Tayler Instability of Magnetic Field as the Possible Reason for the Period Changes in Ap Star 56 Ari

Abstract

The physical mechanism responsible for the photometric period changes in chemically peculiar star 56 Ari was searched. It was previously shown that rate of the star’s period increase is several orders of magnitude larger than the rates expected from the evolutionary changes of the angular momentum or due to magnetic braking. Also no secular changes were detected in the surface structure or visibility of chemical spots which are responsible for the rotational modulation of stellar brightness. We hypothesize that period changes in 56 Ari are caused by the drift of surface magnetic and associated abundance structures as a result of the kink-type (Tayler) instability of the background magnetic field in the radiative zone of the star. Results of the numerical simulation presented in the paper yield growth and drift rates of the most rapidly developing non-axisymmetric mode of the instability, consistent with the observed rate of period changes in 56 Ari. The surface geometry of the 56 Ari magnetic field is also reproduces in the calculations. The proposed mechanism may also be used to explain the character of period changes in other Ap/Bp stars demonstrating such an effect.