Magnetic fields of Herbig Ae/Be stars

TL;DR

This study investigates the magnetic field geometries of Herbig Ae/Be stars using spectropolarimetry, revealing predominantly dipolar fields with strengths of several hundred Gauss, and explores their relation to accretion processes.

Contribution

It provides new spectropolarimetric data on magnetic field geometries and strengths in Herbig Ae/Be stars, linking magnetic topology to accretion physics.

Findings

Magnetic fields are likely dipolar with polar strengths of several hundred Gauss.

Detected magnetic fields correlate with specific accretion flow characteristics.

Spectropolarimetric observations in visible and IR are crucial for understanding star-disk interactions.

Abstract

We report on the status of our spectropolarimetric studies of Herbig Ae/Be stars carried out during the last years. The magnetic field geometries of these stars, investigated with spectropolarimetric time series, can likely be described by centred dipoles with polar magnetic field strengths of several hundred Gauss. A number of Herbig Ae/Be stars with detected magnetic fields have recently been observed with X-shooter in the visible and the near-IR, as well as with the high-resolution near-IR spectrograph CRIRES. These observations are of great importance to understand the relation between the magnetic field topology and the physics of the accretion flow and the accretion disk gas emission.