170 research outputs found
Investigating the origin of cyclical wind variability in hot, massive stars - I. On the dipolar magnetic field hypothesis
OB stars exhibit various types of spectral variability associated with wind
structures, including the apparently ubiquitous discrete absorption components
(DACs). These are proposed to be caused by either magnetic fields or non-radial
pulsations (NRPs). In this paper, we evaluate the possible relation between
large-scale, dipolar magnetic fields and the DAC phenomenon by investigating
the magnetic properties of a sample of 13 OB stars exhibiting well-documented
DAC behaviour.
Using high-precision spectropolarimetric data acquired in part in the context
of the Magnetism in Massive Stars (MiMeS) project, we find no evidence for
surface dipolar magnetic fields in any of these stars. Using Bayesian
inference, we compute upper limits on the strengths of the fields and use these
limits to assess two potential mechanisms by which the field may influence wind
outflow: magnetic wind confinement and local photospheric brightness
enhancements. Within the limits we derive, both mechanisms fail to provide a
systematic process capable of producing DACs in all of the stars of our sample.
Therefore, this implies that dipolar fields are highly unlikely to be
responsible for these structures in all massive stars, meaning that some other
mechanism must come into play.Comment: 17 pages, 6 figures, accepted for publication in MNRA
The BinaMIcS project: understanding the origin of magnetic fields in massive stars through close binary systems
It is now well established that a fraction of the massive (M>8 Msun) star
population hosts strong, organised magnetic fields, most likely of fossil
origin. The details of the generation and evolution of these fields are still
poorly understood. The BinaMIcS project takes an important step towards the
understanding of the interplay between binarity and magnetism during the
stellar formation and evolution, and in particular the genesis of fossil
fields, by studying the magnetic properties of close binary systems. The
components of such systems are most likely formed together, at the same time
and in the same environment, and can therefore help us to disentangle the role
of initial conditions on the magnetic properties of the massive stars from
other competing effects such as age or rotation. We present here the main
scientific objectives of the BinaMIcS project, as well as preliminary results
from the first year of observations from the associated ESPaDOnS and Narval
spectropolarimetric surveys.Comment: To appear in New Windows on Massive Stars, proceedings of the IAU
Symposium 30
UVMag: stellar formation, evolution, structure and environment with space UV and visible spectropolarimetry
Important insights into the formation, structure, evolution and environment
of all types of stars can be obtained through the measurement of their winds
and possible magnetospheres. However, this has hardly been done up to now
mainly because of the lack of UV instrumentation available for long periods of
time. To reach this aim, we have designed UVMag, an M-size space mission
equipped with a high-resolution spectropolarimeter working in the UV and
visible spectral range. The UV domain is crucial in stellar physics as it is
very rich in atomic and molecular lines and contains most of the flux of hot
stars. Moreover, covering the UV and visible spectral domains at the same time
will allow us to study the star and its environment simultaneously. Adding
polarimetric power to the spectrograph will multiply tenfold the capabilities
of extracting information on stellar magnetospheres, winds, disks, and magnetic
fields. Examples of science objectives that can be reached with UVMag are
presented for pre-main sequence, main sequence and evolved stars. They will
cast new light onto stellar physics by addressing many exciting and important
questions. UVMag is currently undergoing a Research and Technology study and
will be proposed at the forthcoming ESA call for M-size missions. This
spectropolarimeter could also be installed on a large UV and visible
observatory (e.g. NASA's LUVOIR project) within a suite of instruments.Comment: Accepted in ApSS's special volume on UV astronom
The MiMeS Project: Magnetism in Massive Stars
The Magnetism in Massive Stars (MiMeS) Project is a consensus collaboration
among the foremost international researchers of the physics of hot, massive
stars, with the basic aim of understanding the origin, evolution and impact of
magnetic fields in these objects. The cornerstone of the project is the MiMeS
Large Program at the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope, which represents a
dedication of 640 hours of telescope time from 2008-2012. The MiMeS Large
Program will exploit the unique capabilities of the ESPaDOnS spectropolarimeter
to obtain critical missing information about the poorly-studied magnetic
properties of these important stars, to confront current models and to guide
theory.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figures, proceedings of IAUS 259: Cosmic Magnetic Field
Simulating Radiating and Magnetized Flows in Multi-Dimensions with ZEUS-MP
This paper describes ZEUS-MP, a multi-physics, massively parallel, message-
passing implementation of the ZEUS code. ZEUS-MP differs significantly from the
ZEUS-2D code, the ZEUS-3D code, and an early "version 1" of ZEUS-MP distributed
publicly in 1999. ZEUS-MP offers an MHD algorithm better suited for
multidimensional flows than the ZEUS-2D module by virtue of modifications to
the Method of Characteristics scheme first suggested by Hawley and Stone
(1995), and is shown to compare quite favorably to the TVD scheme described by
Ryu et. al (1998). ZEUS-MP is the first publicly-available ZEUS code to allow
the advection of multiple chemical (or nuclear) species. Radiation hydrodynamic
simulations are enabled via an implicit flux-limited radiation diffusion (FLD)
module. The hydrodynamic, MHD, and FLD modules may be used in one, two, or
three space dimensions. Self gravity may be included either through the
assumption of a GM/r potential or a solution of Poisson's equation using one of
three linear solver packages (conjugate-gradient, multigrid, and FFT) provided
for that purpose. Point-mass potentials are also supported. Because ZEUS-MP is
designed for simulations on parallel computing platforms, considerable
attention is paid to the parallel performance characteristics of each module.
Strong-scaling tests involving pure hydrodynamics (with and without
self-gravity), MHD, and RHD are performed in which large problems (256^3 zones)
are distributed among as many as 1024 processors of an IBM SP3. Parallel
efficiency is a strong function of the amount of communication required between
processors in a given algorithm, but all modules are shown to scale well on up
to 1024 processors for the chosen fixed problem size.Comment: Accepted for publication in the ApJ Supplement. 42 pages with 29
inlined figures; uses emulateapj.sty. Discussions in sections 2 - 4 improved
per referee comments; several figures modified to illustrate grid resolution.
ZEUS-MP source code and documentation available from the Laboratory for
Computational Astrophysics at http://lca.ucsd.edu/codes/currentcodes/zeusmp2
Ultraviolet Line Profiles of Slowly Rotating Massive Star Winds Using the "Analytic Dynamical Magnetosphere" Formalism
Recent large-scale spectropolarimetric surveys have established that a small
but significant percentage of massive stars host stable, surface dipolar
magnetic fields with strengths on the order of kG. These fields channel the
dense, radiatively driven stellar wind into circumstellar magnetospheres, whose
density and velocity structure can be probed using ultraviolet (UV)
spectroscopy of wind-sensitive resonance lines. Coupled with appropriate
magnetosphere models, UV spectroscopy provides a valuable way to investigate
the wind-field interaction, and can yield quantitative estimates of the wind
parameters of magnetic massive stars. We report a systematic investigation of
the formation of UV resonance lines in slowly rotating magnetic massive stars
with dynamical magnetospheres. We pair the Analytic Dynamical Magnetosphere
(ADM) formalism with a simplified radiative transfer technique to produce
synthetic UV line profiles. Using a grid of models, we examine the effect of
magnetosphere size, the line strength parameter, and the cooling parameter on
the structure and modulation of the line profile. We find that magnetic massive
stars uniquely exhibit redshifted absorption at most viewing angles and
magnetosphere sizes, and that significant changes to the shape and variation of
the line profile with varying line strengths can be explained by examining the
individual wind components described in the ADM formalism. Finally, we show
that the cooling parameter has a negligible effect on the line profiles.Comment: 16 pages, 15 figures, accepted to MNRA
A multisite photometric study of two unusual Beta Cep stars: the magnetic V2052 Oph and the massive rapid rotator V986 Oph
We report a multisite photometric campaign for the Beta Cep stars V2052 Oph
and V986 Oph. 670 hours of high-quality differential photoelectric Stromgren,
Johnson and Geneva time-series photometry were obtained with eight telescopes
on five continents during 182 nights. Frequency analyses of the V2052 Oph data
enabled the detection of three pulsation frequencies, the first harmonic of the
strongest signal, and the rotation frequency with its first harmonic.
Pulsational mode identification from analysing the colour amplitude ratios
confirms the dominant mode as being radial, whereas the other two oscillations
are most likely l=4. Combining seismic constraints on the inclination of the
rotation axis with published magnetic field analyses we conclude that the
radial mode must be the fundamental. The rotational light modulation is in
phase with published spectroscopic variability, and consistent with an oblique
rotator for which both magnetic poles pass through the line of sight. The
inclination of the rotation axis is 54o <i< 58o and the magnetic obliquity 58o
<beta< 66o. The possibility that V2052 Oph has a magnetically confined wind is
discussed. The photometric amplitudes of the single oscillation of V986 Oph are
most consistent with an l=3 mode, but this identification is uncertain.
Additional intrinsic, apparently temporally incoherent, light variations of
V986 Oph are reported. Different interpretations thereof cannot be
distinguished at this point, but this kind of variability appears to be present
in many OB stars. The prospects of obtaining asteroseismic information for more
rapidly rotating Beta Cep stars, which appear to prefer modes of higher l, are
briefly discussed.Comment: 12 pages, 8 figures, MNRAS, in pres
The magnetic early B-type stars:III. A main-sequence magnetic, rotational, and magnetospheric biography
Magnetic Reconnection with Asymmetry in the Outflow Direction
Magnetic reconnection with asymmetry in the outflow direction occurs in the
Earth's magnetotail, coronal mass ejections, flux cancellation events,
astrophysical disks, spheromak merging experiments, and elsewhere in nature and
the laboratory. A control volume analysis is performed for the case of steady
antiparallel magnetic reconnection with asymmetric downstream pressure, which
is used to derive scaling relations for the outflow velocity from each side of
the current sheet and the reconnection rate. Simple relationships for outflow
velocity are presented for the incompressible case and the case of symmetric
downstream pressure but asymmetric downstream density. Asymmetry alone is not
found to greatly affect the reconnection rate. The flow stagnation point and
magnetic field null do not coincide in a steady state unless the pressure
gradient is negligible at the flow stagnation point.Comment: 12 pages, 8 figures. Submitted to JGR. Any comments will be
appreciate
Testing magnetically confined wind shock models for Beta Cep using XMM-Newton and Chandra phase-resolved X-ray observations
(abridged) We have performed a set of phase-resolved X-ray observations of
the magnetic B star Beta Cep, for which theoretical models predict the presence
of a confined wind emitting X-rays from stationary shocks.
We obtained four observations spaced in rotational phase with XMM-Newton and
with Chandra. A detailed analysis of the data was performed to derive both
photometric and spectral parameters from the EPIC data, searching for
rotational modulation, and to derive the location of the X-ray plasma from the
line ratios in the He-like triplets of N, O and Ne from the RGS data. The LETG
data were used to constrain the presence of bulk motions in the plasma.
The strong rotational modulation predicted by the early, static magnetically
confined wind model for the X-ray emission is not observed in Beta Cep. The
small modulation present goes in the opposite direction, pointing to the
absence of any optically thick disk of neutral material, and showing a
modulation consistent with the later, dynamic models of magnetically confined
wind models in B stars. The lack of observed bulk motion points to the plasma
being confined by a magnetic field, but the low plasma temperature and lack of
any flaring show that the plasma is not heated by magnetic reconnection.
Therefore, the observations point to X-ray emission from shocks in a
magnetically confined wind, with no evidence of an optically thick, dense disk
at the magnetic equatorComment: Accepted for publication in Astronomy & Astrophysic
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