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Register a new userCoherent radio emission from a population of RS Canum Venaticorum systems
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Coherent radio emission from stars can be used to constrain fundamental coronal plasma parameters, such as plasma density and magnetic field strength. It is also a probe of chromospheric and magnetospheric acceleration mechanisms. Close stellar binaries, such as RS Canum Venaticorum (RS CVn) systems, are particularly interesting as their heightened level of chromospheric activity and possible direct magnetic interaction make them a unique laboratory to study coronal and magnetospheric acceleration mechanisms. RS CVn binaries are known to be radio-bright but coherent radio emission has only conclusively been detected previously in one system. Here, we present a population of 14 coherent radio emitting RS CVn systems. We identified the population in the ongoing LOFAR Two Metre Sky Survey as circularly polarised sources at 144MHz that are astrometrically associated with known RS CVn binaries. We show that the observed emission is powered by the electron cyclotron maser instability. We use numerical calculations of the masers beaming geometry to argue that the commonly invoked loss-cone maser cannot generate the necessary brightness temperature in some of our detections and that a more efficient instability, such as the shell or horseshoe maser, must be invoked. Such maser configurations are known to operate in planetary magnetospheres. We also outline two acceleration mechanisms that could produce coherent radio emission, one where the acceleration occurs in the chromosphere and one where the acceleration is due to an electrodynamic interaction between the stars. We propose radio and optical monitoring observations that can differentiate between these two mechanisms.
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We present the first Doppler images of the prototypical active binary star RS CVn, derived from high-resolution spectra observed in 2004, 2016 and 2017, using three different telescopes and observing sites. We apply the least-squares deconvolution technique to all observed spectra to obtain high signal-to-noise line profiles, which are used to derive the surface images of the active K-type component. Our images show a complex spot pattern on the K star, distributed widely in longitude. All starspots revealed by our Doppler images are located below a latitude of about 70$^{circ}$. In accordance with previous light-curve modeling studies, we find no indication of a polar spot on the K star. Using Doppler images derived from two consecutive rotational cycles, we estimate a surface differential rotation rate of $DeltaOmega = -0.039 pm 0.003 ~rad~d^{-1}$ and $alpha = DeltaOmega/Omega_{eq} = -0.030 pm 0.002$ for the K star. Given the limited phase coverage during those two rotations, the uncertainty of our differential rotation estimate is presumably higher.
Recent work by Levitan et al has expanded the long-term photometric database for AM CVn stars. In particular, their outburst properties are well-correlated with orbital period, and allow constraints to be placed on the secular mass transfer rate between secondary and primary if one adopts the disk instability model for the outbursts. We use the observed range of outbursting behavior for AM CVn systems as a function of orbital period to place a constraint on mass transfer rate versus orbital period P. We infer a rate ~5 x 10^{-9} Msun/yr (P/1000 s)^{-5.2}. We show the functional form so obtained is consistent with the recurrence time-orbital period relation found by Levitan et al using a simple theory for the recurrence time. Also, we predict their steep dependence of outburst duration on orbital period will flatten considerably once the longer orbital period systems have more complete observations.
We used the Australia Telescope in March-April 2005 to observe the RS CVn binary HR 1099 at 1.384 and 2.368 GHz at two epochs, each of 9 h in duration and 11 days apart. During two episodes of coherent emission, we employed a recently installed facility to sample the data at 78 ms intervals to measure the fine temporal and spectral structure of HR 1099. Our main observational results include: ~100% left hand circularly polarised emission was seen at both 1.384 and 2.368 GHz during both epochs; in the first event the emission feature drifted across the spectrum; three 22 min integrations made at 78 ms time resolution showed that the modulation index of the Stokes V parameter increased monotonically as the integration time was decreased and was still increasing at our resolution limit; we believe that the highly polarised emission is due to electron-cyclotron maser emission (ECME) operating in the corona of one of the binary components. We discuss two kinds of maser sources that may be responsible for driving the observed events. We suggest that the ECME source may be an aurora-like phenomenon due to the transfer of plasma from the K2 subgiant to the G5 dwarf in a strong stellar wind.
AM CVn systems are a select group of ultracompact binaries with the shortest orbital periods of any known binary subclass; mass-transfer is likely from a low-mass (partially-)degenerate secondary onto a white dwarf primary, driven by gravitational radiation. In the past few years, the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) has provided five new AM CVns. Here we report on two further candidates selected from more recent SDSS data. SDSS J1208+3550 is similar to the earlier SDSS discoveries, recognized as an AM CVn via its distinctive spectrum which is dominated by helium emission. From the expanded SDSS Data Release 6 (DR6) spectroscopic area, we provide an updated surface density estimate for such AM CVns of order 10^{-3.1} to 10^{-2.5} per deg^2 for 15<g<20.5. In addition, we present another new candidate AM CVn, SDSS J2047+0008, that was discovered in the course of followup of SDSS-II supernova candidates. It shows nova-like outbursts in multi-epoch imaging data; in contrast to the other SDSS AM CVn discoveries, its (outburst) spectrum is dominated by helium absorption lines, reminiscent of KL Dra and 2003aw. The variability selection of SDSS J2047+0008 from the 300 deg^2 of SDSS Stripe 82 presages further AM CVn discoveries in future deep, multicolor, and time-domain surveys such as LSST. The new additions bring the total SDSS yield to seven AM CVns thus far, a substantial contribution to this rare subclass, versus the dozen previously known.
Extensive air showers (EAS) have been known for over 30 years to emit pulses of radio emission at frequencies from a few to a few hundred MHz, an effect that offers great opportunities for the study of EAS with the next generation of software radio interferometers such as LOFAR and LOPES. The details of the emission mechanism, however, remain rather uncertain to date. Following past suggestions that the bulk of the emission is of geomagnetic origin, we model the radio pulses as coherent geosynchrotron radiation arising from the deflection of electrons and positrons in the earths magnetic field. We analytically develop our model in a step-by-step procedure to disentangle the coherence effects arising from different scales present in the shower structure and infer which shower characteristics govern the frequency spectrum and radial dependence of the emission. The effect is unavoidable and our predictions are in good agreement with the available experimental data within their large margins of error.
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