St Andrews Research Repository

St Andrews University Home
View Item 
  •   St Andrews Research Repository
  • University of St Andrews Research
  • University of St Andrews Research
  • University of St Andrews Research
  • View Item
  •   St Andrews Research Repository
  • University of St Andrews Research
  • University of St Andrews Research
  • University of St Andrews Research
  • View Item
  •   St Andrews Research Repository
  • University of St Andrews Research
  • University of St Andrews Research
  • University of St Andrews Research
  • View Item
  • Login
JavaScript is disabled for your browser. Some features of this site may not work without it.

A path towards understanding the rotation-activity relation of M dwarfs with K2 mission, X-ray and UV data

Thumbnail
View/Open
Scholz_2016_MNRAS_Mdwarfs_FinalPubVersion.pdf (2.864Mb)
Date
01/12/2016
Author
Stelzer, B.
Damasso, M.
Scholz, A.
Matt, S. P.
Keywords
Stars: activity
Stars: flare
Stars: late-type
Stars: rotation
Ultraviolet: stars
X-rays: stars
QB Astronomy
QC Physics
DAS
Metadata
Show full item record
Altmetrics Handle Statistics
Altmetrics DOI Statistics
Abstract
We study the relation between stellar rotation and magnetic activity fora sample of 134 bright, nearby M dwarfs observed in the Kepler Two-Wheel (K2) mission during campaigns C0-C4. The K2 light curves yield photometrically derived rotation periods for 97 stars (79 of which without previous period measurement), as well as various measures for activity related to cool spots and flares. We find a clear difference between fast and slow rotators with a dividing line at a period of ~10 d at which the activity level changes abruptly. All photometric diagnostics of activity (spot cycle amplitude, flare peak amplitude and residual variability after subtraction of spot and flare variations) display the same dichotomy, pointing to a quick transition between a high-activity mode for fast rotators and a low-activity mode for slow rotators. This unexplained behavior is reminiscent of a dynamo mode-change seen in numerical simulations that separates a dipolar from a multipolar regime. A substantial number of the fast rotators a revisual binaries. A tentative explanation is accelerated disc evolution in binaries leading to higher initial rotation rates on the main sequence and associated longer spin-down and activity lifetimes. We combine the K2 rotation periods with archival X-ray and UV data. X-ray, FUV and NUV detections are found for 26, 41, and 11 stars from our sample, respectively. Separating the fast from the slow rotators, we determine for the first time the X-ray saturation level separately for early- and for mid-M stars.
Citation
Stelzer , B , Damasso , M , Scholz , A & Matt , S P 2016 , ' A path towards understanding the rotation-activity relation of M dwarfs with K2 mission, X-ray and UV data ' , Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society , vol. 463 , no. 2 , pp. 1844-1864 . https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stw1936
Publication
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Status
Peer reviewed
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stw1936
ISSN
0035-8711
Type
Journal article
Rights
© 2016 The Authors. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Royal Astronomical Society. This work is made available online in accordance with the publisher’s policies. This is the final published version of the work, which was originally published at: https://dx.doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stw1936
Collections
  • University of St Andrews Research
URL
http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2016MNRAS.463.1844S
URI
http://hdl.handle.net/10023/9934

Items in the St Andrews Research Repository are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.

Advanced Search

Browse

All of RepositoryCommunities & CollectionsBy Issue DateNamesTitlesSubjectsClassificationTypeFunderThis CollectionBy Issue DateNamesTitlesSubjectsClassificationTypeFunder

My Account

Login

Open Access

To find out how you can benefit from open access to research, see our library web pages and Open Access blog. For open access help contact: openaccess@st-andrews.ac.uk.

Accessibility

Read our Accessibility statement.

How to submit research papers

The full text of research papers can be submitted to the repository via Pure, the University's research information system. For help see our guide: How to deposit in Pure.

Electronic thesis deposit

Help with deposit.

Repository help

For repository help contact: Digital-Repository@st-andrews.ac.uk.

Give Feedback

Cookie policy

This site may use cookies. Please see Terms and Conditions.

Usage statistics

COUNTER-compliant statistics on downloads from the repository are available from the IRUS-UK Service. Contact us for information.

© University of St Andrews Library

University of St Andrews is a charity registered in Scotland, No SC013532.

  • Facebook
  • Twitter