Near-infrared ( IR ) imaging polarimetry in the J , H , and K _ { s } bands has been carried out for the protostellar cluster region around NGC 2264 IRS 2 in the Monoceros OB1 molecular cloud .
Various infrared reflection nebulae clusters ( IRNCs ) associated with NGC 2264 IRS 2 and IRAS 12 S1 core were detected as well as local infrared reflection nebulae ( IRNe ) .
The illuminating sources of the IRNe were identified with known or new near- and mid-IR sources .
In addition , 314 point-like sources were detected in all three bands and their aperture polarimetry was studied .
Using a color–color diagram , reddened field stars and diskless pre-main sequence stars were selected to trace the magnetic field ( MF ) structure of the molecular cloud .
The mean polarization position angle of the point-like sources is 81 \arcdeg \pm 29 \arcdeg in the cluster core , and 58 \arcdeg \pm 24 \arcdeg in the perimeter of the cluster core , which is interpreted as the projected direction on the sky of the MF in the observed region of the cloud .
The Chandrasekhar–Fermi method gives a rough estimate of the MF strength to be about 100 \mu G. A comparison with recent numerical simulations of the cluster formation implies that the cloud dynamics is controlled by the relatively strong MF .
The local MF direction is well associated with that of CO outflow for IRAS 12 S1 and consistent with that inferred from submillimeter polarimetry .
In contrast , the local MF direction runs roughly perpendicular to the Galactic MF direction .