Related papers: Clues to the origin and properties of magnetic whi…
We have conducted a survey of 61 southern white dwarfs searching for magnetic fields using Zeeman spectropolarimetry. Our objective is to obtain a magnetic field distribution for these objects and, in particular, to find white dwarfs with…
Magnetic fields generated by a dynamo mechanism due to differential rotation during stellar mergers are often proposed as an explanation for the presence of strong fields in certain classes of magnetic stars, including high field magnetic…
The universe is magnetized on all scales probed so far. On the largest scales, galaxies and galaxy clusters host magnetic fields at the micro Gauss level coherent on scales up to ten kpc. Recent observational evidence suggests that even the…
It is now well-known that the surface magnetic fields observed in cool, lower-mass stars on the main sequence (MS) are generated by dynamos operating in their convective envelopes. However, higher-mass stars (above 1.5 Msun) pass their MS…
We have computed optical Zeeman spectra of magnetic white dwarfs for field strengths between 10 and 200MG and effective temperatures between 8000 and 40000K. They form a database containing 20628 sets of flux and circular polarization…
Around 10% of white dwarfs exhibit global magnetic structures with fields ranging from 1 kG to hundreds of MG. Recently, the first radiation magnetohydrodynamics simulations of the atmosphere of white dwarfs showed that convection should be…
The influence of strong, large-scale magnetic fields on the structure and temperature distribution in white dwarf atmospheres is investigated. Magnetic fields may provide an additional component of pressure support, thus possibly inflating…
We wish to clarify whether strong magnetic fields can be effectively generated in typically low-mass dwarf galaxies and to assess the role of dwarf galaxies in the magnetization of the Universe. We performed a search for radio emission and…
We present H-alpha spectra of the magnetic white dwarf star WD1953-011 which confirm the presence of the broad Zeeman components corresponding to a field strength of about 500kG found by Maxted & Marsh (1999). We also find that the line…
The evolution of the magnetic field of an accreting magnetic white dwarf with an initially dipolar field at the surface has been studied for non-spherical accretion under simplifying assumptions. Accretion on to the polar regions tends to…
We perform calculations of white dwarfs endowed with strong magnetic fields. White dwarfs are the progenitors of supernova Type Ia explosions and they are widely used as candles to show that the Universe is expanding and accelerating.…
Observations of magnetic A, B and O stars show that the poloidal magnetic flux per unit mass has an upper bound of 10^-6.5 G cm^2/g. A similar upper bound is found for magnetic white dwarfs even though the highest magnetic field strengths…
About 20% of the white dwarfs possess a magnetic field that may be detected by the splitting and/or polarization of their spectral lines. As they cool, the effective temperatures of the white dwarfs becomes so low that no spectral lines can…
Magnetic fields have been detected in several hundred white dwarfs, with strengths ranging from a few kG to several hundred MG. Only a few of the known fields have a mean magnetic field modulus below about 1 MG. We are searching for new…
Possible origins of the magnetic fields of neutron stars include inheritance from the main sequence progenitor and dynamo action at some stage of evolution of progenitor. Inheritance is not sufficient to explain the fields of magnetars.…
When a star exhausts its nuclear fuel, it either explodes as a supernova or more quiescently becomes a white dwarf, an object about half the mass of our Sun with a radius of about that of the Earth. About one fifth of white dwarfs exhibit…
I review our current knowledge of magnetic fields in stars more massive than around 1.5 Msun, in particular their nature and origin. This includes the strong magnetic fields found in a subset of the population and the fossil field theory…
Massive stars are crucial building blocks of galaxies and the universe, as production sites of heavy elements and as stirring agents and energy providers through stellar winds and supernovae. The field of magnetic massive stars has seen…
The magnetic fields of white dwarfs distort their shape generating an anisotropic moment of inertia. A magnetized white dwarf which rotates obliquely relative to the symmetry axis has a mass quadrupole moment which varies in time, so it…
White dwarfs (WDs), the evolutionary endpoints of most stars, can form through both single-star and binary channels. While single-star evolutionary models enable reliable WD age estimates, binary evolution introduces interactions that can…