THE EXTRAORDINARY COMPLEX MAGNETIC FIELD OF THE HELIUM-STRONG STAR HD 37776

The early-type chemically peculiar stars often show strong magnetic fields on their surfaces. These magnetic topologies are organized on large scales and are believed to be close to an oblique dipole for most of the stars. In a striking exception to this general trend, the helium-strong star HD 37776 shows an extraordinary double-wave rotational modulation of the longitudinal magnetic field measurements, indicating a topologically complex and, possibly, record-strong magnetic field. Here we present a new investigation of the magnetic field structure of HD 37776, using both simple geometrical interpretation of the longitudinal field curve and detailed modeling of the time-resolved circular polarization line profiles with the help of a magnetic Doppler imaging technique. We derive a model of the magnetic field structure of HD 37776, which reconciles for the first time all magnetic observations available for this star. We find that the local surface field strength does not exceed approximate to 30 kG, while the overall field topology of HD 37776 is dominated by a non-axisymmetric component and represents by far the most complex magnetic field configuration found among early-type stars.