Fossil stellar magnetic fields: do they exist, does it matter?

Abstract
Fossil magnetic fields (i.e. fields that survive from one stage of stellar evolution to a significantly later epoch without being regenerated) have been invoked to explain phenomena in the Sun, magnetic CP stars, white dwarfs and neutron stars. The feasibility of such processes is discussed critically. Estimates are made that suggest that flux survival through pre-main sequence evolution is more likely to occur in stars with . Any link between CP star and white dwarf magnetism is argued to favour the fossil field origin of CP star fields.