scholarly journals Magnetic Fields in Low-Mass Stars: An Overview of Observational Biases

2013 ◽  
Vol 9 (S302) ◽  
pp. 156-163 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ansgar Reiners

AbstractStellar magnetic dynamos are driven by rotation, rapidly rotating stars produce stronger magnetic fields than slowly rotating stars do. The Zeeman effect is the most important indicator of magnetic fields, but Zeeman broadening must be disentangled from other broadening mechanisms, mainly rotation. The relations between rotation and magnetic field generation, between Doppler and Zeeman line broadening, and between rotation, stellar radius, and angular momentum evolution introduce several observational biases that affect our picture of stellar magnetism. In this overview, a few of these relations are explicitly shown, and the currently known distribution of field measurements is presented.

2008 ◽  
Vol 4 (S259) ◽  
pp. 339-344
Author(s):  
Ansgar Reiners

AbstractDirect measurements of magnetic fields in low-mass stars of spectral class M have become available during the last years. This contribution summarizes the data available on direct magnetic measurements in M dwarfs from Zeeman analysis in integrated and polarized light. Strong magnetic fields at kilo-Gauss strength are found throughout the whole M spectral range, and so far all field M dwarfs of spectral type M6 and later show strong magnetic fields. Zeeman Doppler images from polarized light find weaker fields, which may carry important information on magnetic field generation in partially and fully convective stars.


2020 ◽  
Vol 495 (4) ◽  
pp. 3795-3806 ◽  
Author(s):  
James Wurster ◽  
Benjamin T Lewis

ABSTRACT Non-ideal magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) is the dominant process. We investigate the effect of magnetic fields (ideal and non-ideal) and turbulence (sub- and transsonic) on the formation of circumstellar discs that form nearly simultaneously with the formation of the protostar. This is done by modelling the gravitational collapse of a 1 M⊙ gas cloud that is threaded with a magnetic field and imposed with both rotational and turbulent velocities. We investigate magnetic fields that are parallel/antiparallel and perpendicular to the rotation axis, two rotation rates, and four Mach numbers. Disc formation occurs preferentially in the models that include non-ideal MHD where the magnetic field is antiparallel or perpendicular to the rotation axis. This is independent of the initial rotation rate and level of turbulence, suggesting that subsonic turbulence plays a minimal role in influencing the formation of discs. Aside from first core outflows that are influenced by the initial level of turbulence, non-ideal MHD processes are more important than turbulent processes during the formation of discs around low-mass stars.


2020 ◽  
Vol 495 (4) ◽  
pp. 3807-3818 ◽  
Author(s):  
James Wurster ◽  
Benjamin T Lewis

ABSTRACT Non-ideal magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) is the dominant process. We investigate the effect of magnetic fields (ideal and non-ideal) and turbulence (sub- and transsonic) on the formation of protostars by following the gravitational collapse of 1 M⊙ gas clouds through the first hydrostatic core to stellar densities. The clouds are imposed with both rotational and turbulent velocities, and are threaded with a magnetic field that is parallel/antiparallel or perpendicular to the rotation axis; we investigate two rotation rates and four Mach numbers. The initial radius and mass of the stellar core are only weakly dependent on the initial parameters. In the models that include ideal MHD, the magnetic field strength implanted in the protostar at birth is much higher than observed, independent of the initial level of turbulence; only non-ideal MHD can reduce this strength to near or below the observed levels. This suggests that not only is ideal MHD an incomplete picture of star formation, but that the magnetic fields in low mass stars are implanted later in life by a dynamo process. Non-ideal MHD suppresses magnetically launched stellar core outflows, but turbulence permits thermally launched outflows to form a few years after stellar core formation.


1973 ◽  
Vol 162 (3) ◽  
pp. 289-293
Author(s):  
M. Maheswaran ◽  
H. A. B. M. de Silva

1997 ◽  
Vol 182 ◽  
pp. 241-258 ◽  
Author(s):  
Max Camenzind

Formation of jets in low-mass protostellar objects and young pre-main sequence stars is ultimately related to the existence of some gaseous disk around a rapidly rotating central object. This configuration has deep parallels to extragalactic systems such as radio galaxies and quasars. Rotating black holes are still thought to be the prime-mover behind the activity detected in centers of galaxies, while, in the case of protostellar jets, rapidly rotating stars and disks are responsible for the ejection of bipolar outflows. In both cases, magnetic fields are invoked for the acceleration, the collimation and propagation of these outflows. The ultimate rooting of these fields is still under debate. We discuss models where winds injected into rapidly rotating magnetospheres of the central object drive the outflows. From these considerations it follows that the jets of young stellar objects can only be produced magnetically and that their progagation is determined by their magnetic properties. Such jets have low Mach numbers ≃ 2 and their instabilities are dominated by the pinch mode. Knots closest to the source are attributed to compression by the time-dependent pinches. Multiple bow shocks occur on longer time-scales (a few thousand years) and are attributed to variations in the magnetospheric structure of the star, or the disk.


2013 ◽  
Vol 9 (S302) ◽  
pp. 112-113 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luiz T. S. Mendes ◽  
Natália R. Landin ◽  
Luiz P. R. Vaz

AbstractWe report our present efforts for introducing magnetic fields in the ATON stellar evolution code code, which now evolved to truly modifying the stellar structure equations so that they can incorporate the effects of an imposed, large-scale magnetic field. Preliminary results of such an approach, as applied to low-mass stellar models, are presented and discussed.


2013 ◽  
Vol 9 (S302) ◽  
pp. 170-173
Author(s):  
D. Shulyak ◽  
A. Reiners ◽  
U. Seemann ◽  
O. Kochukhov ◽  
N. Piskunov

AbstractAccurate spectroscopic measurements of magnetic fields in low mass stars remain challenging because of their cool temperatures, strong line blending, and often fast rotation. This is why previous estimates were based either on the analysis of only a few lines or made use of some indirect techniques. This frequently led to noticeable scatter in obtained results. In this talk I will present and discuss new results on the determination of the intensity and geometry of the magnetic fields in M-dwarfs using IR observations obtained with CRIRES@VLT. The instrument provides unprecedented data of high resolution (R = 100 000) which is crucial for resolving individual magnetically broadened molecular and atomic lines. Such an in-depth analysis based on direct magnetic spectral synthesis opens a possibility to deduce both field intensity and geometry avoiding most of the limitation and assumptions made in previous studies.


2019 ◽  
Vol 82 ◽  
pp. 213-223
Author(s):  
R.A. García

Continuous high-precision photometry of stars provided by space missions such as CoRoT, Kepler, and K2 represents a unique way to study stellar rotation and magnetism. The coupling of these studies of the surface dynamics with asteroseismology is changing our view to surface and internal dynamics. In this proceedings I will provide the latest developments in the understanding of surface and internal rotation and magnetic fields. I will also discuss the possible discovery of strong internal magnetic fields of dynamo origin in the convective cores of stars above 1.2–1.4 solar masses. I will finish by providing constraints on gyrochronology laws for low-mass stars and put the Sun into context of its magnetism when compared to other solar-analog stars.


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