RECENT ADVANCES IN THE STUDIES OF MAGNETIC FIELDS IN AP/BP STARS AND THEIR PREDECESSORS, THE HERBIG AE/BE STARS

Abstract

Ap/Bp stars are unique astrophysical laboratories.Studies of these stars are of particular importance to improve our understanding of the physical processes taking place in the presence of strong magnetic fields. The focus of current Ap/Bp star research is on providing information on the statistics of magnetic field properties, the distribution of their rotation periods, and on the possible relations between the magnetic eld strength and other stellar parameters.In contrast to the kG-order magnetic elds detected in Ap/Bp stars, the latest analyses of the magnetic fields of their predecessors, the Herbig-Ae/Be stars, support the idea that the low detection rate of magnetic fields in these stars can be explained by the weakness of these fields: only a few stars have longitudinal magnetic fields stronger than 200 G, and half of the sample possesses longitudinal magnetic fields weaker than 100 G, unlike their lower mass TTauri counterparts, which possess kG magnetic fields.