No Arabic abstract
We present Doppler imaging and a Balmer line analysis of the weak-line T Tauri star TWA 17. Spectra were taken in 2006 with the UCL Echelle Spectrograph on the Anglo-Australian Telescope. Using least-squares deconvolution to improve the effective signal-to-noise ratio we produced a Doppler map of the surface spot distribution. This shows similar features to maps of other rapidly rotating T Tauri stars, i.e. a polar spot with more spots extending out of it down to the equator. In addition to the photospheric variability, the chromospheric variability was studied using the Balmer emission. The mean H-alpha profile has a narrow component consistent with rotational broadening and a broad component extending out to +/-220 km/s. The variability in H-alpha suggests that the chromosphere has at least one slingshot prominence 3 stellar radii above the surface.
We present Doppler imaging and Balmer line analysis of the weak-line T Tauri star TWA 6. Using this data we have made one of the first attempts to measure differential rotation in a T Tauri star, and the first detection of a slingshot prominence in such a star. We also show the most direct evidence to date of the existence of solar-type plages in a star other than the Sun. Observations were made over six nights: 11-13th February 2006 and 18-20th February 2006, when spectra were taken with the UCL Echelle Spectrograph on the 3.9-m Anglo-Australian Telescope. Using least-squares deconvolution to improve the effective signal--to--noise ratio we produced two Doppler maps. These show similar features to maps of other rapidly rotating T Tauri stars, i.e. a polar spot with more spots extending out of it down to equator. Comparison of the two maps was carried out to measure the differential rotation. Cross-correlation and parameter fitting indicates that TWA 6 does not have detectable differential rotation. The Balmer emission of the star was studied. The mean H-alpha profile has a narrow component consistent with rotational broadening and a broad component extending out to 250km/s. The variability in H-alpha suggests that the chromosphere has active regions that are cospatial with the spots in the photosphere, similar to the plages observed on the Sun. In addition the star has at least one slingshot prominence 3 stellar radii above the surface - the first such detection in a T Tauri star.
We present the first images of four debris disks observed in scattered light around the young (4--250 Myr old) M dwarfs TWA 7 and TWA 25, the K6 star HD 35650, and the G2 star HD 377. We obtained these images by reprocessing archival Hubble Space Telescope NICMOS coronagraph data with modern post-processing techniques as part of the Archival Legacy Investigation of Circumstellar Environments (ALICE) program. All four disks appear faint and compact compared with other debris disks resolved in scattered light. The disks around TWA 25, HD 35650, and HD 377 appear very inclined, while TWA 7s disk is viewed nearly face-on. The surface brightness of HD 35650s disk is strongly asymmetric. These new detections raise the number of disks resolved in scattered light around M and late-K stars from one (the AU Mic system) to four. This new sample of resolved disks enables comparative studies of heretofore scarce debris disks around low-mass stars relative to solar-type stars.
We present Doppler images of both components of the eclipsing binary system ER Vul, based on the spectra obtained in 2004 November, 2006 September and 2008 November. The least-squares deconvolution technique is used for enhancing the signal-to-noise ratios of the observed profiles. The new surface images reveal that both stars of ER Vul show strong starspot activities and the starspots appear at various latitudes. The surface maps of 2006 and 2008 both show the presence of large high-latitude starspots on each component of ER Vul. We find no obvious phase shift of the active regions during our observations. The longitude distributions of starspots are non-uniform on both stars. At low-to-mid latitudes, the active regions are almost exclusively found in the hemisphere facing the other star. However, we find no pronounced concentration of spots at the sub-stellar points.
We analyzed the full Stokes spectra using simultaneous measurements of the photospheric (FeI 630.15 and 630.25 nm) and chromospheric (MgI b2 517.27 nm) lines. The data were obtained with the HAO/NSO Advanced Stokes Polarimeter, about a near disc center sunspot region, NOAA AR 9661. We compare the characteristics of Stokes profiles in terms of Doppler shifts and asymmetries among the three spectral lines, which helps us to better understand the chromospheric lines and the magnetic and flow fields in different magnetic regions. The main results are: (1) For penumbral area observed by the photospheric FeI lines, Doppler velocities derived from Stokes I (Vi) are very close to those derived from linear polarization profiles (Vlp) but significantly different from those derived from Stokes V profiles (Vzc), which provides direct and strong evidence that the penumbral Evershed flows are magnetized and mainly carried by the horizontal magnetic component. (2) The rudimentary inverse Evershed effect observed by the MgI b2 line provides a qualitative evidence on its formation height that is around or just above the temperature minimum region. (3) Vzc and Vlp in penumbrae and Vzc in pores generally approach their Vi observed by the chromospheric MgI line, which is not the case for the photospheric FeI lines. (4) Outer penumbrae and pores show similar behavior of the Stokes V asymmetries that tend to change from positive values in the photosphere (FeI lines) to negative values in the low chromosphere (MgI line). (5) The Stokes V profiles in plage regions are highly asymmetric in the photosphere and more symmetric in the low chromosphere. (6) Strong red shifts and large asymmetries are found around the magnetic polarity inversion line within the common penumbra of the Delta spot. This study thus emphasizes the importance of spectro-polarimetry using chromospheric lines.
[Abridged] We present the first comprehensive study of short-timescale chromospheric H-alpha variability in M dwarfs using the individual 15 min spectroscopic exposures for 52,392 objects from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. Our sample contains about 10^3-10^4 objects per spectral type bin in the range M0-M9, with a total of about 206,000 spectra and a typical number of 3 exposures per object (ranging up to a maximum of 30 exposures). Using this extensive data set we find that about 16% of the sources exhibit H-alpha emission in at least one exposure, and of those about 45% exhibit H-alpha emission in all of the available exposures. Within the sample of objects with H-alpha emission, only 26% are consistent with non-variable emission, independent of spectral type. The H-alpha variability, quantified in terms of the ratio of maximum to minimum H-alpha equivalent width (R_EW), and the ratio of the standard deviation to the mean (sigma_EW/<EW>), exhibits a rapid rise from M0 to M5, followed by a plateau and a possible decline in M9 objects. In particular, R_EW increases from a median value of about 1.8 for M0-M3 to about 2.5 for M7-M9, and variability with R_EW>10 is only observed in objects later than M5. For the combined sample we find that the R_EW values follow an exponential distribution with N(R_EW) exp[-(R_EW-1)/2]; for M5-M9 objects the characteristic scale is R_EW-1approx 2.7, indicative of stronger variability. In addition, we find that objects with persistent H-alpha emission exhibit smaller values of R_EW than those with intermittent H-alpha emission. Based on these results we conclude that H-alpha variability in M dwarfs on timescales of 15 min to 1 hr increases with later spectral type, and that the variability is larger for intermittent sources.