Discovery of magnetic fields in hot subdwarfs

We present polarisation measurements of sdB and sdO stars using FORSI on the VLT. The observations were made as part of a project to determine whether magnetic fields in two super-metal-rich stars can explain their extreme abundance peculiarities. Field strengths of up to ∼1.5kG range have been measured at varying levels of significance in each of our six targets, however no clear evidence was found between apparently normal subdwarfs and the metal-rich objects. The origin of the magnetic fields is unknown. We also discuss the implications of our measurements for magnetic flux conservation in late stages of stellar evolution.