Discovery of a strong magnetic field in the rapidly rotating B2 Vn star HR 7355

We report the detection of a strong, organized magnetic field in the He-variable early B-type star HR 7355 using spectropolarimetric data obtained with ESPaDOnS on the 3.6-m Canada–France–Hawaii Telescope within the context of the Magnetism in Massive Stars (MiMeS) Large Program. HR 7355 is both the most rapidly rotating known main-sequence magnetic star and the most rapidly rotating He-strong star, with v sin i= 300 ±15 km s−1 and a rotational period of 0.5214404±0.0000006 d. We have modelled our eight longitudinal magnetic field measurements assuming an oblique dipole magnetic field. Constraining the inclination of the rotation axis to be between 38° and 86°, we find the magnetic obliquity angle to be between 30° and 85°, and the polar strength of the magnetic field at the stellar surface to be between 13–17 kG. The photometric light curve constructed from HIPPARCOS archival data and new CTIO measurements shows two minima separated by 0.5 in rotational phase and occurring 0.25 cycles before/after the magnetic extrema. This photometric behaviour, coupled with previously reported variable emission of the Hα line (which we confirm), strongly supports the proposal that HR 7355 harbours a structured magnetosphere similar to that in the prototypical He-strong star, σ Ori E.