| Issue |
A&A
Volume 581, September 2015
|
|
|---|---|---|
| Article Number | A81 | |
| Number of page(s) | 14 | |
| Section | Stellar atmospheres | |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/201425354 | |
| Published online | 08 September 2015 | |
B fields in OB stars (BOB)
Detection of a strong magnetic field in the O9.7 V star HD 54879⋆,⋆⋆
1 Argelander-Institut für Astronomie der Universität Bonn, Auf dem Hügel 71, 53121 Bonn, Germany
e-mail: norberto@astro.uni-bonn.de
2 Leibniz-Institut für Astrophysik Potsdam (AIP), An der Sternwarte 16, 14482 Potsdam, Germany
3 Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias, 38200 La Laguna, Tenerife, Spain
4 Universidad de La Laguna, 38205 La Laguna, Tenerife, Spain
5 European Southern Observatory, Karl-Schwarzschild-Str. 2, 85748 Garching bei München, Germany
6 Institut d’Astrophysique et de Géophysique, Université de Liège, Allée du 6 Août, Bât. B5c, 4000 Liège, Belgium
7 Department of Physics, University of Oxford, Denys Wilkinson Building, Keble Road, Oxford OX1 3RH, UK
8 Institut für Astro- und Teilchenphysik, Universität Innsbruck, Technikerstr. 25/8, 6020 Innsbruck, Austria
9 Astronomical Institute Anton Pannekoek, University of Amsterdam, Kruislaan 403, 1098 SJ Amsterdam, The Netherlands
10 Instituut voor Sterrenkunde, KU Leuven, Celestijnenlaan 200D, 3001 Leuven, Belgium
11 Institute for Physics and Astronomy, University of Potsdam, 14476 Potsdam, Germany
12 Instituto de Astrofísica, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Casilla 306, Santiago 22, Chile
13 European Space Agency, Space Telescope Science Institute, 3700 San Martin Drive, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA
Received: 17 November 2014
Accepted: 22 June 2015
The number of magnetic stars detected among massive stars is small; nevertheless, the role played by the magnetic field in stellar evolution cannot be disregarded. Links between line profile variability, enhancements/depletions of surface chemical abundances, and magnetic fields have been identified for low-mass B-stars, but for the O-type domain this is almost unexplored. Based on FORS 2 and HARPS spectropolarimetric data, we present the first detection of a magnetic field in HD 54879, a single slowly rotating O9.7 V star. Using two independent and different techniques we obtained the firm detection of a surface average longitudinal magnetic field with a maximum amplitude of about 600 G, in modulus. A quantitative spectroscopic analysis of the star with the stellar atmosphere code fastwind results in an effective temperature and a surface gravity of 33 000 ± 1000 K and 4.0 ± 0.1 dex. The abundances of carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, silicon, and magnesium are found to be slightly lower than solar, but compatible within the errors. We investigate line-profile variability in HD 54879 by complementing our spectra with spectroscopic data from other recent OB-star surveys. The photospheric lines remain constant in shape between 2009 and 2014, although Hα shows a variable emission. The Hα emission is too strong for a standard O9.7 V and is probably linked to the magnetic field and the presence of circumstellar material. Its normal chemical composition and the absence of photospheric line profile variations make HD 54879 the most strongly magnetic, non-variable single O-star detected to date.
Key words: stars: atmospheres / stars: evolution / stars: magnetic field / stars: massive / stars: individual: HD 54879
Based on observations made with ESO telescopes at the La Silla and Paranal observatories under programme ID 191.D-0255(C, F).
Appendix A is available in electronic form at http://www.aanda.org
© ESO, 2015
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