Conference proceeding
Occultation of Circular Polarization from Wind-Swept Fields
STELLAR POLARIMETRY: FROM BIRTH TO DEATH, Vol.1429, pp.259-262
AIP Conference Proceedings
01/01/2012
DOI: 10.1063/1.3701936
Abstract
Circular polarization from the Zeeman effect is difficult to detect whenever the ratio of the magnetic field strength to the linewidth is small, as might be expected in the winds of hot stars. However, globally structured fields, such as radially swept fields, do present a characteristically complex Zeeman signature that can be distinguished from noise even when small, because of its telltale features that are antisymmetric about the line. If the emission lines are skewed blueward, a signature of photospheric occultation of the redshifted hemisphere, we find that occultation will also reduce the detectability of the Zeeman effect on the red side of the line, further limiting our ability to detect weak magnetic fields in hypersonic winds. Hence, as instrumental precision improves sufficiently, symmetric emission lines will present advantages over lines skewed blueward by occultation, when seeking a Zeeman signal.
Details
- Title: Subtitle
- Occultation of Circular Polarization from Wind-Swept Fields
- Creators
- K. G. Gayley - Univ Iowa, Dept Phys & Astron, Iowa City, IA 52240 USAR. Ignace - East Tennessee State University
- Contributors
- J L Hoffman (Editor)J Bjorkman (Editor)B Whitney (Editor)
- Resource Type
- Conference proceeding
- Publication Details
- STELLAR POLARIMETRY: FROM BIRTH TO DEATH, Vol.1429, pp.259-262
- Publisher
- Amer Inst Physics
- Series
- AIP Conference Proceedings
- DOI
- 10.1063/1.3701936
- ISSN
- 0094-243X
- eISSN
- 1551-7616
- Number of pages
- 4
- Language
- English
- Date published
- 01/01/2012
- Academic Unit
- Physics and Astronomy
- Record Identifier
- 9984429017602771
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