New type of star gives clues to mysterious origin of magnetars
eso.org
eso.org
> “Tomer and I refer to HD 45166 as the ‘zombie star’ [...] not only because this star is so unique [...]
> Having studied similar helium-rich stars before, Shenar thought magnetic fields could crack the case.
The article takes great pains to say this star exhibited interesting properties, before magnetism was proposed as an explanation.
But what were those unique properties? Am I missing something obvious?
> But it's also unlike any other Wolf-Rayet star we've ever seen, so the research team dug into its history through simulations. These suggest that the normal companion star is simply too far away to have a major influence on the system's evolution. Instead, it's likely that HD 45166 started out as a three-star system, with the Wolf-Rayet star having originally been two stars orbiting each other at a short distance. Their interactions led to a period where their two helium-rich cores shared a single hydrogen-rich envelope. The two cores spiraled inward and merged, ejecting the hydrogen in the process. What remained was a small helium-rich star with an intense magnetic field. That magnetic field trapped some of the material that might otherwise be ejected, producing the spectral lines that helped the researchers figure out what's going on.
[1]https://arstechnica.com/science/2023/08/heavy-highly-magneti...