Bibcode
Fabas, N.; Lèbre, A.; Gillet, D.
Referencia bibliográfica
STELLAR POLARIMETRY: FROM BIRTH TO DEATH. AIP Conference Proceedings, Volume 1429, pp. 215-221 (2012).
Advertised on:
5
2012
Número de citas
1
Número de citas referidas
0
Descripción
Hydrogen emission lines in Mira variable stars are a well-known
phenomenon whose origin has been established as related to the
propagation of radiative hypersonic shock waves throughout the stellar
atmosphere. A polarimetric observation by McLean and Coyne [1] made on
omicron Ceti (the prototype of Mira variable stars) has revealed the
existence of linear polarization signatures associated with Balmer
emission lines. However, the polarizing mechanism has never been
properly explained so far. The study presented here is the first of its
kind since it displays the results of a spectropolarimetric survey of
omicron Ceti in the Balmer lines. The survey was made with the NARVAL
spectropolarimeter (Telescope Bernard Lyot, France) in full Stokes mode.
We did not just confirm the appearance of this polarization but we also
and above all showed the temporal variation of the linear polarization
in the lines. We conclude that the polarizing mechanism is definitely
intrinsic to the shock wave propagation throughout the stellar
atmosphere of Mira and give some leads about the nature of this
mechanism.