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Lookup NU author(s): Dr Dominic BowmanORCiD
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).
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 previous triple system) to produce the magnetic massive star. Our results provide observational evidence that magnetic fields form in at least some massive stars through stellar mergers.
Author(s): Frost AJ, Sana H, Mahy L, Wade G, Barron J, Le Bouquin J-B, Merand A, Schneider FRN, Shenar T, Barba RH, Bowman DM, Fabry M, Farhang A, Marchant P, Morrell NI, Smoker JV
Publication type: Article
Publication status: Published
Journal: Science
Year: 2024
Volume: 384
Issue: 6692
Pages: 214-217
Print publication date: 12/04/2024
Online publication date: 11/04/2024
Acceptance date: 12/03/2024
Date deposited: 12/11/2024
ISSN (print): 0036-8075
ISSN (electronic): 1095-9203
Publisher: American Association for the Advancement of Science
URL: https://doi.org/10.1126/science.adg7700
DOI: 10.1126/science.adg7700
ePrints DOI: 10.57711/wvr3-yc02
Data Access Statement: The raw astrometric observations are available at the ESO science archive https://archive.eso.org/eso/eso_archive_main.html under the Program IDs 60.A-9168 for GRAVITY and 189.C-0644, 093.C-0503, 596.D-0495, 5100.D-0721, and 105.20FR for PIONIER. The reduced PIONIER data are archived at the OIData portal http://oidb.jmmc.fr/index.html under target “HD 148937” and the dates listed in table S1. The TESS data are available from the Mikulski Archive for Space Telescopes https://mast.stsci.edu/portal/Mashup/Clients/Mast/Portal.html under target name “HD 148937.” The additional ESPaDOnS data are available at the PolarBase database of high resolution spectropolarimetric stellar observations http://polarbase.irap.omp.eu under target “HD 148937” by using the dates listed in table S5. The Pmoired code used to analyze the GRAVITY data are available at https://github.com/amerand/PMOIRED and archived at Zenodo (51). See paper for remaining data access statement https://doi.org/10.1126/science.adg77
PubMed id: 38603482
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