The Initial Magnetic Field Distribution in AB Stars
arXiv:2210.11180 · doi:10.3847/1538-4357/ac8423
Abstract
Stars are born with magnetic fields, but the distribution of their initial field strengths remains uncertain. We combine observations with theoretical models of magnetic field evolution to infer the initial distribution of magnetic fields for AB stars in the mass range of 1.6 - 3.4 M. We tested a variety of distributions with different shapes and found that a distribution with a mean of 800 G and a full width of 600 G is most consistent with the observed fraction of strongly magnetized stars as a function of mass. Our most-favored distribution is a Gaussian with a mean of = 770 G and standard deviation of = 146 G. Independent approaches to measure the typical field strength suggest values closer to 2 - 3 kG, a discrepancy that could suggest a mass-dependent and bimodal initial field distribution, or an alternative theoretical picture for the origin of these magnetic fields.
arXiv commentPublished in ApJ
References in corpus (39)
- Modules for Experiments in Stellar Astrophysics (MESA)
- Modules for Experiments in Stellar Astrophysics (MESA): Giant Planets, Oscillations, Rotation, and Massive Stars
- Modules for Experiments in Stellar Astrophysics (MESA): Binaries, Pulsations, and Explosions
- Modules for Experiments in Stellar Astrophysics (MESA): Convective Boundaries, Element Diffusion, and Massive Star Explosions
- Modules for Experiments in Stellar Astrophysics (MESA): Pulsating Variable Stars, Rotation, Convective Boundaries, and Energy Conservation
- Low Temperature Opacities
- Mind your Ps and Qs: the Interrelation between Period (P) and Mass-ratio (Q) Distributions of Binary Stars
- Dynamo action by differential rotation in a stably stratified stellar interior
- Shell-model calculations of stellar weak interaction rates: II. Weak rates for nuclei in the mass range A=45-65 in supernovae environment
- Magnetic fields of non-degenerate stars
- Updated Electron-Conduction Opacities: The Impact on Low-Mass Stellar Models
- The incidence of stellar mergers and mass gainers among massive stars
- Slowing the Spins of Stellar Cores
- Weak magnetic fields in Ap/Bp stars: Evidence for a dipole field lower limit and a tentative interpretation of the magnetic dichotomy
- Magnetospheric accretion-ejection processes in the classical T Tauri star AA
- How mergers magnetise massive stars
- Thermodynamic functions of dense plasmas: analytic approximations for astrophysical applications
- Dynamical Simulations of Magnetically Channeled Line-Driven Stellar Winds: III. Angular Momentum Loss and Rotational Spindown
- The MiMeS survey of magnetism in massive stars: Magnetic analysis of the O-type stars
- Magnetic Fields in Dark Cloud Cores: Arecibo OH Zeeman Observations
- Effects of M dwarf magnetic fields on potentially habitable planets
- Asteroseismology Can Reveal Strong Internal Magnetic Fields in Red Giant Stars
- Coulomb tunneling for fusion reactions in dense matter: Path integral Monte Carlo versus mean field
- A prevalence of dynamo-generated magnetic fields in the cores of intermediate-mass stars
- Massive optimal data compression and density estimation for scalable, likelihood-free inference in cosmology
- Magnetic spots on hot massive stars
- Rejuvenation of stellar mergers and the origin of magnetic fields in massive stars
- B fields in OB stars (BOB): low-resolution FORS2 spectropolarimetry of the first sample of 50 massive stars
- A Volume Limited Survey of mCP Stars Within 100pc II: Rotational and Magnetic Properties
- New insight into the magnetism of degenerate stars from the analysis of a volume limited sample of white dwarfs
- Envelope Convection, Surface Magnetism and Spots in A- and late B-type Stars
- The magnetic fields of intermediate-mass T Tauri stars : I. Magnetic detections and fundamental stellar parameters
- A Volume-Limited Survey of mCP Stars Within 100pc I: Fundamental Parameters and Chemical Abundances
- Discovery of a magnetic field in the rapidly-rotating O-type secondary of the colliding-wind binary HD 47129 (Plaskett's star)
- Enhanced mixing in magnetized fingering convection, and implications for RGB stars
- Bounds on the Magnetic Fields in the Radiative Zone of the Sun
- A new weak-field magnetic DA white dwarf in the local 20 pc volume. The frequency of magnetic fields in DA stars
- Magnetic inhibition of convection in O star envelopes
- A Transparent Window into Early-Type Stellar Variability