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arXiv 1606.07599astro-ph.SR
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大质量主序星中磁场衰减的证据

Evidence of magnetic field decay in massive main-sequence stars

L. Fossati, F. R. N. Schneider, N. Castro, N. Langer, S. Simon-Diaz, A. Mueller, A. de Koter, T. Morel, V. Petit, H. Sana, G. A. Wade

摘要:

大质量主序星中有相当一部分显示出强大的大尺度磁场。这些场的起源,它们的寿命,以及它们在塑造大质量恒星的特征和演化中的作用目前还没有很好的理解。我们编制了一个包含389颗大质量主序星的星表,其中61颗是磁性的,并得出了它们的基本参数和年龄。这两个样本包含在V波段亮度超过9等的恒星,质量范围在5到100 Msun之间。我们发现,分数的主序列年龄分布的所有考虑的恒星如下所预期的一个震级有限的样本,而磁星显示出一个明显的减少到年底的主序列。这种古老磁星的缺乏与所采用的恒星演化轨迹的选择无关,并且在只考虑最大质量的恒星时似乎变得更加突出。我们发现,在分布的下降趋势是显着强于预期的磁通量守恒。我们还发现,二进制复兴和磁抑制核心对流是不太可能负责所观察到的缺乏旧的磁性大质量恒星,并得出结论,其最可能的原因是衰减的磁场,在一个时间跨度长于恒星寿命的最低考虑的质量,和最高的质量较短。然后,我们调查的自旋慢旋转的磁性大质量恒星的年龄,并发现他们在许多情况下远远超过恒星的年龄。因此,旋转非常缓慢的磁星的高比例为磁场的衰减提供了一个独立的论据。

英文摘要:

A significant fraction of massive main-sequence stars show strong, large-scale magnetic fields. The origin of these fields, their lifetimes, and their role in shaping the characteristics and evolution of massive stars are currently not well understood. We compile a catalogue of 389 massive main-sequence stars, 61 of which are magnetic, and derive their fundamental parameters and ages. The two samples contain stars brighter than magnitude 9 in the V band and range in mass between 5 and 100 Msun. We find that the fractional main-sequence age distribution of all considered stars follows what is expected for a magnitude limited sample, while that of magnetic stars shows a clear decrease towards the end of the main sequence. This dearth of old magnetic stars is independent of the choice of adopted stellar evolution tracks, and appears to become more prominent when considering only the most massive stars. We show that the decreasing trend in the distribution is significantly stronger than expected from magnetic flux conservation. We also find that binary rejuvenation and magnetic suppression of core convection are unlikely to be responsible for the observed lack of older magnetic massive stars, and conclude that its most probable cause is the decay of the magnetic field, over a time span longer than the stellar lifetime for the lowest considered masses, and shorter for the highest masses. We then investigate the spin-down ages of the slowly rotating magnetic massive stars and find them to exceed the stellar ages by far in many cases. The high fraction of very slowly rotating magnetic stars thus provides an independent argument for a decay of the magnetic fields.

机构、总结、中文摘要均由AI分析而来,可能存在错误,请以论文正文为准。

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