On the distortion of magnetic stars and their inferred magnetic fields.

The magnetic field of 53 Cam is analysed by using a general expansion of an axisymmetric field and by allowing the star to be either spherical or nonspherical. The non-spherical model gives a marginally better fit. The results are consistent with an internal toroidal field much larger than the external poloidal field, and they suggest that future attempts at inferring the fields of magnetic stars should allow for a non-spherical surface.