论文标题
在麦哲伦云中搜索巨大且非常巨大的恒星中的强磁场
A search for strong magnetic fields in massive and very massive stars in the Magellanic Clouds
论文作者
论文摘要
尽管很少见,但巨大的恒星通过一生的强,辐射驱动的风来统治星系的生态,并在死亡中成为超新星。但是,它们的演变和随后对环境的影响可能会受到磁场的存在的显着影响。尽管最近的研究表明,银河系中约有7%的OB恒星在其表面上有强,稳定,有组织的磁场(化石)磁场,但对非常巨大的恒星的磁场几乎一无所知,也不知道我们银河系以外的恒星的磁性特性。我们的目标是继续在大小的麦哲伦云(LMC/SMC)中搜索各种大型且非常庞大的恒星(VM)中的强磁场,并评估Fors2的整体能力可在外半乳酸环境中有效搜索和检测恒星磁场。我们已经获得了41颗恒星样品的FORS2光谱法,主要由LMC和SMC中的B,O,O,Of/Wn,WNH和经典WR星组成。我们的四个目标是?其中一个是最近才发现的。分析每个光谱以推断纵向磁场。尽管贝叶斯的统计考虑因素表明,磁场SMC159-2在我们的研究中未正式检测到磁场,但磁性磁场为2.4至4.4公斤的偶极场。此外,我们对VM中磁场的第一个约束提供了有趣的见解,以了解宇宙中最大恒星的形成。
Despite their rarity, massive stars dominate the ecology of galaxies via their strong, radiatively-driven winds throughout their lives and as supernovae in their deaths. However, their evolution and subsequent impact on their environment can be significantly affected by the presence of a magnetic field. While recent studies indicate that about 7% of OB stars in the Milky Way host strong, stable, organised (fossil) magnetic fields at their surfaces, little is known about the fields of very massive stars, nor the magnetic properties of stars outside our Galaxy. We aim to continue searching for strong magnetic fields in a diverse set of massive and very massive stars (VMS) in the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds (LMC/SMC), and we evaluate the overall capability of FORS2 to usefully search for and detect stellar magnetic fields in extra-galactic environments. We have obtained FORS2 spectropolarimetry of a sample of 41 stars, which principally consist of spectral types B, O, Of/WN, WNh, and classical WR stars in the LMC and SMC. Four of our targets are Of?p stars; one of them was just recently discovered. Each spectrum was analysed to infer the longitudinal magnetic field. No magnetic fields were formally detected in our study, although Bayesian statistical considerations suggest that the Of?p star SMC159-2 is magnetic with a dipolar field of the order of 2.4 to 4.4kG. In addition, our first constraints of magnetic fields in VMS provide interesting insights into the formation of the most massive stars in the Universe.