Discovery of magnetic fields in hot subdwarfs

dc.creatorO'Toole, S. J.
dc.creatorJordan, S.
dc.creatorFriedrich, S.
dc.creatorHeber, U.
dc.date2004-10-02
dc.date.accessioned2026-07-25T12:18:10Z
dc.descriptionWe present initial results of a project to measure mean longitudinal magnetic fields in a group of sdB/OB/O stars. The project was inspired by the discovery of three super-metal-rich sdOB stars, each having metals (e.g. Ti, V) enhanced by factors of 10^3 to 10^5. Similar behaviour is observed in chemically peculiar A stars, where strong magnetic fields are responsible for the enrichment. With this in mind, we obtained circularly polarised spectra of two of the super-metal-rich sdOBs, two "normal" sdBs and two sdOs using FORS1 on the ESO/VLT. By examining circular polarisation in the hydrogen Balmer lines and in helium lines, we have detected magnetic fields with strengths of 1-2 kG in most of our targets. This suggests that such fields are relatively common in hot subdwarfs.
dc.description4 pages, to appear in White Dwarfs, eds. D. Koester, S. Moehler, ASP Conf. series
dc.identifierhttps://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0410042
dc.identifierhttp://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0410042
dc.identifier.urihttps://dspace.dare.co.zw/handle/123456789/9149
dc.subjectAstrophysics
dc.titleDiscovery of magnetic fields in hot subdwarfs
dc.typetext

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