Magnetic Fields at the Surfaces of Stars
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THE The Astron AstrophysRev (1992) 4:35-77 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS REVIEW Springer-Verlag 1992 Magnetic fields at the surfaces of stars J.D. Landstreet Department of Astronomy, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada N6A 3K7 Observatoire Midi-Pyr6n6es, 14, ave. Edouard-Belin, F-31400 Toulouse, France Summary. Magnetic fields have now been detected in stars in several parts of the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram. Roughly dipolar fields ranging in strength between 3 • 102 and 3 x 104 G are found in many chemically peculiar A and B main sequence stars. Dipolar fields are also found in some 2-3% of white dwarfs, but with strengths between 1 • 106 and 5 • 108 G. In both these types of stars, the observed fields vary as the underlying star turns, but do not change in a secular manner. In solar- type stars, structurally complex fields of a few kG are found with filling factors of the order of 0.1 to 0.8. Further indirect evidence of fields in cool main sequence stars is provided by detection of visible and ultraviolet line emission (chromospheric activity), x radiation (coronal matter), and giant starspots. In this review, we survey the observations of stellar magnetism in all these types of stars, as well as efforts to model the observed magnetic fields and associated photospheric peculiarities and activity. Key words: Magnetic field - Stars: activity of- Stars: magnetic field - Stars: peculiar A - Stars: white dwarf 1. Introduction Magnetic fields are now known to occur in a wide variety of types of stars. The first detection of a stellar field occurred nearly a century ago, when Hale (1908) observed the magnetic splitting of spectral lines in sunspots. The first evidence for a field in a star other than our sun was reported more than forty years ago, when Babcock (1947) discovered a large and variable magnetic field in the star 78 Vir. In 1967, pulsars (and thus neutron stars) were detected for the first time by virtue of radio emission produced in magnetic fields of the order of 1012 G (Pacini 1967; Hewish et al 1967; Gold 1968). Shortly afterwards, Kemp et al (1970) reported evidence for a large magnetic field (since estimated to have a strength of the order of 250 MG) in the white dwarf Grw +70 ~ 8247. A decade later, the circle was closed with the discovery by Robinson et al (1980) of magnetic fields in the cool main sequence stars Boo A and 70 Oph A, stars very much like the sun. Each of these discoveries has opened up a new area of research. The magnetic field of the sun has been studied extensively (see for example Stenflo's 1989 article inaugurating this journal). It is clear that the solar magnetic field is very complex. It seems to be concentrated into small flux tubes which emerge from the solar pho- 36 J.D. Landstreet tosphere in sunspots and in boundary regions between several granules. Regions of opposite polarity occur in close proximity to one another. The structure of the surface field changes on a timescale of days and perhaps even more quickly. The magnetic field is involved in almost all aspects of solar activity. It maintains the low tempera- ture and structure of sunspots, may provide the energy source for flares, defines the structure of filaments and prominences, probably contributes to heating the chromo- sphere and corona, and controls the outflow of the solar wind. Our knowledge of the magnetic fields of other cool stars similar to the sun is still rather fragmentary, but it appears that all of these aspects of the solar magnetic field have analogues on other stars. We find direct evidence of kilogauss fields on a number of cool main sequence stars stars, differing from that of the sun primarily in having far greater filling factors. These magnetic stars (and others in which fields have not been detected directly) typ- ically have active chromospheres and coronae. They sometimes exhibit giant spots, and the coolest main sequence stars (M dwarfs) frequently show flares. The magnetic fields of upper main sequence stars appear to be much simpler in structure than those of the lower main sequence. These fields, typically also of kilogauss strength, are roughly dipolar in global structure. The field distribution on a given star does not appear to change on an observable time-scale, although the measured field strength usually varies due to rotation of the underlying star. The fields are invariably found in stars whose photospheres display highly anomalous chemical abundances compared to the sun. In addition, it appears that in many of these stars the abundances of some elements are very non-uniform over the surface. As such a star rotates, we see (in some cases quite dramatic) line profile and line strength variations, and usually also small variations in brightness and colour. The observed rotation periods are generally longer than those of normal A and B stars, ranging from half a day up to many years. The magnetic white dwarfs have fields of between 1 and 500 MG. In structure, the white dwarf fields are similar to those of the upper main sequence magnetic fields, with roughly dipolar distributions. About a quarter of the known magnetic white dwarfs rotate, with periods of hours or days. A number of magnetic white dwarfs have also been found in close binary systems in which magnetically channelled mass transfer is taking place. This review presents a summary of our current observational knowledge of the fields of single (or if double, non-interacting) magnetic stars, and of efforts to under- stand and model the available data. It thus focusses on the directly observable surface magnetic fields detected either through the Zeeman effect or through some kind of magnetically generated activity. It does not attempt to describe in any serious way the theoretical studies of the internal structure of magnetic stars or of the generation and evolution of their magnetic fields. All the classes of stars in which magnetic fields are directly detected are discussed, with the exception of magnetic neutron stars (pulsars). The recent review of Srinivasan (1989) makes it unnecessary to include a discussion of pulsars here; in any case, the methods of observation and physical problems con- nected with these stars do not have a lot in common with studies of other magnetic stars. The magnetic field of the sun is recalled only rather briefly, as the excellent recent review of Stenflo (1989) makes a lengthly review here unnecessary, but the sun will of course receive a certain attention as a more-or-less typical solar-type star. The review is not intended mainly to explain to the small group of specialists in stellar magnetic fields, who know many parts of the subject better than the author, the latest developments in their own fields. Instead, it is intended to review for such Magnetic fields at the surfaces of stars 37 specialists related areas of research with which they may not be so familiar, with some emphasis on the similarities of tactics and methods in different specialities. The review is equally intended to introduce the topic in an intelligible and comprehensive way to astrophysicists whose research areas overlap this field to some extent, and to others who may be simply curious. As a result, many simple but fundamental points are discussed in detail, while other interesting but more advanced or speculative ideas are mentioned more briefly. Although many references will be included, no effort has been made to cite all the significant work in this rather large field. Instead, the intent is to provide enough references to help the interested reader to explore more deeply any topics of special interest. The paper will summarize briefly in Section 2 the methods by which magnetic fields in stars are detected and measured. In Section 3, the observations of magnetic fields and their interpretation in upper main sequence stars will be discussed; magnetic white dwarfs will be surveyed in Section 4; and finally in Section 5 we will review the fields of solar-type and other cool stars. 2. The Zeeman effect and the measurement of magnetic fields 2.1 Physics of the Zeeman effect We start with a discussion of the effects by which the presence of a magnetic field is detected and measured, as an understanding of the underlying physics is very useful in appreciating the significance and limitations of the observations. A readable (though not modem) discussion of the interaction of an atom with a not-to-large magnetic field is found in Condon and Shortley (1951), especially in chapter XVI. An excellent recent review of both the Zeeman effect in atoms and of measurements of magnetic fields in main sequence stars has been prepared by Mathys (1989). For information on the physics of atoms in megagauss fields, the reader may consult the reviews of Garstang (1977, 1982). Consider a many-electron atom placed in a magnetic field of strength B which is small enough to alter the energy E~ of some level by considerably less than the spacing between that level and its nearest neighbors. The energy level, of total angular momentum quantum number J, splits in general into 2J 4- 1 states (sometimes called magnetic substates) of energy E = Ei + 9MheB/47vmc, (1) where M is the magnetic quantum number of one of the magnetic substates, (-J < M < J), h is Planck's constant, e is the charge of the electron and m is its mass, c is the speed of light, and 9, the Land6 factor, is a number of order 1 which depends on the quantum numbers of the level.