TOMORROW @ 1:30
Western University
DEPARTMENT OF PHYSICS AND ASTRONOMY
PHYSICS & ASTRONOMY COLLOQUIUM
Date: Friday, 29th June 2012
Time: 1:30 p.m.
Location: Physics & Astronomy Seminar Room 22
Dr. Gautier Mathys
Joint ALMA Observatory
& European Southern Observatory, CHILE
“Rotation, Magnetism, Binarity, and Chemical Peculiarities in A-type Stars”
ABSTRACT
In recent years, growing evidence has been collected for the existence of a number of dependences between rotation rate, magnetic field strength and structure, and binary orbital properties, of magnetic chemically peculiar stars of spectral type A (Ap stars). One of the most recent and intriguing results suggests the existence of a connection between rotation and orbital periods in Ap binaries. I shall discuss the nature of this connection and its potential implications for the origin of the magnetic fields of Ap stars.