Optical Polarimetric and Near-Infrared Photometric Study of the RCW95
  Galactic HII Region
  We carried out an optical polarimetric study in the direction of the RCW95
star forming region in order to probe the sky-projected magnetic field
structure by using the distribution of linear polarization segments which seem
to be well aligned with the more extended cloud component. A mean polarization
angle of $\theta=49.8^o\pm7.7^o$ was derived. Through the spectral dependence
analysis of polarization it was possible to obtain the total-to-selective
extinction ratio ($R_V$) by fitting the Serkowski function, resulting in a mean
value of $R_V=2.93\pm0.47$. The foreground polarization component was estimated
and is in agreement with previous studies in this direction of the Galaxy.
Further, near-infrared images from Vista Variables in the Via L\'actea (VVV)
survey were collected to improve the study of the stellar population associated
with the HII region. The Automated Stellar Cluster Analysis (ASteCA) algorithm
was employed to derive structural parameters for two clusters in the region,
and a set of PAdova and TRieste Stellar Evolution Code (PARSEC) isochrones was
superimposed on the decontaminated colour-magnitude diagrams (CMDs) to estimate
an age of about 3 Myr for both clusters. Finally, from the near-infrared
photometry study combined with spectra obtained with the Ohio State Infrared
Imager and Spectrometer (OSIRIS) mounted at the Southern Astrophysics Research
Telescope (SOAR) we derived the spectral classification of the main ionizing
sources in the clusters associated with IRAS 15408$-$5356 and IRAS
15412$-$5359, both objects classified as O4 V stars.
