The generation and stability of magnetic fields in CP stars

TL;DR

This paper reviews various magnetohydrodynamic mechanisms that could generate and sustain magnetic fields in chemically peculiar stars, discussing their stability, origins, and the challenges in explaining observed strong magnetic fields.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive review of dynamo processes, magnetic instabilities, and the challenges in explaining magnetic field origins in CP stars, highlighting the complexity of their magnetic phenomena.

Findings

Magnetic fields in CP stars may be remnants of instabilities.

Proto-stellar phases challenge the survival of primordial fields.

No single mechanism clearly explains the strong magnetic fields.

Abstract

A variety of magnetohydrodynamic mechanisms that may play a role in magnetic, chemically peculiar (mCP) stars is reviewed. These involve dynamo mechanisms in laminar flows as well as turbulent environments, and magnetic instabilities of poloidal and toroidal fields as well as combinations of the two. While the proto-stellar phase makes the survival of primordial fields difficult, the variety of magnetic field configurations on mCP stars may be an indication for that they are instability remnants, but there is no process which is clearly superior in explaining the strong fields.