▪ Abstract Radio astronomy has provided evidence for the presence of ionized atmospheres around almost all classes of nondegenerate stars. Magnetically confined coronae dominate in the cool half of the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram. Their radio emission is predominantly of nonthermal origin and has been identified as gyrosynchrotron radiation from mildly relativistic electrons, apart from some coherent emission mechanisms. Ionized winds are found in hot stars and in red giants. They are detected through their thermal, optically thick radiation, but synchrotron emission has been found in many systems as well. The latter is emitted presumably by shock-accelerated electrons in weak magnetic fields in the outer wind regions. Radio emission is also frequently detected in pre–main sequence stars and protostars and has recently been discovered in brown dwarfs. This review summarizes the radio view of the atmospheres of nondegenerate stars, focusing on energy release physics in cool coronal stars, wind phenomenolog...

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Stellar Radio Astronomy: Probing Stellar Atmospheres from Protostars to Giants

Late-type secondaries in Algol binaries are rapidly rotating convective stars and thus should be chromospherically active (CA). They are examined with respect to observational manifestations which characterize already known CA stars: Ca II H and K emission cores, photometric variability attributable to starspots, soft x-ray emission, non-thermal radio emission, ultraviolet and infrared excess, and alternating period changes. The conclusion is that they can be regarded as another class of CA stars. In most respects they are literally indistinguishable from other CA stars. Ca II H and K emission cores are observed in the lobe-filling component of six semi-detached binaries: U Cep, RT Lac, RV Lib, AR Mon, S Vel, HR 5110. Alternating period changes are shown to occur only in Algols containing a late-type (convective) star. It is proposed, therefore, that the Matese-Whitmire mechanism explains these changes. Specifically, the interval from one increase (or decrease) to the next can be equated with the star’s magnetic cycle. Cycle lengths for 31 stars, derived in this way, range between 7 years and 109 years, with a median of 50 years.

The Relation Between RS CVn and Algol

We explore the radio emission from the M9 dwarf TVLM 513-46546 at multiple radio frequencies, determining the flux spectrum of persistent radio emission, as well as constraining the levels of circular polarization. Detections at both 3.6 and 6 cm provide a spectral index measurement α (where Sν ∝ να) of -0.4 ± 0.1. A detection at 20 cm suggests that the spectral peak is between 1.4 and 5 GHz. The most stringent upper limits on circular polarization are at 3.6 and 6 cm, with V/I < 15%. These characteristics agree well with those of typical parameters for early- to mid-type M dwarfs, confirming that magnetic activity is present at levels comparable with those extrapolated from earlier M dwarfs. We apply analytic models to investigate the coronal properties under simple assumptions of dipole magnetic field geometry and radially varying nonthermal electron density distributions. Requiring the spectrum to be optically thin at frequencies higher than 5 GHz and reproducing the observed 3.6 cm fluxes constrains the magnetic field at the base to be less than about 500 G. There is no statistically significant periodicity in the 3.6 cm light curve, but it is consistent with low-level variability.

The Radio Spectrum of TVLM 513-46546: Constraints on the Coronal Properties of a Late M Dwarf

Major advances in our understanding of nonradiatively heated outer atmospheric layers (coronae, transition regions, and chromospheres) and other solar-like activity in stars has occurred in the past few years primarily as a result of ultraviolet spectroscopy from IUE, X-ray imaging from the Einstein Observatory, microwave detections by the VLA, and new optical observing techniques. I critically review the observational evidence and comment upon the trends with spectral type, gravity, age, and rotational velocity that are now becoming apparent. I define a solar-like star as one which has a turbulent magnetic field sufficiently strong to control the dynamics and energetics in its outer atmospheric regions. The best indicator of a solar-like star is the direct measurement of a strong, variable magnetic field and such data are now becoming available, but good indirect indicators include photometric variability on a rotational time scale indicating dark starspots and nonthermal microwave emission. X-rays and ultraviolet emission lines produced by plasma hotter than 104 K imply nonradiative heating processes that are likely magnetic in character, except for the hot stars where the heating is likely by shocks in the wind resulting from radiative instabilities. I conclude that dwarf stars of spectral type G-M and rapidly rotating subgiants and giants of spectral type F-K in spectroscopic binary systems are definitely solar-like. Dwarf stars of spectral type A7–F7 are almost certainly solar-like, and T Tauri and other pre-Main-Sequence stars are probably solar-like. Slowly rotating single giants of spectral type F to early K are also probably solar-like, and the helium-strong hottest Bp stars are interesting candidates for being solar-like. The O and B stars exhibit some aspects of activity but probably have weak fields and are not solar-like. Finally, the A dwarfs and the cool giants and supergiants show no evidence of being solar-like.

Nonradiative Activity across the H-R Diagram - which Types of Stars are Solar-Like

We present the results of a coordinated observing campaign on the short-period (1.14 days) RS CVn binary ?2 Coronae Borealis with the VLA, ASCA, and RXTE. We also discuss earlier observations of the same system obtained by the Extreme Ultraviolet Explorer (EUVE). Dramatic coronal variability is present in all of these observations across the electromagnetic spectrum. ?2 CrB undergoes frequent large flares that occur close together in time. Radio flares are unambiguously correlated with X-ray flares; the X-ray flares peak as much as 1.4 hr before the corresponding radio maxima. Response to flares is more rapid in higher energy X-ray bandpasses, signaling an increase in temperature during the course of the flare. Flares are seen more frequently in the harder RXTE bandpass than in simultaneously taken ASCA observations. There is greater contrast between flaring and nonflaring conditions in the RXTE light curve. Complex flaring is seen in the radio at 3 and 6 cm, consistent with optically thin nonthermal gyrosynchrotron emission for most of the duration of the observation. Bursts of left-circularly polarized emission at 20 cm lasting ?15 minutes appear to be due to a coherent emission process. EUVE spectra reveal coronal material at ne ? 1012 cm-3, with no discernible density differences between flaring and quiescent time intervals. Quiescent ASCA spectra show lower than solar photospheric abundances with iron depleted by a factor of 4 from the solar photospheric value. The abundances increase during a large flare observed with ASCA, with iron enhanced to the solar photospheric value during the rise phase of the flare. Two-temperature fits to extracted spectra show a low-temperature quiescent value of 8 MK and a high-temperature component that varies from 22 MK during quiescence to 50 MK at the peak of the flare. Emission measure distributions measured from the ASCA observations are consistent with the temperatures derived from the discrete two-temperature fits and indicate the presence of very hot (>100 MK) plasma during the rise phase of the ASCA flare. Many of the flares observed with EUVE, ASCA, and RXTE show a double exponential decay phase, further highlighting the importance of this phenomenon in diagnosing flaring conditions. We also find that the observed second decay timescale cannot be explained by some of the currently used flare parameterizations.

Radio, X‐Ray, and Extreme‐Ultraviolet Coronal Variability of the Short‐Period RS Canum Venaticorum Binary σ2 Coronae Borealis

Multiepoch radio observations of circular polarization and spectral characteristics of several close, late-type stellar binaries are reported. The median luminosity of four well-studied systems ranged from 16.2 to 17.1 ergs/s/Hz. For individual systems, the fractional circular polarization decreases with increasing luminosity, particularly at frequencies above 5 GHz. Eclipsing binaries have significantly lower average circular polarization compared with noneclipsing systems. Helicity reversal is almost always observed between 1.4 and 4.9 GHz for systems with high orbital inclination. Comparison with ten years of previously published polarization observations for two RS CVn stellar systems show that the same helicity occurs at a given frequency for a given source, indicating a very stable, large-scale magnetic field geometry. These spectral and polarization characteristics strongly support a model of inhomogeneous gyrosynchrotron emission arising from electrons with power law energy spectra interacting with inhomogeneous magnetic fields.

Radio emission from RS CVn binaries. II - Polarization and spectral properties

VLBI observations of the RS CVn binaries UX Arietis and HR 1099 have been made at 1.65 GHz using a three-element array with a minimum fringe spacing of 11.5 milli-arcsec. Both sources were found to be unresolved within measurement uncertainties. In both cases, the derived upper limit to the source size was comparable to the overall size of each binary system. The lower limits to the brightness temperature were 1.4 x 10 to the 10th K for UX Arietis and 2.9 x 10 to the 10th K for HR 1099. Simultaneous polarization measurements at the VLA showed 4-8 percent circular polarization and less than 2 percent linear polarization. It is found that the data are consistent with gyrosynchrotron emission from a power-law energy distribution of electrons in a magnetic field B less than or approximately equal to 6 gauss.

D. J. Doiron

Papers

Radio emission from RS CVn binaries. II - Polarization and spectral properties

VLBI observations of the RS Canum Venaticorum binary systems UX Arietis and HR 1099 at 1.65 GHz