2021MNRAS.501.5927A

We report the first systematic study to identify and characterize a sample of classical Ae stars in the Galaxy. The spectra of these stars were retrieved from the A-star catalogue using the Large sky Area Multi-Object fibre Spectroscopic Telescope (LAMOST) survey. We identified the emission-line stars in this catalogue from which 159 are confirmed as classical Ae stars. This increases the sample of known classical Ae stars by about nine times from the previously identified 21 stars. The evolutionary phase of classical Ae stars in this study is confirmed from the relatively small mid- and far-infrared excess and from their location in the optical colour-magnitude diagram. We estimated the spectral type using MILES spectral templates and identified classical Ae stars beyond A3, for the first time. The prominent emission lines in the spectra within the wavelength range 3700-9000 Å are identified and compared with the features present in classical Be stars. The H α emission strength of the stars in our sample show a steady decrease from late-B type to Ae stars, suggesting that the disc size may be dependent on the spectral type. Interestingly, we noticed emission lines of Fe II, O I, and Paschen series in the spectrum of some classical Ae stars. These lines are supposed to fade out by late B-type and should not be present in Ae stars. Further studies, including spectra with better resolution, is needed to correlate these results with the rotation rates of classical Ae stars.