The MiMeS survey of magnetism in massive stars: introduction and overview

G. Wade (1) , C. Neiner (2) , E. Alecian (2) , J. Grunhut (3) , V. Petit (4) , B. De De Batz (2) , D. Bohlender (5) , D. H Cohen , H. F Henrichs , O. Kochukhov (6) , J. Landstreet (7) , N. Manset (8) , F. Martins (9) , S. Mathis (10, 2) , M. Oksala (2) , S. Owocki (11) , Th. H Rivinius , M E Shultz , J. O Sundqvist (12) , R. H D Townsend (13) , A. Ud-Doula (14) , J-C Bouret , J. Braithwaite , M. Briquet (2) , A C Carciofi , A. David-Uraz , C. Folsom (15) , A. Fullerton (16) , B. Leroy , W. Marcolino (17) , A. Moffat (18) , Y. Nazé (19) , N. Louis (20) , M. Auriere (21) , S. Bagnulo (22) , J. Bailey (23) , R. H Barbá (24) , A. Blazère (2) , T. Bohm (25) , C. Catala (2) , J-F Donati , L. Ferrario , D. Harrington , I. Howarth (26) , R. Ignace , L. Kaper (27) , T. Lüftinger (28) , R. Prinja (26) , J. S Vink , W. W Weiss , I. Yakunin

1 Royal Military College of Canada, Department of Physics
2 LESIA - Laboratoire d'études spatiales et d'instrumentation en astrophysique
3 ESO - European Southern Observatory
4 Sources de l'Avance
5 Natl Res Council Canada, Herzberg Inst Astrophys, Victoria, BC V9E 2E7 Canada
6 Uppsala University
7 UWO - University of Western Ontario
8 CFHT - Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope Corporation
9 LUPM - Laboratoire Univers et Particules de Montpellier
10 AIM (UMR7158 / UMR_E_9005 / UM_112) - Astrophysique Interprétation Modélisation
11 University of Delaware [Newark]
12 LMU - Ludwig Maximilian University [Munich] = Ludwig Maximilians Universität München
13 University of Wisconsin-Madison
14 Penn State - Pennsylvania State University
15 IRAP - Institut de recherche en astrophysique et planétologie
16 STSci - Space Telescope Science Institute
17 UFRJ - Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro [Brasil] = Federal University of Rio de Janeiro [Brazil] = Université fédérale de Rio de Janeiro [Brésil]
18 School of engineering sciences
19 Université de Liège
20 HANDIBIO - Laboratoire de Biomodélisation et Ingénierie des Handicaps - EA 4322
21 LATT - Laboratoire d'Astrophysique de l'Observatoire Midi-Pyrénées
22 ESO - European Southern Observatory [Santiago]
23 UoN - University of Newcastle [Callaghan, Australia]
24 USERENA - Universidad de La Serena
25 LATT - Laboratoire Astrophysique de Toulouse-Tarbes
26 UCL - University College of London [London]
27 AI PANNEKOEK - Astronomical Institute Anton Pannekoek
28 Institut für Astrophysik [Wien]

The MiMeS (Magnetism in Massive Stars) project is a large-scale, high-resolution, sensitive spectropolarimetric investigation of the magnetic properties of O-and early B-type stars. Initiated in 2008 and completed in 2013, the project was supported by three Large Program allocations, as well as various programmes initiated by independent principal investigators, and archival resources. Ultimately, over 4800 circularly polarized spectra of 560 O and B stars were collected with the instruments ESPaDOnS (Echelle SpectroPolarimetric Device for the Observation of Stars) at the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope, Narval at the Télescope Bernard Lyot and HARPSpol at the European Southern Observatory La Silla 3.6 m telescope, making MiMeS by far the largest systematic investigation of massive star magnetism ever undertaken. In this paper, the first in a series reporting the general results of the survey, we introduce the scientific motivation and goals, describe the sample of targets, review the instrumentation and observational techniques used, explain the exposure time calculation designed to provide sensitivity to surface dipole fields above approximately 100 G, discuss the polarimetric performance, stability and uncertainty of the instrumentation, and summarize the previous and forthcoming publications.

Domaines: Astrophysique stellaire et solaire [astro-ph.SR]

G. Wade, C. Neiner, E. Alecian, J. Grunhut, V. Petit, et al.. The MiMeS survey of magnetism in massive stars: introduction and overview. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 2015, 456 (1), pp.2-22. ⟨10.1093/mnras/stv2568⟩. ⟨hal-02029526⟩