a medium to low resolution long-slit spectrograph. The polarimeter adapted to ROKCAM consists of two components; a cold wire grid and a warm rotatable half-wave plate. The main interest for developing a NIR spectropolarimeter is to study polarized spectral features in Young Stellar Objects (YSOs). The instrument will be used to study a wide variety of astronomical objects such as proto-planetary and planetary nebula, supernova remnants, external galaxies and active galactic nuclei (AGNs). The goals of this NIR research are the following: (a) to adapt a polarimeter to a newly constructed NIR spectrometer and (b) to study the spatial relationship of the molecular material, molecular hydrogen, and the atomic and molecular gas in outflow sources, (c) to determine the contribution of scattered light by dust grains to the emission lines of molecular hydrogen recently detected in several outflow sources, and (d) to attempt the first detection of polarization in the electromagnetic emission from carbon monoxide in YSOs. This is a collaborative project with the University of Texas and the National Autonomous University of Mexico. Astronomers from Mexico will be observing at the McDonald Observatory in Texas. This award is funded by the Division of International Programs and the Division of Astronomical Sciences. ***
