Near-infrared Polarimetry toward the Galactic Center - Magnetic Field
  Configuration in the Central One Degree Region -
  We present a NIR polarimetric map of the 1deg by 1deg region toward the
Galactic center. Comparing Stokes parameters between highly reddened stars and
less reddened ones, we have obtained a polarization originating from
magnetically aligned dust grains at the central region of our Galaxy. The
distribution of position angles shows a peak at the parallel direction to the
Galactic plane, suggesting a toroidal magnetic field configuration. However, at
high Galactic latitudes, the peak of the position angles departs from the
direction of the Galactic plane. This may be a transition of a large-scale
magnetic field configuration from toroidal to poloidal.
