A massive helium star with a sufficiently strong magnetic field to form a magnetar
Abstract
Magnetars are highly magnetized neutron stars, the formation mechanism of which is unknown. Hot helium-rich stars with spectra dominated by emission lines are known as Wolf-Rayet stars. We observed the binary system HD 45166 using spectropolarimetry and reanalyzed its orbit using archival data. We found that the system contains a Wolf-Rayet star with a mass of 2 solar masses and a magnetic field of 43 kilogauss. Stellar evolution calculations indicate that this component will explode as a supernova, and that its magnetic field is strong enough for the supernova to leave a magnetar remnant. We propose that the magnetized Wolf-Rayet star formed by the merger of two lower-mass helium stars.
- Publication:
-
Science
- Pub Date:
- August 2023
- DOI:
- 10.1126/science.ade3293
- arXiv:
- arXiv:2308.08591
- Bibcode:
- 2023Sci...381..761S
- Keywords:
-
- ASTRONOMY; PHYSICS;
- Astrophysics - Solar and Stellar Astrophysics;
- Astrophysics - High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
- E-Print:
- Published in Science on the 18 August 2023. Radial velocities, spectra, and software available in: https://zenodo.org/record/8042656 ESO press release: www.eso.org/public/news/eso2313