The formation and evolution of Herbig Ae/Be stars

Herbig Ae/Be stars are intermediate mass pre-Main Sequence stars whose masses lie between those of the solar mass T Tauri stars and the Massive Young Stellar Objects which have masses larger than 8-10 M . Given that the formation mechanisms of low and high mass stars are thought to be different, the Herbig Ae/Be stars can provide important clues to the respective formation scenarios. In addition, they span the mass range where the transition in formation scenario occurs. Here we present the results of two recently completed surveys; X-Shooter spectroscopy of 90 objects, and linear spectropolarimetry around Hα of 56 objects. We show that both the derived mass accretion rates and linear spectropolarimetry indicate a change in properties across the B7-B8 region.