MOBSTER: Establishing a Picture of Magnetic Massive Stars as a Population

TL;DR

This paper discusses the MOBSTER project, which aims to identify and study magnetic massive and intermediate-mass stars using TESS data to better understand their magnetic properties and origins.

Contribution

It introduces the MOBSTER collaboration's methods and plans for spectropolarimetric follow-up to expand the sample of known magnetic stars.

Findings

Development of candidate selection methods using TESS data

Planning of spectropolarimetric follow-up surveys

Initial overview of the MOBSTER project's approach

Abstract

Magnetic massive and intermediate-mass stars constitute a separate population whose properties are still not fully understood. Increasing the sample of known objects of this type would help answer fundamental questions regarding the origins and characteristics of their magnetic fields. The MOBSTER Collaboration seeks to identify candidate magnetic A, B and O stars and explore the incidence and origins of photometric rotational modulation using high-precision photometry from the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (\textit{TESS}) mission. In this contribution, we present an overview of our methods and planned targeted spectropolarimetric follow-up surveys.