Magnetic activity similar to that of the Sun is observed on a variety of cool stars with external convection envelopes. Stellar rotation coupled with convective motions generate strong magnetic fields in the stellar interior and produce a multitude of magnetic phenomena including starspots in the photosphere, chromospheric plages, coronal loops, UV, X-ray, and radio emission and flares. Here I review the phenomenon of starspots on dierent types of cool stars, observational tools and diagnostic techniques for studying starspots as well as starspot properties including their temperatures, areas, magnetic field strengths, lifetimes, active latitudes and longitudes, etc. Evolution of starspots on various time scales allows us to investigate stellar dierential rotation, activity cycles, and global magnetic fields. Together these constitute the basis for our understanding of stellar and solar dynamos and provide valuable constraints for theoretical models.

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Starspots: A Key to the Stellar Dynamo

We present a study of accretion in a sample of 45 young, low-mass objects in a variety of star-forming regions and young associations, about half of which are likely substellar. Based primarily on the presence of broad, asymmetric Hα emission, we have identified 13 objects (~30% of our sample) that are strong candidates for ongoing accretion. At least three of these are substellar. We do not detect significant continuum veiling in most of the accretors with late spectral types (M5-M7). Accretion shock models show that lack of measurable veiling allows us to place an upper limit to the mass accretion rates of 10-10 M☉ yr-1. Using magnetospheric accretion models with appropriate (sub)stellar parameters, we can successfully explain the accretor Hα emission-line profiles and derive quantitative estimates of accretion rates in the range 10-12 M☉ yr-1 < < 10-9 M☉ yr-1. There is a clear trend of decreasing accretion rate with stellar mass, with mean accretion rates declining by 3-4 orders of magnitude over ~1-0.05 M☉.

http://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1086/375704/pdf

Accretion in Young Stellar/Substellar Objects

We have examined radio data from the WAVES experiment on the Wind spacecraft in conjunction with ground-based data in order to investigate the relationship between the shocks responsible for metric type II radio bursts and the shocks in front of coronal mass ejections (CMEs). The bow shocks of fast, large CMEs are strong interplanetary (IP) shocks, and the associated radio emissions often consist of single broad bands starting below approx. 4 MHz; such emissions were previously called IP type II events. In contrast, metric type II bursts are usually narrowbanded and display two harmonically related bands. In addition to displaying complete dynamic spectra for a number of events, we also analyze the 135 WAVES 1 - 14 MHz slow-drift time periods in 2001-2003. We find that most of the periods contain multiple phenomena, which we divide into three groups: metric type II extensions, IP type II events, and blobs and bands. About half of the WAVES listings include probable extensions of metric type II radio bursts, but in more than half of these events, there were also other slow-drift features. In the 3 yr study period, there were 31 IP type II events; these were associated with the very fastest CMEs. The most common form of activity in the WAVES events, blobs and bands in the frequency range between 1 and 8 MHz, fall below an envelope consistent with the early signatures of an IP type II event. However, most of this activity lasts only a few tens of minutes, whereas IP type II events last for many hours. In this study we find many examples in the radio data of two shock-like phenomena with different characteristics that occur simultaneously in the metric and decametric/hectometric bands, and no clear example of a metric type II burst that extends continuously down in frequency to become an IP type II event. The simplest interpretation is that metric type II bursts, unlike IP type II events, are not caused by shocks driven in front of CMEs.

http://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1086/428820/pdf

Solar type ii radio bursts and ip type ii events

Magnetized giant exoplanets in close orbits around their host star are expected to be strong nonthermal radio emitters. The anticipated radio flux is strong enough to allow its detection on Earth using the next generation of instruments. However, the measured quantity will not be the planetary radio flux but the sum of planetary and stellar emission. We compare the expected stellar and planetary radio signal for stellar systems of different ages. Solar-like stellar wind parameters as well as conditions corresponding to the young solar system (i.e. with increased stellar wind density and velocity) are considered. For young stellar systems, conditions appear to be more favorable than for older stellar systems. It is shown that configurations exist where the separation of the planetary signal from the stellar emission seems feasible.

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The influence of stellar wind conditions on the detectability of planetary radio emissions

We present a high-precision infrared radial velocity (RV) study of late-type stars using spectra obtained with NIRSPEC at the W. M. Keck Observatory. RV precisions of 50 m s{sup -1} are achieved for old field mid-M dwarfs using telluric features for wavelength calibration. Using this technique, 20 young stars in the {beta} Pic (age {approx} 12 Myr) and TW Hya (age {approx} 8 Myr) Associations were monitored over several years to search for low-mass companions; we also included the chromospherically active field star GJ 873 (EV Lac) in this survey. Based on comparisons with previous optical observations of these young active stars, RV measurements at infrared wavelengths mitigate the RV noise caused by star spots by a factor of {approx}3. Nevertheless, star spot noise is still the dominant source of measurement error for young stars at 2.3 {mu}m, and limits the precision to {approx}77 m s{sup -1} for the slowest rotating stars (v sin i 12 km s{sup -1}). The observations reveal both GJ 3305 and TWA 23 to be single-lined spectroscopic binaries; in the case of GJ 3305, the motionmore » is likely caused by its 0.''09 companion, identified after this survey began. The large amplitude, short-timescale variations of TWA 13A are indicative of a hot Jupiter-like companion, but the available data are insufficient to confirm this. We label it as a candidate RV variable. For the remainder of the sample, these observations exclude the presence of any 'hot' (P < 3 days) companions more massive than 8 M{sub Jup} and any 'warm' (P < 30 days) companions more massive than 17 M{sub Jup}, on average. Assuming an edge-on orbit for the edge-on disk system AU Mic, these observations exclude the presence of any hot Jupiters more massive than 1.8 M{sub Jup} or warm Jupiters more massive than 3.9 M{sub Jup}.« less

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Precise infrared radial velocities from keck/nirspec and the search for young planets

We present the results of radio telescope UTR-2 observations of solar Type II radio bursts in the 10–30 MHz frequency range. These events possess a fine structure consisting of fast drift sub-bursts similar to Type III bursts. The frequency drift rate of the Type II bursts at decameter wavelengths is smaller than 0.1 MHz s−1. One of these bursts with herringbone structure has a wave-like backbone that almost does not drift. The features of the observed bursts are discussed.

Observations of Solar Type II bursts at frequencies 10–30 MHz

The results of photometric, spectral and radio studies of the flare star EV Lac we obtained during the course of cooperative observations in 1994 and 1995 are presented. A quantitative analysis of the radiation emitted by two powerful flares using the colour-colour diagram confirms the previous conclusion on the essential heterogeneity of matter radiating in optical flares. From simultaneous observations of the star in UBVRI, K and H bands no significant brightness variations in IR were found in coincidence with observed small-amplitude optical flares, except a gradual decrease in the K-band following a 1.0 mag flare in the U-band. A differential spottedness of bright and dark hemispheres of EV Lac is estimated using observations in separate seasons and the total stellar spottedness is determined within the framework of the zonal spottedness model. Spectra of quiet and active states of the star in the blue-green region in 1994 and in the red region in 1995 are described: the characteristics of th...

Coordinated observations of the red dwarf flare star EV LAC in 1994 and 1995

The results of observations of solar decametric drift pair bursts are presented. These observations were carried out during a Type III burst storm on July 11–21, 2002, with the decameter radio telescope UTR-2, equipped with new back-end facilities. High time and frequency resolution of the back-end allowed us to obtain new information about the structure and properties of these bursts. The statistical analysis of more than 700 bursts observed on 13–15 July was performed separately for “forward” and “reverse” drift pair bursts. Such an extensive amount of these kind of bursts has never been processed before. It should be pointed out that “forward” and “reverse” drift pair bursts have a set of similar parameters, such as time delay between the burst elements, duration of an element, and instant bandwidth of an element. Nevertheless some of their parameters are different. So, the absolute average value of frequency drift rate for “forward” bursts is 0.8 MHz s−1, while for “reverse” ones it is 2 MHz s−1. The obtained functional dependencies “drift rate vs. frequency” and “flux density vs. frequency” were found to be different from the current knowledge. We also report about the observation of unusual variants of drift pairs, in particular, of “hook” bursts and bursts with fine time and frequency structure. A possible mechanism of drift pairs generation is proposed, according to which this emission may originate from the interaction of Langmuir waves with the magnetosonic waves having equal phase and group velocities.

Solar Drift Pair Bursts in the Decameter Range

Decameter Radioemission from Red Dwarf Flare Stars

The paper presents the results of ionospheric observations performed over the Ukrainian Antarctic Akademik Vernadsky station and Millstone Hill (USA). Ionospheric parameters such as peak electron density and height (hmF2 and NmF2) in October 2021 are shown and discussed. The results of the comparative analysis between observations and predictions of the International Reference Ionosphere 2016 (IRI-2016) model are presented. The main objectives of this work are an investigation of the ionosphere response to space weather effects in the Northern and Southern hemispheres in the American longitudinal sectorusing ionosondes located at the Vernadsky station and near the magnetically conjugate region – Millstone Hill, and a comparison of observations with the model. The F2-layer peak height was calculated from ionograms obtained by ionosonde using subsequent electron density profile inversion. Diurnal variations of hmF2 and NmF2 were calculated using a set of sub-models of the IRI-2016 model for comparison with experimental results. A strong negative response of the ionosphere to the moderate geomagnetic storm on October 12, 2021 was revealed over the Vernadsky station and Millstone Hill. During October 21–31, 2021, the gradual night-to-night increase in NmF2 (by a factor of ~2) was observed over the Vernadsky station. It was found that the IRI hmF2 sub-models (SHU-2015 and AMTB-2013) provide a relatively good agreement with the observed variations of hmF2 in the daytime and nighttime for almost the entire investigated period over both the Vernadsky station and Millstone Hill. The largest deviations for both IRI hmF2 sub-models occurred during the nighttime of geomagnetically disturbed periods. The IRI NmF2 submodels (URSI and CCIR) generally agree with the observations. However, observations and model predictions differ somewhat in the geomagnetically disturbed periods. According to the results of the standard deviation calculations, it cannot be concluded that any of the IRI-2016 sub-models is better than the others. The hypotheses on the possible reasons for the differences in the modeled and observed variations of hmF2 and NmF2 are proposed and discussed in the frame of well-known ionospheric storms’ mechanisms. The results obtained in this paper demonstrate the peculiarities of the ionosphere in different hemispheres of the American longitude sector under geomagnetically quiet and disturbed conditions and provide one more validation of the modern empirical international reference models of the ionosphere.

V. N. Lisachenko

Papers

Observations of Solar Type II bursts at frequencies 10–30 MHz

Coordinated observations of the red dwarf flare star EV LAC in 1994 and 1995

Solar Drift Pair Bursts in the Decameter Range

Decameter Radioemission from Red Dwarf Flare Stars

Observation of the ionosphere by ionosondes in the Southern and Northern hemispheres during geospace events in October 2021