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Magnetic fields are extremely rare in close, hot binaries, with only 1.5 per cent of such systems known to contain a magnetic star. The eccentric ϵ Lupi system stands out in this population as the only close binary in which both stars are known to be magnetic. We report the discovery of strong variable radio emission from ϵ Lupi using the upgraded Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope (uGMRT) and the MeerKAT radio telescope. The light curve exhibits striking unique characteristics including sharp high-amplitude pulses that repeat with the orbital period, with the brightest enhancement occurring near periastron. The characteristics of the light curve point to variable levels of magnetic reconnection throughout the orbital cycle, making ϵ Lupi the first known high-mass, main sequence binary embedded in an interacting magnetosphere. We also present a previously unreported enhancement in the X-ray light curve obtained from archival XMM–Newton data. The stability of the components’ fossil magnetic fields, the firm characterization of their relatively simple configurations, and the short orbital period of the system make ϵ Lupi an ideal target to study the physics of magnetospheric interactions. This system may thus help us to illuminate the exotic plasma physics of other magnetically interacting systems such as moon–planet, planet–star, and star–star systems including T Tauri binaries, RS CVn systems, and neutron star binaries.

Coherent radio emission via electron cyclotron maser emission (ECME) from hot magnetic stars was discovered more than two decades ago, but the physical conditions that make the generation of ECME favourable remain uncertain. Only recently was an empirical relation, connecting ECME luminosity with the stellar magnetic field and temperature, proposed to explain what makes a hot magnetic star capable of producing ECME. This relation was, however, obtained with just 14 stars. Therefore, it is important to examine whether this relation is robust. With the aim of testing the robustness, we conducted radio observations of five hot magnetic stars. This led to the discovery of three more stars producing ECME. We find that the proposed scaling relation remains valid after the addition of the newly discovered stars. However, we discovered that the magnetic field and effective temperature correlate for Teff ≲ 16 kK (likely an artefact of the small sample size), rendering the proposed connection between ECME luminosity and Teff unreliable. By examining the empirical relation in light of the scaling law for incoherent radio emission, we arrive at the conclusion that both types of emission are powered by the same magnetospheric phenomenon. Like the incoherent emission, coherent radio emission is indifferent to Teff for late-B and A-type stars, but Teff appears to become important for early-B type stars, possibly due to higher absorption, or higher plasma density at the emission sites suppressing the production of the emission.