A fluorescing spot on the temple: a helpful reminder for a detailed history and physical exam

We discuss a woman with a history of non-melanoma skin cancer who presented with a new erythematous macule on her right temple. On examination with Wood lamp the well-demarcated macule fluoresced pink making neoplasm unlikely. Further history and physical examination suggested an inadvertent ink stain and the patient was spared a biopsy highlighting the importance of eliciting a good history and performing a detailed physical examination with additional tools such as a Wood lamp when necessary

Stochastic excitation of gravity waves in rapidly rotating massive stars

Stochastic gravity waves have been recently detected and characterised in stars thanks to space asteroseismology and they may play an important role in the evolution of stellar angular momentum. In this context, the observational study of the CoRoT hot Be star HD 51452 suggests a potentially strong impact of rotation on stochastic excitation of gravito-inertial waves in rapidly rotating stars. In this work, we present our results on the action of the Coriolis acceleration on stochastic wave excitation by turbulent convection. We study the change of efficiency of this mechanism as a function of the waves' Rossby number and we demonstrate that the excitation presents two different regimes for super-inertial and sub-inertial frequencies. Consequences for rapidly rotating early-type stars and the transport of angular momentum in their interiors are discussed.Comment: 2 pages, 1 figure, IAU 307 symposium proceedings, 'New windows on massive stars: asteroseismology, interferometry, and spectropolarimetry', Eds. G. Meynet, C. Georgy, J.H. Groh & Ph. Ste

Asteroseismology and spectropolarimetry: opening new windows on the internal dynamics of massive stars

In this article, we show how asteroseismology and spectropolarimetry allow to probe dynamical processes in massive star interiors. First, we give a summary of the state-of-the-art. Second, we recall the MHD mechanisms that take place in massive stars. Next, we show how asteroseimology gives strong constraints on the internal mixing and transport of angular momentum while spectropolarimetry allows to unravel the role played by magnetic fields.Comment: 5 pages, 1 figure, IAU 307 symposium proceedings, New windows on massive stars: asteroseismology, interferometry, and spectropolarimetry, Eds. G. Meynet, C. Georgy, J. H. Groh, and P. Ste

Magnetic fields in early-type stars

For several decades we have been cognizant of the presence of magnetic fields in early-type stars, but our understanding of their magnetic properties has recently (over the last decade) expanded due to the new generation of high-resolution spectropolarimeters (ESPaDOnS at CFHT, Narval at TBL, HARPSpol at ESO). The most detailed surface magnetic field maps of intermediate-mass stars have been obtained through Doppler imaging techniques, allowing us to probe the small-scale structure of these stars. Thanks to the effort of large programmes (e.g. the MiMeS project), we have, for the first time, addressed key issues regarding our understanding of the magnetic properties of massive (M > 8 M_sun) stars, whose magnetic fields were only first detected about fifteen years ago. In this proceedings article we review the spectropolarimetric observations and statistics derived in recent years that have formed our general understanding of stellar magnetism in early-type stars. We also discuss how these observations have furthered our understanding of the interactions between the magnetic field and stellar wind, as well as the consequences and connections of this interaction with other observed phenomena.Comment: 8 pages, 2 figures. To appear in the proceedings of the IAUS 305 - Polarimetry: From the sun to stars and stellar environment

XMM-Newton observations of MR Vel/RX J0925.7-4758

We report on XMM-Newton observations of the galactic supersoft X-ray source RX J0925.7-4758. The RGS spectrum exhibits a wealth of spectral features from iron and oxygen. XMM-Newton data confirm the finding of previous Chandra HETGS/MEG observations that NLTE models of hot white dwarf atmospheres fail to represent the complex spectrum. There are clear evidences for P Cygni profiles with wind velocities of up to 2000 km/s. Small flux variations with time scales larger than 1000s are present. The strongest power is at ~ 0.21d, a period close to that seen in V band optical light curves. A detailed analysis of the associated changes in the RGS and EPIC pn spectra hint at a mostly grey mechanism suggesting a variation of the visibility of the white dwarf due to occulting material in the accretion disk. Finally, we detect radial velocity changes of 173 +/- 47 km/s between two RGS observations obtained half an orbital cycle apart. The amplitude of the RGS velocity shift is consistent with that of the optical He II 4686 and thus supports the idea that most of the He II optical line emission arises from the accretion disk.Comment: Accepted for publication in A&A (8 pages and 9 figures

Magneto-asteroseismology of massive magnetic pulsators

Simultaneously and coherently studying the large-scale magnetic field and the stellar pulsations of a massive star provides strong complementary diagnostics suitable for detailed stellar modelling. This hybrid method is called magneto-asteroseismology and permits the determination of the internal structure and conditions within magnetic massive pulsators, for example the effect of magnetism on non-standard mixing processes. Here, we overview this technique, its requirements, and list the currently known suitable stars to apply the method.Comment: 5 pages, 1 table, IAUS 329 conference proceeding

Discovery of a very weak magnetic field on the Am star Alhena

Alhena ($\gamma$ Gem) was observed in the frame of the BRITE (BRIght Target Explorer) spectropolarimetric survey, which gathers high resolution, high signal-to-noise, high sensitivity, spectropolarimetric observations of all stars brighter than V=4 to combine seismic and spectropolarimetric studies of bright stars. We present here the discovery of a very weak magnetic field \textbf{on} the Am star Alhena, thanks to very high signal-to-noise spectropolarimetric data obtained with Narval at T\'elescope Bernard Lyot (TBL). All previously studied Am stars show the presence of ultra-weak (sub-Gauss) fields with Zeeman signatures with an unexpected prominent positive lobe. However, Alhena presents a slightly stronger (but still very weak, only a few Gauss) field with normal Zeeman signatures with a positive and negative lobe, as found in stronger field (hundreds or thousands of Gauss) stars. It is the first detection of a normal magnetic signature in an Am star. Alhena is thus a very interesting object, which might provide the clue to understanding the peculiar shapes of the magnetic signatures of the other Am stars.Comment: letter accepted by MNRA