Variations of the ultraviolet resonance lines
of the B2 IV-V star Cassiopeiae
M.A. Smith1 & D.A. Bohlender2
1
Department of Physics, Catholic University of America,
Washington, DC 20064, USA; Present address: Space Telescope Science
Institute, 3700 San Martin Dr., Baltimore, MD 21218
2
National Research Council of Canada, Herzberg Institute of Astrophysics,
5071 W. Saanich Rd., Victoria, BC Canada V9E 2E7
Recently Neiner et al. reported that the B2 IV-V star
Cas
contains a weak magnetic field which varies on the same 5.37 day period found
from the modulations of its N V,
C IV, and Si IV UV resonance lines.
We have studied the time variable properties of the same resonance
lines in greater detail to determine the physical characteristics
of the magnetospheric structure responsible for them.
In our formulation
this structure takes the form of an axisymmetric
"disk" similar
to those around magnetic He-strong Bp stars. This structure corotates
with the star, covering greater or lesser amounts of its
area during its transit.
Cas offers a special case because
we observe it from a low inclination and yet its magnetic axis is
substantially inclined to the rotation axis.
The equivalent width-phase
curves show a flat maximum for half the cycle, indicating that the
disk is extended out of the plane, extends to the star's surface in
the magnetic plane, or both. Synthetic spectra of the line profiles
during the maximum and minimum occultation phases can be
best reconciled with a disk geometry in which the resonance lines
are formed at a closed outer edge and along a thin outer layer.
We speculate that observed weak redshifted emission is formed in
"auroral caps" located near the magnetic poles of the star.
We argue that this results from shocks of stagnated wind material
returning to the star and shocking against the outflowing wind.
Accepted by A&A
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