Magnetic Fields in O, B, and A Stars (Programme: AAS-IOP Astronomy)

The last few decades have seen significant progress in our understanding of the occurrence of magnetic fields in stars with radiative envelopes, in particular in massive stars and in intermediate mass stars at early evolutionary stages. This book provides a comprehensive review of the most recent achievements in the measurements of stellar magnetic fields in O, B and A stars. These include the archetypes of stellar magnetism, the chemically peculiar Ap and Bp stars, O- and early B-type stars with their magnetospheres, accreting Herbig Ae/Be stars, Wolf-Rayet stars and high-mass X-ray binaries, among others. It provides an overview of the underlying physics for the interpretation of the data and identifies the requirements, both observational and theoretical, for improving our understanding of the origin of the magnetic fields in early-type stars. It aims to educate scientists working on stars, who are not yet experts in magnetic field studies, assuming that the reader is already familiar with basic terms and concepts of stellar astrophysics.

Key Features

• Provides a comprehensive review of the field for researchers and students
• Gives an overview of the underlying physics for the interpretation of data
• Identifies requirements for understanding the origin of magnetic fields in early-type stars
• First research-level book on the topic
• Written by experts in the field of stellar magnetism

Swetlana Hubrig studied astronomy at St. Petersburg university and started her professional work at the Zentralinstitut für Astrophysik in Potsdam, where she obtained her PhD in 1989. During the 1990s, she held several positions and grants, both at the Potsdam university and the Astrophysikalisches Institut Potsdam (AIP), habilitating at the university in 2000. From 2001, she worked as operations staff astronomer for the European Southern Observatory on the Very Large Telescope, until she moved back to the Leibniz-Institut für Astrophysik Potsdam to become the head of the stellar physics and stellar activity department in 2009. Swetlana is working on many aspects of the magnetism in stars and is an expert in high resolution spectroscopy.