Abstract. Some Ap stars with strong magnetic fields pulsate in high-order p modes; they are called roAp (rapidly oscillating Ap) stars. The p-mode frequencies are modified by the magnetic fields. Although the large frequency separation is hardly affected, small separations are modified considerably. The magnetic field also affects the latitudinal amplitude distribution on the surface. We discuss the property of axisymmetric p-mode oscillations in roAp stars.Keywords. stars: magnetic fields, stars: oscillations
Observational properties of roAp starsThe group of rapidly oscillating Ap (roAp) stars was discovered by Kurtz (1982) more than thirty years ago (it consisted of five members then). Since then, the number of known roAp stars has increased to around 40-50 (still increasing); a recent list is given by Kurtz et al. (2006). They are chemically-peculiar main-sequence stars having masses ranging from ∼ 1.5 to ∼ 2 M ⊙ , and effective temperatures from ∼ 6400 to ∼ 8400 K. On the H-R diagram (Fig 1, left panel), they lie in and around the δ Sct instability strip. However, the oscillation frequencies are much higher than those of δ Sct variables as seen in the right panel of Fig. 1, which plots dominant frequencies of roAp and δ Sct stars with respect to the effective temperature. The roAp stars pulsate in high-order p modes whose frequencies range from ∼ 1 to ∼ 3 mHz (periods; ∼ 6 − 21 min), while δ Sct stars