Magnetic cycles of HR 1099 and LQ Hydrae

Details Magnetic cycles of HR 1099 and LQ Hydrae Magnetic cycles of HR 1099 and LQ Hydrae

Jan 1999

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1999mnras.302..457d&link_type=abstract

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Volume 302, Issue 3, pp. 457-481.

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astronomy

111

Line: Profiles, Stars: Activity, Binaries: General, Stars: Imaging, Stars: Magnetic Fields, Stars: Rotation

Scientific paper

We present in this paper a 6-yr time series of magnetic (and brightness) surface images of the K1 subgiant of the RS CVn system HR 1099 (=V711 Tauri) and of the young K0 dwarf LQ Hydrae, reconstructed (with the help of a dedicated maximum entropy image reconstruction software) from Zeeman--Doppler imaging observations collected at the Anglo-Australian Telescope. All the stellar magnetic images that we reconstruct host at least one high-contrast feature in which the field is predominantly azimuthal, thus confirming that such surface structures (already detected in previous similar studies) are indeed real. We take this as strong evidence that dynamo processes of late-type rapid rotators operate throughout the whole stellar convective envelope, rather than being confined to an interface layer between the convective and radiative zones as in the Sun. The latitudinal polarity pattern of azimuthal and radial fields that we observe at the surface of both stars suggests that these magnetic regions respectively reveal the toroidal and poloidal components of the large-scale dynamo field. The spatial structure of these two magnetic field components becomes increasingly more complex (with higher axisymmetric spherical harmonic degrees) for larger rotation rates and deeper convective zones. The strength of the toroidal and poloidal components is typically a few hundred G, more than two orders of magnitude stronger than in the Sun. Long-term evolution of the toroidal and poloidal components of the large-scale field is clearly detected in our time series. We also report the detection of small fluctuations in the orbital period of HR 1099, with a peak-to-peak amplitude of about 36+/-1 s (i.e. 0.015 per cent) and a period of about 18+/-2 yr (assuming sinusoidal variations around the nominal value). The most plausible way of explaining such fluctuations is that the quadrupole moment of the K1 subgiant is varying with time, and that this modulation is driven by the magnetic activity cycle of the primary star itself (through a periodic exchange between kinetic and magnetic energy within the convective zone). It provides in particular an independent confirmation that a dynamo operates within the whole convective zone, and suggests that the average azimuthal field in the convective envelope is of the order of 6 kG.

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