An Upper Limit to the Chandrasekhar Polarization in Early Type Stars

Arguments are presented that the degree of polarization for the greater part of the stellar disc is much smaller than it was predicted by Chandrasekhar. The reduction reflects the contribution of the pure thermal absorption to the total opacity in stellar atmospheres; it varies with the wavelength and the effective temperature. For the atmospheres of B5V and O8V stars the reduction in yellow is at least by factor of 16 and 4, respectively.