First evidence of a magnetic field on Vega. Towards a new class of magnetic A-type stars

TL;DR

This study provides the first spectropolarimetric evidence of a magnetic field on Vega, suggesting a new class of magnetic A-type stars with weaker fields than Ap stars.

Contribution

First detection of a magnetic field on Vega, indicating the existence of a new class of magnetic A-type stars with weaker magnetic fields.

Findings

Detected a magnetic field of approximately -0.6 G on Vega.

Unambiguously identified a Zeeman signature in spectropolarimetric data.

Magnetic fields similar to Vega's could be common but undetected in other A-type stars.

Abstract

We report the detection of a magnetic field on Vega through spectropolarimetric observations. We acquired 257 Stokes V, high signal-to-noise and high-resolution echelle spectra during four consecutive nights with the NARVAL spectropolarimeter at the 2-m Telescope Bernard Lyot of Observatoire du Pic du Midi (France). A circularly polarized signal in line profiles is unambiguously detected after combining the contribution of about 1200 spectral lines for each spectrum and summing the signal over the 257 spectra. Due to the low amplitude of the polarized signal, various tests have been performed to discard the possibility of a spurious polarized signal. They all point towards a stellar origin of the polarized signal. Interpreting this polarization as a Zeeman signature leads to a value of $-0.6 \pm 0.3$ G for the disk-averaged line-of-sight component of the surface magnetic field. This is the first strong evidence of a magnetic field in an A-type star which is not an Ap chemically peculiar star. Moreover, this longitudinal magnetic field is smaller by about two orders of magnitude than the longitudinal magnetic field (taken at its maximum phase) of the most weakly magnetic Ap stars. Magnetic fields similar to the Vega magnetic field could be present but still undetected in many other A-type stars.