We report the detection of a strong, organized magnetic field in the
helium-variable early B-type star HR 7355 using spectropolarimetric data
obtained with ESPaDOnS on the 3.6-m Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope within the
context of the Magnetism in Massive Stars (MiMeS) Large Program. HR 7355 is
both the most rapidly rotating known main-sequence magnetic star and the most
rapidly rotating helium-strong star, with vsini = 300 ± 15 km s−1
and a rotational period of 0.5214404 ± 0.0000006 days. We have modeled our
eight longitudinal magnetic field measurements assuming an oblique dipole
magnetic field. Constraining the inclination of the rotation axis to be between
38∘ and 86∘, we find the magnetic obliquity angle to be
between 30∘ and 85∘, and the polar strength of the magnetic
field at the stellar surface to be between 13-17 kG. The photometric light
curve constructed from HIPPARCOS archival data and new CTIO measurements shows
two minima separated by 0.5 in rotational phase and occurring 0.25 cycles
before/after the magnetic extrema. This photometric behavior coupled with
previously-reported variable emission of the Hα line (which we confirm)
strongly supports the proposal that HR 7355 harbors a structured magnetosphere
similar to that in the prototypical helium-strong star, σ Ori E.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figures. Accepted for publication in MNRAS Letter