Hostname: page-component-5c6d5d7d68-xq9c7 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-08-22T14:20:51.801Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Strong magnetic field of the peculiar red supergiant VY Canis Majoris

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 July 2018

Hiroko Shinnaga ,
Mark J. Claussen ,
Satoshi Yamamoto  and
Shimojo Masumi
Hiroko Shinnaga
Affiliation:
Department of Physics and Astronomy, Faculty of Science, Kagoshima University 1-21-35 Korimoto Kagoshima, Kagoshima 890-0065 Japan email: shinnaga@sci.kagoshima-u.ac.jp
Mark J. Claussen
Affiliation:
National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO), Box 1003 Lopezville Rd. Socorro NM 87801 U.S.A. email: mclausse@nrao.edu
Satoshi Yamamoto
Affiliation:
Department of Physics, University of Tokyo 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, 113-0033, Japan email: yamamoto@taurus.phys.s.u-tokyo.ac.jp
Shimojo Masumi
Affiliation:
National Astronomical Observatory of Japan (NAOJ) Osawa, Mitaka, Tokyo 181-8588, Japan email: masumi.shimojo@nao.ac.jp
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

We report on magnetic field measurements associated with the well-known extreme red supergiant (RSG), VY Canis Majoris (VY CMa). We measured both linear and circular polarization of the SiO v = 0, J = 1 − 0 transition using a sensitive radio interferometer. The measured magnetic field strengths are surprisingly high. A lower limit for the field strength is expected to be at least ~ 10 Gauss based on the high degree of linear polarization. Since the field strengths are very high, the magnetic field must be a key element in understanding the stellar evolution of VY CMa as well as the dynamical and chemical evolution of the complex circumstellar envelope of the star.

Keywords

magnetic fieldspolarizationmasersstars: individual (VY CMa)stars: mass loss
Type
Contributed Papers
Information
Proceedings of the International Astronomical Union , Volume 13 , Symposium S336: Astrophysical Masers: Unlocking the Mysteries of the Universe , September 2017 , pp. 391 - 392
Copyright
Copyright © International Astronomical Union 2018 

References

Lada, C. J. & Reid, M. J., 1978, ApJ, 219, 95CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Maeder, A. & Meynet, G., 2014, ApJ, 793, 123CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shenoy, D., Humphreys, R. M., Jones, T. J., et al., 2016, AJ, 151, 51CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shinnaga, H., & Tsuboi, M., Kasuga, T., 1999, PASJ, 51, 175CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shinnaga, H., Claussen, M. J., Lim, J., et al., 2003, Mass-Losing Pulsating Stars and their Circumstellar Matter, 283, 393CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shinnaga, H., Moran, J. M., Young, K. H., & Ho, P. T. P., 2004, ApJ, 616, L47CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shinnaga, H., Claussen, M. J., Yamamoto, S., & Shimojo, M., 2017, PASJ, 69, L10CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Western, L. R., & Watson, W. D. 1984, ApJ, 285, 158CrossRefGoogle Scholar