We present a comprehensive analysis of BRITE photometry for 85 chemically peculiar stars, aimed at refining or determining their rotational periods. Utilizing a uniform Lomb-Scargle-based pipeline, we derived significant periods for 47 targets. A comparison with existing literature periods reveals generally good agreement, although several stars exhibit discrepant or previously unrecognized behavior. Notably, six targets display clear multiperiodicity, which, when combined with archival TESS data, suggests that these six candidates are likely misclassified, for example, as a magnetic CP2 or a CP4 star and instead exhibit characteristics consistent with a Be/shell star. Furthermore, eleven stars show no detectable periodic variations within the precision limits of BRITE. Our analysis demonstrates the effectiveness of long-term nanosatellite photometry, particularly when complemented by TESS data, in verifying catalogue periods, identifying multiperiodic behavior, and detecting potential misclassifications among bright CP stars.
Chemically peculiar (CP) stars with a measurable magnetic field comprise the group of mCP stars. The pulsating members define the subgroup of rapidly oscillating Ap (roAp) stars, of which Alpha Circini is the brightest member. Hence, Alpha Circini allows the application of challenging techniques, such as interferometry, very high temporal and spectral resolution photometry, and spectroscopy in a wide wavelength range, that have the potential to provide unique information about the structure and evolution of a star. Based on new photometry from BRITE-Constellation, obtained with blue and red fi…
About 10% of upper main sequence stars are characterised by the presence of chemical peculiarities, often found together with a structured magnetic field. The atmospheres of most of those chemically peculiar stars present surface spots, leading to photometric variability caused by rotational modulation. The study of the light curves of those stars therefore, permits a precise measurement of their rotational period, which is important to study stellar evolution and to plan further detailed observations. We analysed the light curves of 1028 chemically peculiar stars obtained with the STEREO spac…
Chemically peculiar (CP) stars are main-sequence A and B stars with abnormally strong or weak lines for certain elements. They generally have magnetic fields and all observables tend to vary with the same period. Chemically peculiar stars provide a wealth of information; they are natural atomic and magnetic laboratories. After a brief historical overview, we discuss the general properties of the magnetic fields in CP stars, describe the oblique rotator model, explain the dependence of the magnetic field strength on the rotation, and concentrate at the end on HgMn stars.
We present the first results of the estimation of gravity and effective temperature for some poorly studied chemically peculiar stars that were recently observed with the spectropolarimeter ESPaDOnS at CFHT. We have analyzed the spectra of HD71030, HD95608 and HD116235 to determine their radial velocity, Vsin(i) and the average abundance of several chemical species. We have also analyzed our results to verify for possible vertical abundance stratification of iron and chromium in these stars.
During the last two years we have received long time-series photometric observations of bright (V mag < 8) main-sequence A- and B-type stars observed by the NASA TESS spacecraft and the Austria-Poland-Canada BRITE satellites. Using TESS observations of metallic-line A (Am) stars having peculiar element abundances, our goal is to determine whether and why these stars pulsate in multiple radial and non-radial modes, as do the delta Scuti stars in the same region of the H-R diagram. The BRITE data were requested to investigate pulsations in bright (V around 6 mag) A- and B-type stars in the Cygnu…
In this paper we present a new catalogue of Chemically Peculiar (CP) stars obtained by compiling publications in which abundances of metals are provided. Our catalogue includes 428 stars for which the data were obtained through spectroscopic observations. Most of them (416) are AmFm, HgMn and ApBp stars. We have used this compilation to proceed to a statistical overview of the abundance anomalies versus the physical parameters of the stars. The Spearman's rank correlation test has been applied, and a significant number of correlations of abundance peculiarities with respect to effective temper…
The physics of magnetic hot stars and how a large-scale magnetic field affects their interior properties is largely unknown. Few studies have combined high-quality observations and modelling of magnetic pulsating stars, known as magneto-asteroseismology, primarily because of the dearth of detected pulsations in stars with a confirmed and well-characterised large-scale magnetic field. We aim to characterise observational signatures of rotation and pulsation in chemically peculiar candidate magnetic stars using photometry from the K2 space mission. Thus, we identify the best candidate targets fo…
The Ursa Major group is a nearby stellar supercluster which, while not gravitationally bound, is defined by co-moving members. DD UMa is a $δ$ Scuti star whose membership in the Ursa Major group is unclear. The objective of this study is to confirm the membership of DD UMa in the Ursa Major group, as well as perform a detailed spectral analysis of the star. Since DD UMa is a low-amplitude $δ$ Scuti star, we performed a frequency analysis. We determined fundamental parameters, chemical abundances, and derive a mass and age for the star. For this study we observed DD UMa at the Okayama Astrophys…
The upper main sequence stars CU Virginis is the most enigmatic object among magnetic chemically peculiar (mCP) stars. It is an unusually fast rotator showing strictly periodic light variations in all regions of the electromagnetic spectrum, as well as spectroscopic and spectropolarimetric changes. At same time, it is also the first radio main-sequence pulsar. Exploiting information hidden in phase variations, we monitored the secular oscillation of the rotational period during the last 53 years. Applying own phenomenological approach, we analyzed 37\,975 individual photometric and spectroscop…
We have analysed the photometric data obtained with the STEREO spacecraft for 558 non-magnetic chemically peculiar (CP) stars to search for rotational and pulsational variability. Applying the Lomb-Scargle and the phase dispersion minimisation methods, we have detected photometric variability for 44 objects from which 35 were previously unknown. The new objects are all bright stars on the Ecliptic Plane (magnitude range 4.7 < V < 11.7) and will therefore be of great interest to studies of stellar structure and evolution. In particular, several show multiple signals consistent with hybrid delta…
BS Cir is a representative of moderately cool magnetic chemically peculiar stars which displays very strong light variations in Stroemgren index c1 indicating large changes in the height of the Balmer jump. We present two-spot model of light variations fitting successfully all of nine light curves obtained in the spectral region 335-750 nm. We also discuss the nature of the observed variations of intensities of Fe, Cr, Ti, Si, Mg and RE spectral lines and possible mechanisms matching the observed light variations. It was confirmed that the observed period of BS Cir 2.204 d is rising with the r…
Photometrically and spectroscopically variable chemically peculiar (CP) stars are the optimum laboratories for testing the rotational evolution of main sequence stars. A vast majority of well-studied CP stars have quite steady rotational periods (e.g. SrCrEu star CQ UMa). However, there are several CP stars that exhibit apparent period variations. The origin of the period variations is unclear in many cases. We describe the observed period variations of several individual CP stars, especially V901 Ori, sigma Ori E, HR 7355, CU Vir, SX Ari, and EE Dra. The CP stars with unsteady periods now rep…
We report the results of an observational study aimed at searching for magnetic pulsating hot stars suitable for magneto-asteroseismology. A sample of sixteen chemically peculiar stars was selected and analysed using both high-resolution spectropolarimetry with ESPaDOnS and K2 high-precision space photometry. For all stars, we derive the effective temperature, surface gravity, rotational and non-rotational line broadening from our spectropolarimetric data. High-quality K2 light curves were obtained for thirteen of the sixteen stars and revealed rotational modulation, providing accurate rotatio…
The magnetic chemically peculiar (CP2) stars of the upper main sequence are well-suited for investigating the impact of magnetic fields on the surface layers of stars, which leads to abundance inhomogeneities (spots) resulting in photometric variability. The light changes are explained in terms of the oblique rotator model; the derived photometric periods thus correlate with the rotational periods of the stars. CP2 stars exhibiting this kind of variability are classified as alpha2 Canum Venaticorum (ACV) variables. We have analysed around 3 850 000 individual photometric WASP measurements of m…
Magnetic chemically peculiar (mCP) stars of the upper part of the main sequence usually exhibit strictly periodic variations of their light, spectrum and magnetic field. These changes can be well explained using the oblique rotator model of the rigidly rotating star with persistent photometric spots, uneven horizontal abundance of chemical elements and dipole-like magnetic field. Long-term observations of mCP stars variability enable to determine their rotational periods with an extraordinary accuracy and reliability. We compare rotational periods of mCP stars with those of normal main sequenc…
The Nainital-Cape survey is a dedicated research programme to search and study pulsational variability in chemically peculiar stars in the Northern Hemisphere. The aim of the survey is to search such chemically peculiar stars which are pulsationally unstable. The observations of the sample stars were carried out in high-speed photometric mode using a three-channel fast photometer attached to the 1.04-m Sampurnanand telescope at ARIES. The new photometric observations confirmed that the pulsational period of star HD25515 is 2.78-hrs. The repeated time-series observations of HD113878 and HD11866…
HD 67044 currently assigned a B8 spectral type is one of the slowly rotating B stars situated in the northern hemisphere which we are currently observing. The selection criteria for this sample of stars are a declination higher than -15^o , spectral class B8 or B9, luminosity class V or IV, and a magnitude V brighter than 7.85. Most of the stars of this B8-9 sample have just recently been observed in December 2014. We are currently performing a careful abundance analysis study of high resolution high S/N ratio spectra of these objects and sort them out into chemically normal stars (ie. whose a…
We present a comprehensive overview of the properties of a sample of 41 magnetic chemically peculiar stars that have been recently identified in the Kepler field by our team (Hümmerich et al. 2018). The stars populate the whole age range from zero-age to terminal-age main sequence in the mass interval from 1.5 to 4 Ms. Several of the studied objects exhibit a hitherto unobserved wealth of detail in their light curves indicative of persisting complex surface structures. Monoperiodic variability and light curve stability were identified as cardinal criteria for selecting mCP star candidates amon…
In this paper, the period evolution of the rotating chemically peculiar star V473\,Tau (A0Si, V = 7.26 mag) is investigated. Even though the star has been observed for more than fifty years, for the first time four consecutive years of space-based data covering between 2007 and 2010 is presented. The data is from the {\sl STEREO} satellite, and is combined with the archival results. The analysis shows that the rotation period of V473\,Tau is $1.406829(10)$ days, and has slightly decreased with the variation rate of -0.11(3)~s~yr$^{-1}$ over time. Also, the acceleration timescale of the star is…
From sector 1--44 {\em TESS} observations, 19 new roAp stars, 103 ostensibly non-peculiar stars with roAp-like frequencies and 617 $δ$~Scuti stars with independent frequencies typical of roAp stars were found. Examination of all chemically peculiar stars observed by {\em TESS} resulted in the discovery of 199 Ap stars which pulsate as $δ$~Sct or $γ$~Dor variables. The fraction of pulsating Ap stars is the same as the fraction of pulsating chemically normal stars. There is no distinct separation in frequency or radial order between chemically peculiar $δ$~Sct stars and roAp stars. In fact, all …
Edelmann (2003) identified two chemically peculiar hot subdwarfs, PG 0909+276 and UVO 0512-08, as having very high overabundances of iron-group elements. We obtained high-resolution ultraviolet spectroscopy in order to measure abundances of species not observable in the optical, and to seek evidence for chemical stratification in the photosphere. Abundances were measured in three wavelength regions; the optical 3900Å-6900Å range was re-analysed to confirm consistency with Edelmann. Ultraviolet spectra were obtained with the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (STIS) on the Hubble Space Telesc…
The magnetic chemically peculiar (mCP) stars of the upper main sequence are perfectly suited to studying the effects of rotation, diffusion, mass-loss, accretion, and pulsation in the presence of an organized stellar magnetic field. Therefore, many important models can only be tested with this star group. In this case study we investigate the possibility of detecting the characteristic 520 nm flux depression of mCP stars using low-resolution BP/RP spectra of the Gaia mission. This would enable us to effectively search for these objects in the ever-increasing database. We employed the tool of D…
By means of numerical experiments we explore the application of interferometry to the detection and characterization of abundance spots in chemically peculiar (CP) stars using the brightest star eps~Uma as a case study. We find that the best spectral regions to search for spots and stellar rotation signatures are in the visual domain. The spots can clearly be detected already at a first visibility lobe and their signatures can be uniquely disentangled from that of rotation. The spots and rotation signatures can also be detected in NIR at low spectral resolution but baselines longer than 180~m …
Magnetic, chemically peculiar stars are known for exhibiting surface abundance inhomogeneities (chemical spots) that lead to photometric and spectroscopic variability with the rotation period. It is commonly assumed that the surface structures are causally connected with the global magnetic field that dominates the photospheric and subphotospheric layers of these stars. As a rule, the observed magnetic fields show a simple dipole-like geometry, with the magnetic axis being noncollinear to the rotational one. The present study aims at detecting underlying patterns in the distribution of photome…
We present a spectropolarimetric analysis of the hot star V352Peg. We have acquired 18 spectropolarimetric observations of the star with ESPaDOnS at the CFHT between 2018 and 2019 and completed our dataset with one archival ESPaDOnS measurement obtained in 2011. Our analysis of the spectra shows that the star is on the main sequence and chemically peculiar, i.e. it is a Bp star, with overabundances of iron peak elements (Ti, Cr and Fe) and underabundance of He and O. Through a Least-Square Deconvolution of each spectrum, we extracted the mean Zeeman signature and mean line profile of thousands…
We present an investigation of three chemically peculiar (CP) stars and one CP star candidate which exhibit photometric periods below 12 hours. New spectroscopic observations have been acquired which confirm the peculiar nature of all objects. HD 77013 and HD 81076 are classical CP1 (Am) stars; HD 67983 is a marginal CP1 (Am: ) star, and HD 98000 is a CP2 (Ap) star. We have procured observations from the ASAS-3 and SuperWASP archives and obtained additional photometry in order to verify the results from the sky survey data. We have derived astrophysical parameters and investigated the position…
Since the discovery of the spectral peculiarities of their prototype alpha2 Canum Venaticorum in 1897, the so-called ACV variables, which are comprised of several groups of chemically peculiar stars of the upper main sequence, have been the target of numerous photometric and spectroscopic studies. Especially for the brighter ACV variables, continuous observations over about a century are available, which are important to study long-term effects such as period changes or magnetic cycles in these objects. The present work presents an analysis of 165 Ap/CP2 and He-weak/CP4 stars using light curve…
We present results for the estimation of gravity, effective temperature, and radial velocity of poorly studied chemically peculiar stars recently observed with the spectropolarimeter Echelle SpectroPolarimetric Device for Observations of Stars at the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope in the frame of the Vertical Stratification of Element Abundances project. The effective temperature and surface gravity values are determined for the very first time for four of the stars from our sample (HD23878, HD83373, HD95608, and HD164584). Grids of stellar atmosphere models with the corresponding fluxes have …
We analyse Échelle spectra of $θ^1$ Ori F obtained by us on six nights unevenly distributed along six years; we identify several hundred spectral lines and measure, for the first time, the star's heliocentric radial velocity. We also collect and discuss previously published photometry of $θ^1$ OriF . We find that $θ^1$ Ori F is a Chemically Peculiar (CP) star with overabundant silicon and phosphorus, and possibly other elements as well. From the singly ionised Fe, Cr and Ti lines we estimate its spectral type to be between B7 and B8. The radial velocity of $θ^1$ Ori F is possibly marginally va…
The determination of fundamental parameters of stars is one of the main tasks of astrophysics. For magnetic chemically peculiar stars, this problem is complicated by the anomalous chemical composition of their atmospheres, which requires special analysis methods. We present the results of the effective temperature, surface gravity, abundance and radius determinations for three CP stars HD 188041, HD 111133, and HD 204411. Our analysis is based on a self-consistent model fitting of high-resolution spectra and spectrophrotometric observations over a wide wavelength range, taking into account the…
We aim at measuring the stellar parameters of the two Chemically Peculiar components of the B9.5Vp HgMn + A2 Vm double-lined spectroscopic binary HD141556, whose period is 15.25 days. We combined historical radial velocity measurements with new spatially resolved astrometric observations from PIONIER/VLTI to reconstruct the three-dimensional orbit of the binary, and thus obtained the individual masses. We fit the available photometric points together with the flux ratios provided by interferometry to constrain the individual sizes, which we compared to predictions from evolutionary models.The …
Abundance anomalies have been determined at the surface of many field and open cluster A and F dwarfs. These abundance anomalies are most likely caused by microscopic diffusion at work within the stable envelopes of A stars. However diffusion can be counteracted by several other mixing processes such as convection, rotational mixing and mass loss. We present a short review of the surface abundance patterns of A/F stars in the Pleiades (100 Myr), Coma Berenices (450 Myr) and Hyades (650 Myr) open clusters. Real star-to-star variations of the abundances were found for several chemical elements i…
The magnetic Ap or CP2 stars are natural atomic and magnetic laboratories and ideal testing grounds for the evaluation of model atmospheres. CP2 stars exhibiting photometric variability are traditionally referred to as alpha2 Canum Venaticorum (ACV) variables. Strictly periodic changes are observed in the spectra and brightness of these stars, which allow the derivation of rotational periods. Related to this group of objects are the He-weak (CP4) and He-rich stars, some of which are also known to undergo brightness changes due to rotational modulation. Increasing the sample size of known rotat…
We summarise the results of a spectropolarimetric survey of 56 chemically peculiar (CP) stars in the association of Orion OB1. We uniformly collected the observational material with the 6-m telescope BTA of the Special Astrophysical Observatory in 2013-2021. We identify 14 new magnetic CP stars with a longitudinal magnetic field exceeding approximately 500 G. The studied sample contains 31 magnetic stars or 55% of the whole CP population in Orion OB1. We show that the percentage of the magnetic CP stars and the field strength drops sharply with age. The mean longitudinal magnetic field in the …
High-resolution spectra of some chemically peculiar stars clearly demonstrate the presence of strong abundance gradients in their atmospheres. However, these inhomogeneities are usually ignored in the standard scheme of model atmosphere calculations, braking the consistency between model structure and spectroscopically derived abundance pattern. In this paper we present first empirical self-consistent stellar atmosphere model of roAp star HD24712, with stratification of chemical elements included, and which is derived directly from the observed profiles of spectral lines without time-consuming…
Helium-peculiar magnetic chemically peculiar stars show variations of helium abundance across their surfaces. As a result of associated atmospheric scale height variations, the stellar surface becomes distorted, with helium-rich regions dented inwards. Effectively, on top of flux variations due to opacity effects, the depressed helium-rich surface regions become less bright in the optical regions and brighter in the ultraviolet. We study the observational effects of the aspherical surface on the light curves of a Cen. We simulate the light curves of this star adopting surface distributions of …
The number of known variable stars has increased by several magnitudes over the last decade, and automated classification routines are becoming increasingly important to cope with this development. Here we show that the "upside-down CBH variables", which were proposed as a potentially new class of variable stars by Heinze et al. (2018) in the ATLAS First Catalogue of Variable Stars, are, at least to a high percentage, made up of alpha2 Canum Venaticorum (ACV) variables - that is, photometrically variable magnetic chemically peculiar (CP2/He-peculiar) stars - with distinct double-wave light cur…
Since the end of 2018, the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) has provided stellar photometry to the astronomical community. We have used TESS data to study rotational modulation in the light curves of a sample of chemically peculiar stars with measured large-scale magnetic fields (mCP stars). In general, mCP stars show inhomogeneous distributions of elements in their atmospheres that lead to spectroscopic (line profile) and photometric (light curve) variations commensurate with the rotational period. We analyzed the available TESS data from 50 sectors for eight targets after post-pr…
We used the Ultraviolet and Visual Echelle Spectrograph of the ESO-Very Large Telescope to obtain a high resolution and high signal-to-noise ratio spectrum of Stock 16-12, an early-type star which previous Delta-a photometric observations suggest being a chemically peculiar (CP) star. We used spectral synthesis to perform a detailed abundance analysis obtaining an effective temperature of 8400 +/- 400 K, a surface gravity of 4.1 +/- 0.4, a microturbulence velocity of 3.4 +0.7/-0.3 km/s, and a projected rotational velocity of 68 +/- 4 km/s. We provide photometric and spectroscopic evidence show…
Magnetic chemically peculiar stars of the main sequence can present rotational periods as long as many decades. Here we report the results of an observational campaign started in 2001 aimed at establishing these very long periods from the variability of the integrated magnetic field modulus, the so-called surface magnetic field $B_s$, as measured from the Zeeman splitting of the Fe{\sc ii}\,6149.258\,Å spectral line. Thirty-six stars have been monitored with various high-resolution spectrographs at different telescopes, totalling 412 newly collected spectra. To improve the phase coverage, we h…
The chemically peculiar (CP) stars of the upper main sequence are well suited for investigating the impact of magnetic fields and diffusion on the surface layers of slowly rotating stars. They can even be traced in the Magellanic Clouds and are important to the understanding of the stellar formation and evolution. A systematic investigation of the near-infrared (NIR), 2MASS JHKs, photometry for the group of CP stars has never been performed. Nowadays, there is a great deal of data available in the NIR that reach very large distances. It is therefore very important for CP stars to be unambiguou…
The magnetic chemically peculiar (mCP) stars of the upper main sequence exhibit strong, globally-organised magnetic fields which are inclined to the rotational axis and facilitate the development of surface abundance inhomogeneities resulting in photometric and spectroscopic variability. Therefore, mCP stars are perfectly suited for a direct measurement of the rotational period without the need for any additional calibrations. We have investigated the rotational properties of mCP stars based on an unprecedentedly large sample consisting of more than 500 objects with known rotational periods. U…
CU Vir and V901 Ori belong among these few magnetic chemically peculiar stars whose rotation periods vary on timescales of decades. We aim to study the stability of the periods in CU Vir and V901 Ori using all accessible observational data containing phase information. We collected all available relevant archived observations supplemented with our new measurements of these stars and analysed the period variations of the stars using a novel method that allows for the combination of data of diverse sorts. We found that the shapes of their phase curves were constant, while the periods were changi…
Context: The presence of heavier chemical elements in stellar atmospheres influences the spectral energy distribution (SED) of stars. An uneven surface distribution of these elements, together with flux redistribution and stellar rotation, are commonly believed to be the primary causes of the variability of chemically peculiar (CP) stars. Aims: We aim to model the photometric variability of the CP star PHI Dra based on the assumption of inhomogeneous surface distribution of heavier elements and compare it to the observed variability of the star. We also intend to identify the processes that co…
A majority part of magnetic chemically peculiar (mCP) stars of the upper main sequence exhibits strictly periodic light, magnetic, radio, and spectral variations that can be fully explained by the model of a rigidly rotating main-sequence star with persistent surface structures and stable global magnetic field frozen into the body of the star. Nevertheless, there is an inhomogeneous group consisting of a few mCP stars whose rotation periods vary on timescales of decades, while the shapes of their phase curves remain nearly unchanged. Alternations in the rotational period variations, proven in …
In this paper we present a high-resolution spectroscopic analysis of the chemically peculiar star HD207561. During a survey programme to search for new roAp stars in the Northern hemisphere, Joshi et al. (2006) observed significant photometric variability on two consecutive nights in the year 2000. The amplitude spectra of the light curves obtained on these two nights showed oscillations with a frequency of 2.79 mHz [P~6-min]. However, subsequent follow-up observations could not confirm any rapid variability. In order to determine the spectroscopic nature of HD207561, high-resolution spectrosc…
The late-B magnetic chemically peculiar star CU Vir is one of the fastest rotators among the intermediate-mass stars with strong fossil magnetic fields. It shows a prominent rotational modulation of the spectral energy distribution and absorption line profiles due to chemical spots and exhibits a unique strongly beamed variable radio emission. Little is known about the magnetic field topology of CU Vir. In this study we aim to derive, for the first time, detailed maps of the magnetic field distribution over the surface of this star. We use high-resolution spectropolarimetric observations cover…
Magnetic chemically peculiar (mCP) stars exhibit complex atmospheres that allow the investigation of such diverse phenomena as atomic diffusion, magnetic fields, and stellar rotation. The advent of space-based photometry provides the opportunity for the first precise characterizations of the photometric variability properties of these stars. We carried out a search for new mCP stars in the Kepler field with the ultimate aim of investigating their photometric variability properties using Kepler data. As an aside, we describe criteria for selecting mCP star candidates based on light curve proper…
We present a study based on the high-resolution spectroscopy and K2 space photometry of five chemically peculiar stars in the region of the open cluster M44. The analysis of the high-precision photometric K2 data reveals that the light variations in HD 73045 and HD 76310 are rotational in nature and caused by spots or cloud-like co-rotating structures, which are non-stationary and short-lived. The time-resolved radial velocity measurements, in combination with the K2 photometry, confirm that HD 73045 does not show any periodic variability on timescales shorter than 1.3 d, contrary to previous …
Intermediate-mass, chemically peculiar stars with strong magnetic fields give us an excellent opportunity to study the topology of their surface magnetic fields and the interplay between magnetic geometries and abundance inhomogeneities in their atmospheres. We reconstruct detailed maps of the surface magnetic field and abundance distributions for the magnetic Ap star HD 125248. We performed the analysis based on phase-resolved, four Stokes parameter spectropolarimetric observations obtained with the HARPSpol instrument. These data were interpreted with the magnetic Doppler imaging technique. …
The origin of chemically peculiar stars remains enigmatic, especially regarding their frequency among their "normal" peers. In addition to magnetic fields and rotation, multiplicity may shed light on the question. We mention the main surveys of the three kinds performed so far of intermediate mass stars, either normal or chemically peculiar, magnetic or not: imaging, spectroscopic, and photometric. We also consider the mulitiplicity of red giant stars, since many of them are descendants of A-type stars, through Mermilliod's radial velocity monitoring of open cluster members. We briefly review …
The spectrum of the evolved B8 III giant HR 62 exhibits weak He-lines and strong Mn and P lines. HR 62 therefore resembles both a HgMn star (CP3) and a He-weak PGa star (CP4). This study is a companion project to a high resolution survey of slowly rotationg late-B type stars aiming at finding new chemically peculiar stars. We have analysed the spectra of HR 62 (B8 III) and the dwarf comparison star HR 677 (B8 V) to derive their chemical abundances. Both stars have similar effective temperatures (12500 K) and projected rotational velocities ($\sim$25 km s$^{-1}$). The medium resolution ($R$ $\s…
Strong magnetic fields in chemically peculiar A-type (Ap) stars typically suppress low-overtone pressure modes (p modes) but allow high-overtone p modes to be driven. KIC 11296437 is the first star to show both. We obtained and analysed a Subaru spectrum, from which we show that KIC 11296437 has abundances similar to other magnetic Ap stars, and we estimate a mean magnetic field modulus of $2.8\pm0.5$ kG. The same spectrum rules out a double-lined spectroscopic binary, and we use other techniques to rule out binarity over a wide parameter space, so the two pulsation types originate in one $δ$ …
