Surprising variations in the rotational periods of CP stars CU Virginis and V901 Orionis
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| Year of publication | 2012 |
| MU Faculty or unit | |
| Citation | |
| Description | We studied the stability of the periods of well observed mCP stars CU Vir and V901 Ori using all accessible data containing phase information. We found that both stars exhibit alternating intervals of rotational braking and acceleration. We propose that dynamical interaction between a thin, outer magnetically-confined envelope, braked by the stellar wind, with an inner stellar body is able to explain the observed rotational instability. A theoretically unexpected alternating variability in these stars would remove the spin-down paradox and brings a new insight into structure and evolution of some magnetic upper-main sequence stars. |
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