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The extremely rapid rotational braking of the magnetic helium-strong star HD 37776

Context. Light and spectrum variations of the magnetic chemically peculiar (mCP) stars are explained by the oblique rigid rotator model with a rotation period usually assumed to be stable on a long time scale. A few exceptions, such as CU Vir or 56 Ari, have been reported as displaying an increase in their rotation period. A possible increase in the period of light and spectrum variations has also been suggested from observations of the helium-strong mCP star HD 37776 (V901 Ori). Aims. In this paper we attempt to confirm the possible period change of HD 37776 and discuss a possible origin of this change as a consequence of i) duplicity; ii) precession; iii) evolutionary changes; and iv) continuous/discrete/transient angular momentum loss. Methods. We analyse all available observations of the star obtained since 1976. These consist of 1707 photometric measurements obtained in uvby(β), (U)BV, V, BTVT ,a ndHp, including 550 of our own recent observations obtained in 2006 and 2007, 53 spectrophotometric measurements of the Hei λ 4026 A line, 66 equivalent width measurements of Hei spectral lines from 23 CFHT spectrograms acquired in 1986, and 69 Hei equivalent measurements from spectral lines present in 35 SAO Zeeman spectrograms taken between 1994 and 2002. All of these 1895 individual observations obtained by various techniques were processed simultaneously by means of specially developed robust codes. Results. We confirm the previously suspected gradual increase in the 1. 5387 period of HD 37776 and find that it has lengthened by a remarkable 17.7 ± 0.7 s over the past 31 years. We also note that a decrease in the rate of the period change is not excluded by the data. The shapes of light curves in all colours were found to be invariable. Conclusions. After ruling out light-time effects in a binary star, precession of the rotational axis, and evolutionary changes as possible causes for the period change, we interpret this ongoing period increase as a braking of the star’s rotation, at least in its surface layers, due to the momentum loss through events or processes in the extended stellar magnetosphere.