Ultra weak magnetic fields in Am stars: Beta UMa and theta Leo

TL;DR

This study reports ultra-deep spectropolarimetric observations of two Am stars, Beta UMa and Theta Leo, revealing ultra-weak magnetic fields similar to those previously detected in Sirius A, suggesting such fields may be common in intermediate-mass stars.

Contribution

The paper presents the first detection of ultra-weak magnetic fields in Beta UMa and Theta Leo, expanding the evidence of magnetic fields in Am stars beyond Sirius A.

Findings

Detection of circularly-polarized signatures in Beta UMa and Theta Leo.

Weak magnetic fields may be common in intermediate-mass stars.

Observed Zeeman signatures are asymmetric, challenging standard theory.

Abstract

An extremely weak circularly-polarized signature was recently discovered in spectral lines of the chemically peculiar Am star Sirius A (Petit et al. 2011). This signal was interpreted as a Zeeman signature related to a sub-gauss longitudinal magnetic field, constituting the first detection of a surface magnetic field in an Am star. We present here ultra-deep spectropolarimetric observations of two other bright Am stars, $\beta$ UMa and $\theta$ Leo, observed with the NARVAL spectropolarimeter. The line profiles of the two stars display circularly-polarized signatures similar in shape to the observations gathered for Sirius A. These new detections suggest that very weak magnetic fields may be present in the photospheres of a significant fraction of intermediate-mass stars, although the strongly asymmetric Zeeman signatures measured so far in Am stars (featuring a prominent positive lobe and no detected negative lobe) are not expected in the standard theory of the Zeeman effect.