Saunders, E.S., Naylor, T., Mayne, N. et al. (1 more author) (2009) Pre-main-sequence variability across the radiative-convective gap. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 397. pp. 405-410. ISSN 0035-8711
Abstract
We use I-band imaging to perform a variability survey of the 13-Myr-old cluster h Per. We find a significant fraction of the cluster members to be variable. Most importantly, we find that variable members lie almost entirely on the convective side of the gap in the cluster sequence between fully convective stars and those which have a radiative core. This result is consistent with a scenario in which the magnetic field changes topology when the star changes from being fully convective to one containing a radiative core. When the star is convective, the magnetic field appears dominated by large-scale structures, resulting in global-size spots that drive the observed variability. For those stars with radiative cores, we observe a marked absence of variability due to spots, which suggests a switch to a magnetic field dominated by smaller-scale structures, resulting in many smaller spots and thus less apparent variability. This implies that wide field variability surveys may only be sensitive to fully convective stars. On the one hand, this reduces the chances of picking out young groups (since the convective stars are the lower mass and therefore fainter objects), but conversely the absolute magnitude of the head of the convective sequence provides a straightforward measure of age for those groups which are discovered.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
---|---|
Authors/Creators: |
|
Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | This article has been accepted for publication in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society ©: 2009 The Authors. Journal compilation © 2009 RAS Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Royal Astronomical Society. All rights reserved. |
Dates: |
|
Institution: | The University of Sheffield |
Academic Units: | The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Science (Sheffield) > Department of Physics and Astronomy (Sheffield) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Sheffield |
Date Deposited: | 06 Nov 2017 16:19 |
Last Modified: | 06 Nov 2017 16:19 |
Published Version: | https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2966.2009.14936.x |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Oxford University Press |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | 10.1111/j.1365-2966.2009.14936.x |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:123570 |