Magnetic fields which rejuvenate stars

20/10/2014

An article which has just come out in the journal Nature among whose authors is Cristina Zurita, a SO postdoctoral researcher at the IAC, offers an explanation of a phenomenon which has intrigued astronomers for a long time: why isolated and cold white dwarfs - which are supposedly the oldest - often show strong magnetic fields while it is expected that their magnetic fields should decay with time. Results indicate that the presence of intense magnetic fields may cause white dwarfs to appear cooler, thus apparently breaking the relationship between temperature and age which has been considered valid until now. >>Read more