Discovery of a magnetic field on Vega Evidence for a new class of magnetic A-type stars

Aims. We report the detection of a magnetic field on Vega through spectropolarimetric observations. Methods. We acquired 257 Stokes V high signal-to-noise and high-resolution echelle spectra during four consecutive nights with NARVAL spectropolarimeter at the 2-m Telescope Bernard Lyot of Observatoire du Pic du Midi (France). A circularly polarized signal in line profiles is detected after gathering the contribution of about 1200 spectral lines for each spectrum and summing up the signal over the 257 spectra. Results. Interpreting this polarization as a Zeeman signature leads to a value of −0.6 ± 0.3 G for the disk-averaged line-of-sight component of the surface magnetic field. This is the first time a magnetic field is unambiguously detected in an A-type star which is not an Ap chemically peculiar star. Moreover, the Vega 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.