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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 performed 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 context, 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 and the surface abundance distributions of Si, Ti, Cr and Fe using magnetic Doppler imaging. We derive a dipolar geometry of the surface magnetic field, with a polar strength B-d = 1230 G and an obliquity beta = 57 degrees. The distributions Ti, Cr and Fe are all qualitatively similar, with an elongated patch of enhanced abundance situated near the positive magnetic pole. The Si distribution is somewhat different, and its relationship to the magnetic field geometry less clear.

We present the discovery of pulsational variations in the cool magnetic Ap star HD115226 - the first high-amplitude rapidly oscillating Ap (roAp) star discovered with time-series spectroscopy. Using high-resolution spectra obtained with the HARPS instrument at the European Southern Observatory 3.6-m telescope, we detect radial velocity variations with a period of 10.86 min in Pr III, Nd III, Dy III lines, and in the narrow cores of hydrogen lines. Pulsational amplitudes exceed 1 km s(-1) in individual lines of Nd III. The presence of running waves in the stellar atmosphere is inferred from a phase shift between the radial velocity maxima of rare-earth and hydrogen lines. Our abundance analysis demonstrates that HD115226 exhibits a typical roAp spectroscopic signature, notably ionization anomaly of Pr, Nd, and Dy. We discuss the discovery of pulsations in HD115226 in the context of recent spectroscopic studies of roAp stars and point to the existence of a correlation between spectroscopic pulsational amplitude and the stellar rotation rate.

Aims.We have investigated the structure of the pulsating atmosphere of one of the best studied rapidly oscillating Ap stars, HD 24712.Methods.For this purpose we analyzed spectra collected during 2001-2004. An extensive data set was obtained in 2004 simultaneously with the photometry of the Canadian MOST mini-satellite. This allows us to connect directly atmospheric dynamics observed as radial velocity variations with light variations seen in photometry. Results.We directly derived for the first time and for different chemical elements, respectively ions, phase shifts between photometric and radial velocity pulsation maxima indicating, as we suggest, different line formation depths in the atmosphere. This allowed us to estimate for the first time the propagation velocity of a pulsation wave in the outer stellar atmosphere of a roAp star to be slightly lower than the sound speed. We confirm large pulsation amplitudes (150-400 m s-1) for REE lines and the H core, while spectral lines of the other elements (Mg, Si, Ca, and Fe-peak elements) have nearly constant velocities. We did not find different pulsation amplitudes and phases for the lines of rare-earth elements before and after the Balmer jump, which supports the hypothesis of REE concentration in the upper atmosphere above the hydrogen line-forming layers. We also discuss radial velocity amplitudes and phases measured for individual spectral lines as tools for a 3D tomography of the atmosphere of HD 24712.

Context. The chemically peculiar stars of the upper main sequence represent a natural laboratory for the study of rare- earth elements (REE). Aims. We want to check the reliability of the energy levels and atomic line parameters for the second REE ions currently available in the literature, and obtained by means of experiments and theoretical calculations. Methods. We have obtained a UVES spectrum of a slowly rotating strongly magnetic Ap star, HD 144897, that exhibits very large overabundances of rare- earth elements. Here we present a detailed spectral analysis of this object, taking effects of non- uniform vertical distribution (stratification) of chemical elements into account. Results. We determined the photospheric abundances of 40 ions. For seven elements (Mg, Si, Ca, Ti, Cr, Mn, Fe), we obtained a stratification model that allows us to produce a satisfactory fit to the observed profiles of spectral lines of various strengths. All the stratified elements but Cr show a steep decrease in concentration toward the upper atmospheric layers; for Cr the transition from high to low concentration regions appears smoother than for the other elements. The REEs abundances, which have been determined for the first time from the lines of the first and second ions, have been found typically four dex higher than solar abundances. Our analysis of REE spectral lines provides strong support for the laboratory line classification and determination of the atomic parameters. The only remarkable exception is Nd III, for which spectral synthesis was found to be inconsistent with the observations. We therefore performed a revision of the Nd III classification. We confirmed the energies for 11 out of 24 odd energy levels that were classified previously, and derived the energies for additional 24 levels of Nd III, thereby substantially increasing the number of classified Nd III lines with corrected wavelengths and atomic parameters.

Context. High spectral resolution studies of cool Ap stars reveal conspicuous anomalies of the shape and strength of many absorption lines. This is a signature of large atmospheric chemical gradients ( chemical stratification) produced by the selective radiative levitation and gravitational settling of chemical species. Aims. Previous observational studies of the chemical stratification in Ap stars were limited to fitting simple parametrized chemical profiles. Here we present a new approach to mapping the vertical chemical structures in stellar atmospheres. Methods. We have developed a regularized chemical inversion procedure that uses all information available in high-resolution stellar spectra. The new technique for the first time allowed us to recover chemical profiles without making a priori assumptions about the shape of chemical distributions. We have derived average abundances and applied the vertical inversion procedure to the high-resolution VLT UVES spectra of the weakly magnetic, cool Ap star HD133792. Results. Our spectroscopic analysis yielded improved estimates of the atmospheric parameters of HD133792. We show that this star has negligible v(e) sin i and the mean magnetic field modulus < B > = 1.1 +/- 0.1 kG. We have derived average abundances for 43 ions and obtained vertical distributions of Ca, Si, Mg, Fe, Cr, and Sr. All these elements except Mg show high overabundance in the deep layers and solar or sub-solar composition in the upper atmosphere of HD133792. In contrast, the Mg abundance increases with height. Conclusions. We find that transition from the metal-enhanced to metal-depleted zones typically occurs in a rather narrow range of depths in the atmosphere of HD133792. Based on the derived photospheric abundances, we conclude that HD133792 belongs to the rare group of evolved cool Ap stars, which possesses very large Fe-peak enhancement, but lacks a prominent overabundance of the rare-earth elements.