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Register a new userMagnetic OB[A] Stars with TESS: probing their Evolutionary and Rotational properties (MOBSTER) - I. First-light observations of known magnetic B and A stars
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Alexandre David-Uraz
Publication date
2019
fields
Physics
and research's language is
English
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In this paper we introduce the MOBSTER collaboration and lay out its scientific goals. We present first results based on the analysis of nineteen previously known magnetic O, B and A stars observed in 2-minute cadence in sectors 1 and 2 of the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) mission. We derive precise rotational periods from the newly obtained light curves and compare them to previously published values. We also discuss the overall photometric phenomenology of the known magnetic massive and intermediate-mass stars and propose an observational strategy to augment this population by taking advantage of the high-quality observations produced by TESS.
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In this contribution, we present the MOBSTER Collaboration, a large community effort to leverage high-precision photometry from the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (textit{TESS}) in order to characterize the variability of magnetic massive and intermediate-mass stars. These data can be used to probe the varying column density of magnetospheric plasma along the line of sight for OB stars, thus improving our understanding of the interaction between surface magnetic fields and massive star winds. They can also be used to map out the brightness inhomogeneities present on the surfaces of Ap/Bp stars, informing present models of atomic diffusion in their atmospheres. Finally, we review our current and ongoing studies, which lead to new insights on this topic.
Light curves and periodograms of 160 B stars observed by the TESS space mission and 29 main-sequence B stars from Kepler and K2 were used to classify the variability type. There are 114 main-sequence B stars in the TESS sample, of which 45 are classified as possible rotational variables. This confirms previous findings that a large fraction (about 40 percent) of A and B stars may exhibit rotational modulation. Gaia DR2 parallaxes were used to estimate luminosities, from which the radii and equatorial rotational velocities can be deduced. It is shown that observed values of the projected rotational velocities are lower than the estimated equatorial velocities for nearly all the stars, as they should be if rotation is the cause of the light variation. We conclude that a large fraction of main-sequence B stars appear to contain surface features which cannot likely be attributed to abundance patches.
We present the first analysis of Cepheid stars observed by the TESS space mission in Sectors 1 to 5. Our sample consists of 25 pulsators: ten fundamental mode, three overtone and two double-mode classical Cepheids, plus three Type II and seven anomalous Cepheids. The targets were chosen from fields with different stellar densities, both from the Galactic field and from the Magellanic System. Three targets have 2-minute cadence light curves available by the TESS Science Processing Operations Center: for the rest, we prepared custom light curves from the full-frame images with our own differential photometric FITSH pipeline. Our main goal was to explore the potential and the limitations of TESS concerning the various subtypes of Cepheids. We detected many low amplitude features: weak modulation, period jitter, and timing variations due to light-time effect. We also report signs of non-radial modes and the first discovery of such a mode in an anomalous Cepheid, the overtone star XZ Cet, which we then confirmed with ground-based multicolor photometric measurements. We prepared a custom photometric solution to minimize saturation effects in the bright fundamental-mode classical Cepheid, $beta$ Dor with the lightkurve software, and we revealed strong evidence of cycle-to-cycle variations in the star. In several cases, however, fluctuations in the pulsation could not be distinguished from instrumental effects, such as contamination from nearby sources which also varies between sectors. Finally, we discuss how precise light curve shapes will be crucial not only for classification purposes but also to determine physical properties of these stars.
Magnetic massive and intermediate-mass stars constitute a separate population whose properties are still not fully understood. Increasing the sample of known objects of this type would help answer fundamental questions regarding the origins and characteristics of their magnetic fields. The MOBSTER Collaboration seeks to identify candidate magnetic A, B and O stars and explore the incidence and origins of photometric rotational modulation using high-precision photometry from the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (textit{TESS}) mission. In this contribution, we present an overview of our methods and planned targeted spectropolarimetric follow-up surveys.
Magnetic confinement of stellar winds leads to the formation of magnetospheres, which can be sculpted into Centrifugal Magnetospheres (CMs) by rotational support of the corotating plasma. The conditions required for the CMs of magnetic early B-type stars to yield detectable emission in H$alpha$ -- the principal diagnostic of these structures -- are poorly constrained. A key reason is that no detailed study of the magnetic and rotational evolution of this population has yet been performed. Using newly determined rotational periods, modern magnetic measurements, and atmospheric parameters determined via spectroscopic modelling, we have derived fundamental parameters, dipolar oblique rotator models, and magnetospheric parameters for 56 early B-type stars. Comparison to magnetic A- and O-type stars shows that the range of surface magnetic field strength is essentially constant with stellar mass, but that the unsigned surface magnetic flux increases with mass. Both the surface magnetic dipole strength and the total magnetic flux decrease with stellar age, with the rate of flux decay apparently increasing with stellar mass. We find tentative evidence that multipolar magnetic fields may decay more rapidly than dipoles. Rotational periods increase with stellar age, as expected for a magnetic braking scenario. Without exception, all stars with H$alpha$ emission originating in a CM are 1) rapid rotators, 2) strongly magnetic, and 3) young, with the latter property consistent with the observation that magnetic fields and rotation both decrease over time.
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