Polarization of Herbig Ae/Be candidates and their environment

Abstract

We present the V band polarization of 81 Herbig Ae/Be (HAeBe) candidates from the Pico dos Dias Survey (PDS). A good estimate of the foreground polarization was possible for most stars. A large number of objects shows intrinsic polarization, which indicates that their circumstellar envelopes have some kind of non-spherical symmetry. In this work, however, we study these data focusing on their relation with the interstellar medium. Our data seem to indicate a correlation between the position angle of the HAeBe star polarization and that of the corresponding field stars. This may be an evidence that the ambient interstellar magnetic field can play a role in the development of asymmetries in the envelope of young stars of intermediate mass. The spatial distribution of the sample relative to neighboring star forming regions is also studied.