Magnetic fields and chemical peculiarities of the very young

The recently discovered magnetic Herbig Ae and Be stars may provide qualitatively new information about the formation and evolution of magnetic Ap and Bp stars. We have per-formed a detailed investigation of one particularly interesting binary system with a Herbig Ae secondary and a late B-type primary possessing a strong, globally ordered magnetic field. 20 high-resolution Stokes V spectra of the system were obtained with the ESPaDOnS instrument mounted on the Canada–France–Hawaii Telescope. In these observations we see clear evidence for a magnetic field in the primary, but no evidence for a magnetic field in the secondary. A detailed abundance analysis was performed for both stars, revealing strong chemical peculiarities in the primary and normal chemical abundances in the secondary. The primary is strongly overabundant in Si, Cr and other iron-peak elements, as well as Nd, and underabundant in He. The primary therefore appears to be a very young Bp star. In this con-text, line profile variations of the primary suggest non-uniform lateral distributions of surface abundances. Interpreting the 0.639 95 ± 0.000 09 d variation period of the Stokes I and V profiles as the rotational period of the star, we have modelled the magnetic field geometry an