ORCID Profile
0000-0003-3061-4591
Current Organisation
Uppsala University
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Publisher: American Astronomical Society
Date: 02-2022
Publisher: American Astronomical Society
Date: 21-09-2023
Publisher: American Astronomical Society
Date: 11-2021
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 28-06-2023
Publisher: American Astronomical Society
Date: 28-04-2023
Abstract: During the first half of their main-sequence lifetimes, stars rapidly lose angular momentum to their magnetized winds, a process known as magnetic braking. Recent observations suggest a substantial decrease in the magnetic braking efficiency when stars reach a critical value of the Rossby number, the stellar rotation period normalized by the convective overturn timescale. Cooler stars have deeper convection zones with longer overturn times, reaching this critical Rossby number at slower rotation rates. The nature and timing of the transition to weakened magnetic braking have previously been constrained by several solar analogs and two slightly hotter stars. In this Letter, we derive the first direct constraints from stars cooler than the Sun. We present new spectropolarimetry of the old G8 dwarf τ Cet from the Large Binocular Telescope, and we reanalyze a published Zeeman Doppler image of the younger G8 star 61 UMa, yielding the large-scale magnetic field strengths and morphologies. We estimate mass-loss rates using archival X-ray observations and inferences from Ly α measurements, and we adopt other stellar properties from asteroseismology and spectral energy distribution fitting. The resulting calculations of the wind braking torque demonstrate that the rate of angular momentum loss drops by a factor of 300 between the ages of these two stars (1.4–9 Gyr), well above theoretical expectations. We summarize the available data to help constrain the value of the critical Rossby number, and we identify a new signature of the long-period detection edge in recent measurements from the Kepler mission.
Publisher: Oxford University Press (OUP)
Date: 14-01-2022
Abstract: We present an analysis of the eclipsing single-lined spectroscopic binary system α Dra based on photometry from the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) mission and newly acquired spectroscopic measurements. Recently discovered to have eclipses in the TESS data, at a magnitude of V = 3.7, α Dra is now one of the brightest detached eclipsing binary (EB) systems known. We obtain the parameters of this system by simultaneously fitting the TESS light curve in conjunction with radial velocities (RVs) acquired from the SONG spectrograph. We determine the fractional radii (R/a) for the primary and secondary components of the system to be 0.0479 $\\, \\pm \\,$ 0.0003 and 0.0226 $\\, \\pm \\,$ 0.0005, respectively. We constrain the temperature, mass, and luminosity (log(L/L⊙)) of the primary to be $9975\\, \\pm \\, 125$ K, $3.7\\, \\pm \\, 0.1$ M⊙, and $2.49\\, \\pm \\, 0.02$, respectively, using isochrone fitting. Although the secondary is too faint to appear in the spectra, the obtained mass function and observed inclination yields a secondary minimum mass of $M_2=2.5\\, \\pm \\, 0.1$ M⊙, which suggests that it is an A2V type star. We were unable to obtain RVs of the secondary, and are only able to see a weak highly rotationally broadened absorption line, indicating that the secondary is rapidly rotating (vsin i ∼ 200 km s−1). We also perform an abundance analysis of the primary star for 21 chemical elements. We find a complex abundance pattern, with a few elements having mild underabundances while the majority have solar abundances. We make available the python code used in this paper to facilitate future modelling of EBs. anhey/adra
Publisher: EDP Sciences
Date: 07-2023
DOI: 10.1051/0004-6361/202346314
Abstract: Aims. We aim to characterise the small-scale magnetic fields of a s le of 16 Sun-like stars and investigate the capabilities of the newly upgraded near-infrared (NIR) instrument CRIRES + at the Very Large Telescope in the context of small-scale magnetic field studies. Our targets also had their magnetic fields studied with optical spectra, which allowed us to compare magnetic field properties at different spatial scales on the stellar surface and to contrast small-scale magnetic field measurements at different wavelengths. Methods. We analysed the Zeeman broadening signature for six magnetically sensitive and insensitive Fe I lines in the H -band to measure small-scale magnetic fields on the stellar surfaces of our s le. We used polarised radiative transfer modelling and non-local thermodynamic equilibrium departure coefficients in combination with Markov chain Monte Carlo s ling to determine magnetic field characteristics and non-magnetic stellar parameters. We used two different approaches to describe the small-scale magnetic fields. The first is a two-component model with a single magnetic region and a free magnetic field strength. The second model contains multiple magnetic components with fixed magnetic field strengths. Results. We found average magnetic field strengths ranging from ∼0.4 kG down to 0.1 kG. The results align closely with other results from high-resolution NIR spectrographs, such as SPIRou. It appears that the typical magnetic field strength in the magnetic region is slightly stronger than 1.3 kG, and for most stars in our s le, this strength is between 1 and 2 kG. We also found that the small-scale fields correlate with the large-scale fields and that the small-scale fields are at least ten times stronger than the large-scale fields inferred with Zeeman Doppler imaging. The two- and multi-component models produce systematically different results, as the strong fields from the multi-component model increase the obtained mean magnetic field strength. When comparing our results with the optical measurements of small-scale fields, we found a systematic offset two to three times stronger than fields in the optical results. This discrepancy cannot be explained by uncertainties in stellar parameters. Care should therefore be taken when comparing results obtained at different wavelengths until a clear cause can be established.
Publisher: Oxford University Press (OUP)
Date: 09-03-2023
Abstract: The origin of magnetic fields and their role in chemical spot formation on magnetic Ap stars is currently not understood. Here, we contribute to solving this problem with a detailed observational characterization of the surface structure of 45 Her, a weak-field Ap star. We find this object to be a long-period, single-lined spectroscopic binary and determine the binary orbit as well as fundamental and atmospheric parameters of the primary. We study magnetic field topology and chemical spot distribution of 45 Her with the help of the Zeeman Doppler imaging technique. Magnetic mapping reveals the stellar surface field to have a distorted dipolar topology with a surface-averaged field strength of 77 G and a dipolar component strength of 119 G – confirming it as one of the weakest well-characterized Ap-star fields known. Despite its feeble magnetic field, 45 Her shows surface chemical inhomogeneities with abundance contrasts of up to 6 dex. Of the four chemical elements studied, O concentrates at the magnetic equator, whereas Ti, Cr, and Fe avoid this region. Apart from this trend, the positions of Fe-peak element spots show no apparent correlation with the magnetic field geometry. No signs of surface differential rotation or temporal evolution of chemical spots on the time-scale of several years were detected. Our findings demonstrate that chemical spot formation does not require strong magnetic fields to proceed and that both the stellar structure and the global field itself remain stable for sub-100 G field strengths contrary to theoretical predictions.
Publisher: Oxford University Press (OUP)
Date: 27-04-2022
Publisher: Oxford University Press (OUP)
Date: 31-05-2021
Abstract: We present the results of a systematic search for new rapidly oscillating Ap (roAp) stars using the 2-min cadence data collected by the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) during its Cycle 1 observations. We identify 12 new roAp stars. Amongst these stars we discover the roAp star with the longest pulsation period, another with the shortest rotation period, and six with multiperiodic variability. In addition to these new roAp stars, we present an analysis of 44 known roAp stars observed by TESS during Cycle 1, providing the first high-precision and homogeneous s le of a significant fraction of the known roAp stars. The TESS observations have shown that almost 60 per cent (33) of our s le of stars are multiperiodic, providing excellent cases to test models of roAp pulsations, and from which the most rewarding asteroseismic results can be gleaned. We report four cases of the occurrence of rotationally split frequency multiplets that imply different mode geometries for the same degree modes in the same star. This provides a conundrum in applying the oblique pulsator model to the roAp stars. Finally, we report the discovery of non-linear mode interactions in α Cir (TIC 402546736, HD 128898) around the harmonic of the principal mode – this is only the second case of such a phenomenon.
No related grants have been discovered for Oleg Kochukhov.