Subscribe to the gold package and get unlimited access to Shamra Academy
Register a new userThe Evolving Magnetic Topology of $tau$ Bootis
90
0
0.0
(
0
)
Ask ChatGPT about the research
No Arabic abstract
We present six epochs of spectropolarimetric observations of the hot-Jupiter-hosting star $tau$ Bootis that extend the exceptional previous multi-year data set of its large-scale magnetic field. Our results confirm that the large-scale magnetic field of $tau$ Bootis varies cyclicly, with the observation of two further magnetic reversals; between December 2013 and May 2014 and between January and March 2015. We also show that the field evolves in a broadly solar-type manner in contrast to other F-type stars. We further present new results which indicate that the chromospheric activity cycle and the magnetic activity cycles are related, which would indicate a very rapid magnetic cycle. As an exemplar of long-term magnetic field evolution, $tau$ Bootis and this longterm monitoring campaign presents a unique opportunity for studying stellar magnetic cycles.
rate research
Read More
In this paper, we present new spectropolarimetric observations of the planet-hosting star Tau Bootis, using ESPaDOnS and Narval spectropolarimeters at Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope (CFHT) and Telescope Bernard Lyot (TBL), respectively. We detected the magnetic field of the star at three epochs in 2008. It is a weak magnetic field of only a few Gauss, oscillating between a predominant toroidal component in January and a dominant poloidal component in June and July. A magnetic polarity reversal was observed relative to the magnetic topology in June 2007. This is the second such reversal observed in two years on this star, suggesting that Tau Boo has a magnetic cycle of about 2 years. This is the first detection of a magnetic cycle for a star other than the Sun. The role of the close-in massive planet in the short activity cycle of the star is questioned. Tau Boo has strong differential rotation, a common trend for stars with shallow convective envelope. At latitude 40 deg., the surface layer of the star rotates in 3.31 d, equal to the orbital period. Synchronization suggests that the tidal effects induced by the planet may be strong enough to force at least the thin convective envelope into corotation. Tau Boo shows variability in the Ca H & K and Halpha throughout the night and on a night to night time scale. We do not detect enhancement in the activity of the star that may be related to the conjunction of the planet. Further data is needed to conclude about the activity enhancement due to the planet.
We present new wind models for {tau} Bootis ({tau} Boo), a hot-Jupiter-host-star whose observable magnetic cycles makes it a uniquely useful target for our goal of monitoring the temporal variability of stellar winds and their exoplanetary impacts. Using spectropolarimetric observations from May 2009 to January 2015, the most extensive information of this type yet available, to reconstruct the stellar magnetic field, we produce multiple 3D magnetohydrodynamic stellar wind models. Our results show that characteristic changes in the large-scale magnetic field as the star undergoes magnetic cycles produce changes in the wind properties, both globally and locally at the position of the orbiting planet. Whilst the mass loss rate of the star varies by only a minimal amount ($sim$ 4 percent), the rates of angular momentum loss and associated spin-down timescales are seen to vary widely (up to $sim$ 140 percent), findings consistent with and extending previous research. In addition, we find that temporal variation in the global wind is governed mainly by changes in total magnetic flux rather than changes in wind plasma properties. The magnetic pressure varies with time and location and dominates the stellar wind pressure at the planetary orbit. By assuming a Jovian planetary magnetic field for {tau} Boo b, we nevertheless conclude that the planetary magnetosphere can remain stable in size for all observed stellar cycle epochs, despite significant changes in the stellar field and the resulting local space weather environment.
One of the aims of the BCool programme is to search for cycles in other stars and to understand how similar they are to the Sun. In this paper we aim to monitor the evolution of $tau$ Boos large-scale magnetic field using high-cadence observations covering its chromospheric activity maximum. For the first time, we detect a polarity switch that is in phase with $tau$ Boos 120 day chromospheric activity maximum and its inferred X-ray activity cycle maximum. This means that $tau$ Boo has a very fast magnetic cycle of only 240 days. At activity maximum $tau$ Boos large-scale field geometry is very similar to the Sun at activity maximum: it is complex and there is a weak dipolar component. In contrast, we also see the emergence of a strong toroidal component which has not been observed on the Sun, and a potentially overlapping butterfly pattern where the next cycle begins before the previous one has finished.
Chemical abundances in solar-type stars are a much debated topic. Planet-hosting stars are known to be metal-rich, but whether or not this peculiarity applies also to the chemical composition of the outer stellar atmospheres is still to be clarified. More in general, coronal and photospheric abundances in late-type stars appear to be different in many cases, but understanding how chemical stratification effects work in stellar atmospheres requires an observational base larger than currently available. We obtained XMM-Newton high-resolution X-ray spectra of Tau Bootis, a well known nearby star with a Jovian-mass close-in planet. We analyzed these data with the aim to perform a detailed line-based emission measure analysis and derive the abundances of individual elements in the corona with two different methods applied independently. We compared the coronal abundances of Tau Bootis with published photospheric abundances based on high-resolution optical spectra and with those of other late-type stars with different magnetic activity levels, including the Sun. We find that the two methods provide consistent results within the statistical uncertainties for both the emission measure distribution of the hot plasma and for the coronal abundances, with discrepancies at the 2-sigma level limited to the amount of plasma at temperatures of 3-4 MK and to the O and Ni abundances. In both cases, the elements for which both coronal and photospheric measurements are available (C, N, O, Si, Fe, and Ni) result systematically less abundant in the corona by a factor 3 or more, with the exception of the coronal Ni abundance, which is similar to the photospheric value. Comparison with other late-type stars of similar activity level shows that these coronal/photospheric abundance ratios are peculiar to Tau Bootis and possibly related to the characteristic over-metallicity of this planet-hosting star.
Aims. We observed the $tau$ Boo system with the HARPS-N spectrograph to test a new observational strategy aimed at jointly studying asteroseismology, the planetary orbit, and star-planet magnetic interaction. Methods. We collected high-cadence observations on 11 nearly consecutive nights and for each night averaged the raw FITS files using a dedicated software. In this way we obtained spectra with a high signal-to-noise ratio, used to study the variation of the CaII H&K lines and to have radial velocity values free from stellar oscillations, without losing the oscillations information. We developed a dedicated software to build a new custom mask that we used to refine the radial velocity determination with the HARPS-N pipeline and perform the spectroscopic analysis. Results. We updated the planetary ephemeris and showed the acceleration caused by the stellar binary companion. Our results on the stellar activity variation suggest the presence of a high-latitude plage during the time span of our observations. The correlation between the chromospheric activity and the planetary orbital phase remains unclear. Solar-like oscillations are detected in the radial velocity time series: we estimated asteroseismic quantities and found that they agree well with theoretical predictions. Our stellar model yields an age of $0.9pm0.5$ Gyr for $tau$ Boo and further constrains the value of the stellar mass to $1.38pm0.05$ M$_odot$.
Log in to be able to interact and post comments
comments
Fetching comments
Sign in to be able to follow your search criteria
