论文标题
球状簇的热星际磁点的瘟疫
A Plague of Magnetic Spots Among the Hot Stars of Globular Clusters
论文作者
论文摘要
六十年来,在银河球状簇中热的〜20,000-30,000 k极端水平分支(EHB)恒星的形成仍然是恒星进化论中最难以捉摸的任务之一。在这里,我们报告了两个发现,这些发现破坏了目前所谓的稳定亮度。第一个EHB的变异性是周期性的,不能归因于二进制进化或脉动。取而代之的是,我们在这里将其归因于磁斑的存在:浅表化学不均匀性,其投影旋转会导致变异性。第二个EHB的可变性是基于多年的,并在年的时间尺度上表现出来。在两种情况下,六年的光曲线表现出超浮光会事件的猛mm象比太阳能类似物高出几百万倍。我们主张一个场景,其中两个壮观的EHB变异现象是弥漫性,发电机生成的弱磁场的不同表现。因此,普遍存在的磁场迫使授予所有EHB的形成的复杂基质,并横向其银河场对应物。更大的画面是我们的结论在所有辐射式恒星中桥接相似的变异/磁性现象:年轻的主要序列恒星,旧的EHB和已解决的白色矮人。
Six decades and counting, the formation of hot ~20,000-30,000 K Extreme Horizontal Branch (EHB) stars in Galactic Globular Clusters remains one of the most elusive quests in stellar evolutionary theory. Here we report on two discoveries shattering their currently alleged stable luminosity. The first EHB variability is periodic and cannot be ascribed to binary evolution nor pulsation. Instead, we here attribute it to the presence of magnetic spots: superficial chemical inhomogeneities whose projected rotation induces the variability. The second EHB variability is aperiodic and manifests itself on time-scales of years. In two cases, the six-year light curves display superflare events a mammoth several million times more energetic than solar analogs. We advocate a scenario where the two spectacular EHB variability phenomena are different manifestations of diffuse, dynamo-generated, weak magnetic fields. Ubiquitous magnetic fields, therefore, force an admittance into the intricate matrix governing the formation of all EHBs, and traverse to their Galactic field counterparts. The bigger picture is one where our conclusions bridge similar variability/magnetism phenomena in all radiative-enveloped stars: young main-sequence stars, old EHBs and defunct white dwarfs.