Arturo López Ariste (University of Toulouse): Magnetic fields in Mira stars: Polarimetry in the photosphere and in circumstellar masers

Thursday 19 Mar 2026, 14:00 → 15:00 Europe/Stockholm

Å90103

Title: Magnetic fields in Mira stars: Polarimetry in the photosphere and in circumstellar masers 
Speaker: Arturo López Ariste
Affiliation: University of Toulouse
Time: Thursday 19 March 2026, 1400 to 1500
Location: Å90103

Abstract:

This is an account of what spectropolarimetry is teaching us about Mira's and other AGB stars.  We are now mapping velocity fields in the photosphere during the pulsation and tracing them to dust clouds observed few months later, we are also measuring magnetic fields both in the photosphere, in atomic lines, and in the circumstellar environment, in maser lines, and they appear to be unrelated. We are able to link photospheric magnetic fields to shock waves, but we do not know what is the source of circumstellar magnetic fields.  All this makes a very lively time to look at these stars, an excitement that I will try to share with you.