Astronomers of the Daurus University (England) first noticed the “inclusion” and “shutdown” of white dwarf – a rare phenomenon at which a sharp increase occurs and then loss of the brightness of the star. The phenomenon was recorded using the NASA TSSS orbital apparatus (TRANSITING EXPLANET SURVEY SATELLITE) when observing the double TW PICTORIS system removed at a distance of 1.4 thousand light years from the ground. This is reported in an article published in the Nature Astronomy magazine.
Scientists have found that TW Pictoris, consisting of white dwarf and an ordinary star, dramatically disappears in less than 30 minutes. White dwarf absorbs the substance that falls on it as a result of accretion, that is, dragging from a star companion. In this case, a large disk is formed, providing a constant stream of material. This means that the luminosity of white dwarfs should not change significantly in short periods of time. The cause of the anomaly can be the reconfiguration of the magnetic field of the star.
During reconfiguration, the magnetic field rotates so quickly that the centrifugal barrier stops the constant ingress of the substance from the accretion disk to the White Dwarf, as a result of which the star loses its brightness for a short time. Soon the optical luminosity of the star returns to the previous level. According to scientists, before such a phenomenon was not observed in other accretioning white dwarfs.