Discovery of New Magnetic Early-B Stars Within the Mimes Harpspol
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Astronomy & Astrophysics manuscript no. harps_detection_v9 c ESO 2021 January 13, 2021 Discovery of new magnetic early-B stars within the MiMeS HARPSpol survey ⋆ E. Alecian1, 2, O. Kochukhov3, V. Petit4, J. Grunhut5, J. Landstreet6, 7, M.E. Oksala8, G.A. Wade9, G. Hussain5, C. Neiner2, D. Bohlender10, and the MiMeS Collaboration 1 UJF-Grenoble 1 / CNRS-INSU, Institut de Planétologie et d’Astrophysique de Grenoble (IPAG) UMR 5274, Grenoble, F-38041, France, e-mail: [email protected] 2 LESIA-Observatoire de Paris, CNRS, UPMC, Univ. Paris-Diderot, 5 place Jules Janssen, F-92195 Meudon Cedex, France 3 Department of Physics and Astronomy, Uppsala University, Box 516, SE-751 20 Uppsala, Sweden 4 Bartol Research Institute, Department of Physics & Astronomy, University of Delaware, Newark, DE 19716, USA 5 ESO, Karl-Schwarzschild-Strasse 2, 85748 Garching, Germany 6 Armagh Observatory, College Hill, Armagh, BT61 9DG, Northern Ireland, UK 7 Department of Physics and Astronomy, The University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, N6A 3K7, Canada 8 Astronomický ústav, Akademie vedˇ Ceskéˇ republiky, Fricovaˇ 298, 251 65 Ondrejov,ˇ Czech Republic 9 Dept. of Physics, Royal Military College of Canada, PO Box 17000, Stn Forces, Kingston Ontario, K7K 7B4, Canada 10 Dominion Astrophysical Observatory, Herzberg Astronomy and Astrophysics Program, National Research Council of Canada, 5071 West Saanich Road, Victoria, BC V9E 2E7, Canada Received September 15, 1996; accepted March 16, 1997 ABSTRACT Context. The Magnetism in Massive Stars (MiMeS) project aims at understanding the origin of the magnetic fields in massive stars as well as their impact on stellar internal structure, evolution, and circumstellar environment. Aims. One of the objectives of the MiMeS project is to provide stringent observational constraints on the magnetic fields of massive stars, however, identification of magnetic massive stars is challenging, as only a few percent of high-mass stars host strong fields detectable with the current instrumentation. Hence, one of the first objectives of the MiMeS project was to search for magnetic objects among a large sample of massive stars, and to build a sub-sample for in-depth follow-up studies required to test the models and theories of fossil field origins, magnetic wind confinement and magnetospheric properties, and magnetic star evolution. Methods. We obtained high-resolution spectropolarimetric observations of a large number of OB stars thanks to three large programs (LP) of observations that have been allocated on the high-resolution spectropolarimeters ESPaDOnS, Narval, and the polarimetric module HARPSpol of the HARPS spectrograph. We report here on the methods and first analysis of the HARPSpol magnetic detections. We identified the magnetic stars using a multi-line analysis technique. Then, when possible, we monitored the new discoveries to derive their rotation periods, which are critical for follow-up and magnetic mapping studies. We also performed a first- look analysis of their spectra and identified obvious spectral anomalies (e.g., surface abundance peculiarities, Hα emission), which are also of interest for future studies. Results. In this paper, we focus on eight of the 11 stars (from the HARPSpol LP sample) in which we discovered or confirmed a magnetic field from the HARPSpol LP sample (the remaining three were published in a previous paper). Seven of the stars were detected in early-type Bp stars, while the last star was detected in the Ap companion of a normal early B-type star. We report obvious spectral and multiplicity properties, as well as our measurements of their longitudinal field strengths, and their rotation periods when we are able to derive them. We also discuss the presence or absence of Hα emission with respect to the theory of centrifugally- supported magnetospheres. Key words. stars: massive – stars: magnetic field – stars: chemically peculiar – arXiv:1404.5508v1 [astro-ph.SR] 22 Apr 2014 1. Introduction fraction of these stars, exclusively among the chemically pecu- liar Ap/Bp stars (Wolff 1968; Shorlin et al. 2002; Bagnulo et al. The properties of the magnetic fields of the intermediate mass 2006; Aurière et al. 2010; Kochukhovet al. 2013). They are stars(1.5to8 M⊙) of spectral type A and late-B(B4 and later) on mainly dipolar or low-order multi-polar fields, with polar the main sequence (A/B stars hereafter) are now well established strengths ranging from 300 G to 30 kG, most having fields of or- (see the reviews of Landstreet 1992; Donati & Landstreet 2009, der 1 kG (e.g. Landstreet & Borra 1978; Landstreet et al. 1989; as well as references hereinafter). They are found in a small Bohlender et al. 1987, 1993; Mathys & Lanz 1997; Wade et al. 2000a, 2006; Kochukhov 2006; Elkin et al. 2010; Bailey et al. ⋆ Based on observations collected at the European Southern Observa- 2012). These fields are stable over many years, and even decades tory, Chile (Program ID 187.D-0917), and on observations obtained at (for stars with sufficient observations, e.g. Landstreet et al. the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope (CFHT), which is operated by the 1989; Khokhlova et al. 1997; Silvester et al. 2014). While the National Research Council of Canada, the Institut National des Sciences field strengths seem to show a statistical decrease with stel- de l’Univers (INSU) of the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique lar age, the field incidence does not depend on the stellar age (CNRS) of France, and the University of Hawaii Article number, page 1 of 19 (Kochukhov & Bagnulo 2006; Landstreet et al. 2008). Such sta- Within the HARPSpol survey, we detected nine new mag- ble and large scale fields are called fossil fields (i.e. they are netic stars and confirmed the presence of the magnetic fields at not continuously maintained from dissipation, Cowling 1945, the surface of two others - HD 105382and HD 109026- that had 1953; Borra et al. 1982) and are observed in intermediate-mass been previously reported (Briquet et al. 2007; Borra et al. 1983). stars from the pre-main-sequence phase (in Herbig Ae/Be stars), The two new magnetic detections (HD 122451 and HD 130807) throughout the main-sequence phase, and very likely even un- and the field confirmation in HD 105382 obtained during the til the red giant phase of stellar evolution (Aurière et al. 2008, first run (May 2011) of the LP have already been published in a 2011; Alecian et al. 2013). Letter (Alecian et al. 2011). In this paper, we report seven new Fossil fields have very different properties compared to detections and one field confirmation in HD 109026 that were the magnetic fields of the Sun and other cool, low-mass obtained during the four remaining runs (Dec. 2011, July 2012, stars, which indicate a different origin. While in low-mass Feb. 2013, June 2013). stars, the presence of a deep sub-surface convective zone al- This paper is structured as follows. In Section 2, we describe lows for a dynamo to occur and produce very complex and the observations and reduction we performed. In Section 3, we unstable magnetic fields as observed at the surface of the describe the spectral properties of the new magnetic stars. In Sun, intermediate-mass stars lack such a convective zone to Section 4, we analyse the polarised spectra and interpret them generate their fields. It is believed instead that the fossil to propose magnetic field geometries. In, Section 5 we discuss fields are remnants from fields enhanced or accumulated dur- the magnetospheric signatures observed (or not) in Hα, and in ing star formation (e.g. Moss 2001). Studies performed the Section 6, we present a summary of our results. last years have brought a variety of new evidence in favour of this theory and in the generation and history of the such fossil fields (Wade et al. 2005; Braithwaite & Nordlund 2006; 2. Observations and Reduction Wade et al. 2007; Folsom et al. 2008; Alecian et al. 2008a,b, 2009; Duez & Mathis 2010; Duez etal. 2010; Alecian etal. We used the polarisation properties of the Zeeman effect in- 2013). side spectral lines to measure the magnetic fields of our sam- Massive stars (above 8 M⊙) of spectral type O and early- ple. Because stellar magnetic fields generally produce a B on the main sequence (OB stars hereafter), similarly to stronger circular than linear polarisation signal (e.g. Wade et al. intermediate-mass stars, possess a large radiative envelope. We 2000b), we carried out observations in circular polarisation therefore assume that the origin of the field is similar in both mode only. We obtained observations with the polarimet- types of stars. The OB stars are however hotter than A/B stars, ric module (Piskunov et al. 2011) of the HARPS spectrograph and can drive significant radiative winds (Castor et al. 1975). (Mayoret al. 2003) installed on the ESO 3.6m telescope (La Magnetic interaction between the star and the environment could Silla Observatory, Chile). This instrument configuration pro- therefore be significant (ud-Doula & Owocki 2002). It has also vides us with high-resolution spectropolarimetric data, covering been proposed that magnetic fields can have a strong impact on a wavelength range from 378 nm to 691 nm with a gap between the structure and evolution of massive stars (e.g. via enhanced or 526 and 534 nm. Depending on the magnitude of the star, one suppressed mixing, surface velocity braking, Maeder & Meynet observation consists of one or several successive polarimetric 2000; ud-Doula et al. 2009; Briquet et al. 2012). Until recently, measurements. To obtain one circularly polarised measurement, our knowledge of the magnetic properties of the OB stars was we acquired four successive individual spectra between which very poor. Fields were only detected in a few peculiar cases, we rotated the quarter-wave plate by 90◦ starting at 45◦.