Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astrophysics
Scientific paper
2005-06-02
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astrophysics
accepted for ApJS, COUP special issue
Scientific paper
10.1086/432094
We study the relation between age and magnetic activity in late-type pre-main sequence (PMS) stars, for the first time using mass-stratified subsamples. The effort is based on the Chandra Orion Ultradeep Project (COUP) which provides very sensitive and homogenous X-ray data on a uniquely large sample of 481 optically well-characterized low-extinction low-mass members of the Orion Nebula Cluster, for which individual stellar masses and ages could be determined. More than 98 percent of the stars in this sample are detected as X-ray sources. Within the PMS phase for stellar ages in the range $\sim 0.1-10$ Myr, we establish a mild decay in activity with stellar age $\tau$ roughly as $L_{\rm X} \propto \tau^{-1/3}$. On longer timescales, when the Orion stars are compared to main sequence stars, the X-ray luminosity decay law for stars in the $0.5 < M < 1.2$ M$_\odot$ mass range is more rapid with $L_{\rm X} \propto \tau^{-0.75}$ over the wide range of ages $5 < \log \tau < 9.5$ yr. The magnetic activity history for M stars with masses $0.1 < M < 0.4 M_\odot$ is distinctly different. Only a mild decrease in X-ray luminosity, and even a mild increase in $L_{\rm X}/L_{\rm bol}$ and $F_{\rm X}$, is seen over the 1-100 Myr range, though the X-ray emission does decay over long timescales on the main sequence. Together with COUP results on the absence of a rotation-activity relation in Orion stars, we find that the activity-age decay is strong across the entire history of solar-type stars but is not attributable to rotational deceleration during the early epochs. A combination of tachocline and distributed convective dynamos may be operative in young solar-type stars. The results for the lowest mass stars are most easily understood by the dominance of convective dynamos during both the PMS and main sequence phases.
Feigelson Eric D.
Preibisch Thomas
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