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Interstellar dust grain alignment causes polarization from UV to mm wavelengths, allowing the study of the geometry and strength of the magnetic field. Over last couple of decades observations and theory have led to the establishment of the Radiative Alignment Torque (RAT) mechanism as leading candidate to explain the effect. With a quantitatively well constrained theory, polarization can be used not only to study the interstellar magnetic field, but also the dust and other environmental parameters. Photo-dissociation Regions (PDRs), with their intense, anisotropic radiation fields, consequent rapid $rm H_{2}$ formation, and high spatial density-contrast provide a rich environment for such studies. Here we discuss an expanded optical, NIR, and mm-wave study of the IC,63 nebula, showing strong $rm H_{2}$ formation-enhanced alignment and the first direct empirical evidence for disalignment due to gas-grain collisions using high-resolution $rm HCO^{+}$(J=1-0) observations. We find that relative amount of polarization is marginally anti-correlated with column density of $rm HCO^{+}$. However, separating the lines of sight of optical polarimetry into those behind, or in front of, a dense clump as seen from $gamma$ Cas, the distribution separates into two well defined sets, with data corresponding to enquote{shaded} gas having a shallower slope. This is expected if the decrease in polarization is caused by collisions since collisional disalignment rate is proportional to R$_Cpropto nsqrt{T}$. Ratios of the best-fit slopes for the enquote{illuminated} and enquote{shaded} samples of lines of sight agrees, within the uncertainties, with the square-root of the two-temperature H$_2$ excitation in the nebula seen by Thi et al. (2009).
The degree to which interstellar grains align with respect to the interstellar magnetic field depends on disaligning as well as aligning mechanisms. For decades, it was assumed that disalignment was due primarily to the random angular impulses a grai
Several mechanisms have been proposed to explain the alignment of grains with the interstellar magnetic field, including paramagnetic dissipation, radiative torques, and supersonic gas-grain streaming. These must compete with disaligning processes, i
Photodissociation regions (PDRs) are parts of the ISM consisting of predominantly neutral gas, located at the interface between H II regions and molecular clouds. The physical conditions within these regions show variations on very short spatial scal
Optical and infrared continuum polarization from the interstellar medium is driven by radiative processes aligning the grains with the magnetic field. While a quantitative, predictive theory of Radiative Alignment Torques (RAT) exists and has been ex
Bright-rimmed clouds (BRCs) are formed at the periphery of H$~$II regions as the radiation from the central star interacts with dense gas. The ionization and resulting compression of the clouds may lead to cloud disruption causing secondary star form