Related papers: Expanding stellar horizons with polarized light
About 5% of upper main sequence stars are permeated by a strong magnetic field, the origin of which is still matter of debate. With this work we provide observational material to study how magnetic fields change with the evolution of stars…
Extremely strong magnetic fields change the vacuum index of refraction. Although this polarization dependent effect is small for typical neutron stars, it is large enough to decouple the polarization states of photons traveling within the…
Although the Sun is our closest star by many orders of magnitude and despite having sunspot records stretching back to ancient China, our knowledge of the Sun's magnetic field is far from complete. Indeed, even now, after decades of study,…
Spectropolarimetric techniques are a mainstay of astrophysical inquiry, ranging from Solar System objects to the Cosmic Background Radiation. This review highlights applications of stellar polarimetry for massive hot stars, particularly in…
Astrophysical polarization measurements provide some of the strongest constraints on the photon sector of the non-minimal Standard-Model Extension. This paper reviews some recent results obtained by combining optical linear and circular…
We review theoretical models of the early stages of star formation, in which gravitational collapse is strongly regulated by magnetic fields and the associated process of ambipolar diffusion. We discuss results of numerical simulations and…
Since the early 1970s, stellar population modelling has been one of the basic tools for understanding the physics of unresolved systems from observation of their integrated light. Models allow us to relate the integrated spectra (or…
The origin of magnetic fields in the Universe is an open problem in astrophysics and fundamental physics. Polarization observations with the forthcoming large radio telescopes will open a new era in the observation of magnetic fields and…
We present what constraints on opacities can be derived from the analysis of stellar pulsations of BA-type main-sequence stars. This analysis consists of the construction of complex seismic models which reproduce the observed frequencies as…
I start with a discussion of spherical winds and small-scale clumping, before continuing with various theories that have been proposed to predict how mass loss depends on stellar rotation -- both in terms of wind strength, as well as the…
The understanding and modeling of the structure and evolution of stars is based on statistical physics as well as on hydrodynamics. Today, a precise identification and proper description of the physical processes at work in stellar…
Important insights into the formation, structure, evolution and environment of all types of stars can be obtained through the measurement of their winds and possible magnetospheres. However, this has hardly been done up to now mainly…
The use of polarimetric techniques is nowadays widespread among solar and stellar astronomers. However, notwithstanding the recommandations that have often been made about the publication of polarimetric results in the astronomical…
It has been proposed that magnetic activity could be enhanced due to interactions between close-in massive planets and their host stars. In this article, I present a brief overview of the connection between stellar magnetic activity and…
Magnetic storms on stars manifest as remarkable, randomly occurring changes of the luminosity over durations that are tiny in comparison to the normal evolution of stars. These stellar flares are bursts of electromagnetic radiation from…
Stellar evolution, a fundamental bedrock of modern astrophysics, is driven by the physical processes in stellar interiors. While we understand these processes in general terms, we lack some important ingredients. Seemingly small…
Stars are not smooth. Their photosphere is covered by a granulation pattern associated with the heat transport by convection. The convection-related surface structures have different size, depth, and temporal variations with respect to the…
Magnetic fields are ubiquitous in our Universe, but remain poorly understood in many branches of astrophysics. A key tool for inferring astrophysical magnetic field properties is dust emission polarimetry. The James Clerk Maxwell Telescope…
Modern dual-polarization receivers allow a radio telescope to characterize the full polarization state of incoming insterstellar radio waves. Many astronomers incorrectly consider a polarimeter to be the "backend" of the telescope. We go to…
Earthshine observations offer a unique opportunity to study Earth as an exoplanet seen from the Moon. As the Sun-Earth-Moon geometry changes, Earth can be observed as a spatially unresolved exoplanet at different phase angles, providing…