NIR polarimetry in the Central Molecular Zone

We have selected 112 intrinsically polarized sources on the basis of the estimate of interstellar polarization on Stokes Q/I-U/I planes. The selected sources are brighter than K_S_=14.5mag and have polarimetric uncertainty {delta}P<1%.

Ten of these distinctive polarized sources are fit well with spectral energy distributions of young stellar objects when using the photometry in the archive of the Spitzer Space Telescope mid-infrared data. However, many sources have spectral energy distributions of normal stars suffering from heavy interstellar extinction; these might be stars behind dark clouds. Due to the small number of distinctive polarized sources and candidates of young stellar objects, we cannot judge if they are declining in number outside the Central Molecular Zone.