A Close Look at the Coronal Density of Procyon

Details A Close Look at the Coronal Density of Procyon A Close Look at the Coronal Density of Procyon

Aug 1996

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1996apj...467..841s&link_type=abstract

Astrophysical Journal v.467, p.841

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astronomy

23

Stars: Coronae, Stars: Individual Constellation Name: Alpha Canis Minoris, Ultraviolet: Stars

Scientific paper

We derive the coronal density of the nearby star Procyon, using an observation with the short- and medium-wavelength spectrometers on board the Extreme-Ultraviolet Explorer satellite (EUVE). Specifically, we have identified density-sensitive ratios in lines due to iron in ionization stages Fe X to Fe XIV, which have been detected in our EUVE spectra. We present these observations and analyze these line ratios, paying careful attention to line blends or contamination from other extreme-ultraviolet (EUV) lines. We show that all the available density-sensitive iron line diagnostics are consistent with the interpretation that the overall coronal output of Procyon is dominated by regions with a coronal density very much resembling densities typically found in active regions on the Sun. We estimate that the corona of Procyon is dominated by material at a temperature Tcor ˜ 106.2 K, with no significant amount of material above T ˜ 106.8 K; the characteristic density is ne ˜ 3 x 109 cm-3 the emission measure is EM ˜ 4.5 × 1050 cm-3. We infer a (visible) volume of Vtot ˜ 5 x 1031 cm-3 assuming the X-ray emission to arise from plasma magnetically confined in loops, we deduce that such loops have an average height of h ˜ 2 x 109 cm and cover about 20% of the stellar surface. Because of the high coronal density and the lack of emission measure substantially below T ˜ 106 K, we conclude also that it is unlikely that there exists a cooler, acoustically heated subcorona.

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