IPM Calendar 
Monday 23 December 2024   Today  
Events for day: Sunday 19 May 2024    
           15:00 - 16:00     Theory weekly seminar (TWS)
A magnetic massive star has experienced a stellar merger

School
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Abstract:

Massive stars (those ?8 solar masses at formation) have radiative envelopes that cannot sustain a dynamo, the mechanism that produces magnetic fields in lower-mass stars. Despite this, approximately 7% of massive stars have observed magnetic fields, the origin of which is debated. We used multi- epoch interferometric and spectroscopic observations to characterize HD 148937, a binary system of two massive stars. We found that only one star is magnetic and that it appears younger than its companion. The system properties and a surrounding bipolar nebula can be reproduced with a model in which two stars merged (in a prev ...