Confirming HD 23478 as a new magnetic B star hosting an Hα-bright centrifugal magnetosphere

In this paper, we report 23 magnetic field measurements of the B3IV star HD 23478: 12 obtained from high-resolution Stokes V spectra using the ESPaDOnS (Canada–France–Hawaii Telescope) and Narval (Télescope Bernard Lyot) spectropolarimeters, and 11 from medium-resolution Stokes V spectra obtained with the DimaPol spectropolarimeter (Dominion Astronomical Observatory). HD 23478 was one of two rapidly rotating stars identified as potential ‘centrifugal magnetosphere’ hosts based on IR observations from the Apache Point Observatory Galactic Evolution Experiment survey. We derive basic physical properties of this star including its mass ( $M=6.1^{+0.8}_{-0.7}\,\mathrm{M}_{\odot }$ ), effective temperature (T eff = 20 ± 2 kK), radius ( $R=2.7^{+1.6}_{-0.9}\,\mathrm{R}_{\odot }$ ), and age ( $\tau _{\rm age}=3^{+37}_{-1}\,{\rm Myr}$ ). We repeatedly detect weakly variable Zeeman signatures in metal, He, and H lines in all our observations corresponding to a longitudinal magnetic field of 〈B z 〉 ≈ −2.0 kG. The rotational period is inferred from Hipparcos photometry (P rot = 1.0498(4) d). Under the assumption of the Oblique Rotator Model, our observations yield a surface dipole magnetic field of strength B d ≥ 9.5 kG that is approximately aligned with the stellar rotation axis. We confirm the presence of strong and broad Hα emission and gauge the volume of this star's centrifugal magnetosphere to be consistent with those of other Hα emitting centrifugal magnetosphere stars based on the large inferred Alfvén to Kepler radius ratio.