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Strong magnetic field of the peculiar red supergiant VY Canis Majoris

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 July 2018

Hiroko Shinnaga ,
Mark J. Claussen ,
Satoshi Yamamoto  and
Shimojo Masumi
Hiroko Shinnaga
Affiliation:
Department of Physics and Astronomy, Faculty of Science, Kagoshima University 1-21-35 Korimoto Kagoshima, Kagoshima 890-0065 Japan email: shinnaga@sci.kagoshima-u.ac.jp
Mark J. Claussen
Affiliation:
National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO), Box 1003 Lopezville Rd. Socorro NM 87801 U.S.A. email: mclausse@nrao.edu
Satoshi Yamamoto
Affiliation:
Department of Physics, University of Tokyo 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, 113-0033, Japan email: yamamoto@taurus.phys.s.u-tokyo.ac.jp
Shimojo Masumi
Affiliation:
National Astronomical Observatory of Japan (NAOJ) Osawa, Mitaka, Tokyo 181-8588, Japan email: masumi.shimojo@nao.ac.jp
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Abstract

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We report on magnetic field measurements associated with the well-known extreme red supergiant (RSG), VY Canis Majoris (VY CMa). We measured both linear and circular polarization of the SiO v = 0, J = 1 − 0 transition using a sensitive radio interferometer. The measured magnetic field strengths are surprisingly high. A lower limit for the field strength is expected to be at least ~ 10 Gauss based on the high degree of linear polarization. Since the field strengths are very high, the magnetic field must be a key element in understanding the stellar evolution of VY CMa as well as the dynamical and chemical evolution of the complex circumstellar envelope of the star.

Keywords

magnetic fieldspolarizationmasersstars: individual (VY CMa)stars: mass loss

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