Obliquely Rotating Massive Star Magnetospheres

Asif ud-Doula, Stanley P. Owocki

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

We present results from 3D MHD simulations of the magnetospheres from massive stars with a dipole magnetic axis that has an arbitrary obliquity angle (β) to the stars rotation axis. As an initial direct application, we examine the global structure of co-rotating disks for tilt angles β = 0, 45 and 90 degrees using ζ Pup stellar parameters as a prototype. We find that for models with rapid stellar rotation (∼ 0.5 critical rotation), accumulation surfaces closely resemble the form predicted by the analytic Rigidly Rotating Magnetosphere (RRM) model, but with a mass distribution and outer disk termination set by centrifugal breakout processes. However, some significant differences are found including warping resulting from the dynamic nature of the MHD models in contrast to static RRM models. These MHD models can be used to synthesize rotational modulation of photometric absorption and H-alpha emission for a direct comparison with observations.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)261-263
Number of pages3
JournalProceedings of the International Astronomical Union
Volume18
DOIs
StatePublished - May 1 2022

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Astronomy and Astrophysics
  • Space and Planetary Science

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