Paper detail

gamma Peg: testing Vega-like magnetic fields in B stars

gam Peg is a bright B pulsator showing both p and g modes of beta Cep and SPB types. It has also been claimed to be a magnetic star by some authors while others do not detect a magnetic field. We aimed at checking for the presence of a field, characterise it if it exists or provide a firm upper limit of its strength if it is not detected. If gam Peg is magnetic, it would make an ideal asteroseismic target to test various theoretical scenarios. If it is very weakly magnetic, it would be the first observation of an extension of Vega-like fields to early B stars. Finally, if it is not magnetic and we can provide a very low upper limit on its non-detected field, it would make an important result for stellar evolution models. We acquired high resolution, high signal-to-noise spectropolarimetric Narval data at TBL. We also gathered existing dimaPol@DAO and Musicos@TBL spectropolarimetric data. We analysed the Narval and Musicos observations using the LSD technique to derive the longitudinal magnetic field and Zeeman signatures in lines. The longitudinal field strength was also extracted from the Hbeta line observed with the DAO. With a Monte Carlo simulation we derived the maximum strength of the field possibly hosted by gam Peg. We find that no magnetic signatures are visible in the very high quality spectropolarimetric data. The average longitudinal field measured in the Narval data is Bl=-0.1+/-0.4 G. We derive a very strict upper limit of the dipolar field strength of Bpol~40 G. We conclude that gamma Peg is not magnetic: it does not host a strong stable fossil field as observed in a fraction of massive stars, nor a very weak Vega-like field. There is therefore no evidence that Vega-like fields exist in B stars contrary to the predictions by fossil field dichotomy scenarios. These scenarios should thus be revised. Our results also provide strong constraints for stellar evolution models.