2010A&A...523A..40A

We investigate the magnetic dichotomy between Ap/Bp and other A-type stars by carrying out a deep spectropolarimetric study of Am and HgMn stars. Using the NARVAL spectropolarimeter at the Telescope Bernard Lyot (Observatoire du Pic du Midi, France), we obtained high-resolution circular polarisation spectroscopy of 12 Am stars and 3 HgMn stars. Using least squares deconvolution (LSD), no magnetic field is detected in any of the 15 observed stars. Uncertaintiies as low as 0.3G (respectively 1G) have been reached for surface-averaged longitudinal magnetic field measurements for Am (respectively HgMn) stars. Associated with the results obtained previously for Ap/Bp stars, our study confirms the existence of a magnetic dichotomy among A-type stars. Our data demonstrate that there is at least one order of magnitude difference in field strength between Zeeman detected stars (Ap/Bp stars) and non Zeeman detected stars (Am and HgMn stars). This result confirms that the spectroscopically-defined Ap/Bp stars are the only A-type stars harbouring detectable large-scale surface magnetic fields.