Recent highlights of spectropolarimetry applied to the magnetometry of massive stars

Abstract

AbstractSpectropolarimetry is a powerful tool used to probe fundamental properties of stars that cannot typically be measured in any other way. A new generation of high-resolution spectropolarimeters (ESPaDOnS at the Canada-France-Hawaii telescope, Narval at the Télescope Bernad Lyot, and HARPSpol at the 3.6-m ESO telescope) and dedicated observing campaigns (such as the Magnetism in Massive Stars (MiMeS) project) have led to significant improvements in both our observational and theoretical understanding of the underlying physics governing massive stars. In this article I review recent advances in the field of stellar magnetism of massive stars acquired using spectropolarimetry.