Analysis of the far ultraviolet silicon lines in G dwarf stars

The structure of the outer stellar regions is investigated for four G type dwarfs observed with the IUE satellite. Line fluxes of the Si II lines at 1817 Å, 1808 A, and 1309 Å and Si III at 1206 Å are used to obtain temperatures and electronic densities. A temperature of 16,000 K is found from the lines at 1817 Å and 1808 Å, 26,000 K from the 1309 A line and 50,000 K from that at 1206 A. Predicted fluxes are compared with the observed ones. The significance of the results is discussed in terms of line formation regions

Variation of the ultraviolet extinction law across the Taurus-Auriga star forming complex. A GALEX based study

The Taurus-Auriga molecular complex (TMC) is the main laboratory for the study of low mass star formation. The density and properties of interstellar dust are expected to vary across the TMC. These variations trace important processes such as dust nucleation or the magnetic field coupling with the cloud. In this article, we show how the combination of near ultraviolet (NUV) and infrared (IR) photometry can be used to derive the strength of the 2175 \AA\ bump and thus any enhancement in the abundance of small dust grains and PAHs in the dust grains size distribution. This technique is applied to the envelope of the TMC, mapped by the GALEX All Sky Survey (AIS). UV and IR photometric data have been retrieved from the GALEX-AIS and the 2MASS catalogues. NUV and K-band star counts have been used to identify the areas in the cloud envelope where the 2175 \AA\ bump is weaker than in the diffuse ISM namely, the low column density extensions of L1495, L1498 and L1524 in Taurus, L1545, L1548, L1519, L1513 in Auriga and L1482-83 in the California region. This finding agrees with previous results on dust evolution derived from Spitzer data and suggests that dust grains begin to decouple from the environmental galactic magnetic field already in the envelope.Comment: Accepted in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Societ

Analysis of combined radial velocities and activity of BD+20 1790: evidence supporting the existence of a planetary companion

Context. In a previous paper we reported a planetary companion to the young and very active K5Ve star BD+20 1790. We found that this star has a high level of stellar activity (log R'_HK = -3.7) that manifests in a plethora of phenomena (starspots, prominences, plages, large flares). Based on a careful study of these activity features and a deep discussion and analysis of the effects of the stellar activity on the radial velocity measurements, we demonstrated that the presence of a planet provided the best explanation for the radial velocity variations and all the peculiarities of this star. The orbital solution resulted in a close-in massive planet with a period of 7.78 days. However, a paper by Figueira et al. (2010, A&A, 513, L8) questioned the evidence for the planetary companion. Aims. This paper aims to more rigorously assess the nature of the radial velocity measurements with an expanded data set and new methods of analysis. Methods. We have employed Bayesian methods to simultaneously analyse the radial velocity and activity measurements based on a combined data set that includes new and previously published observations. Results. We conclude that the Bayesian analysis and the new activity study support the presence of a planetary companion to BD+20 1790. A new orbital solution is presented, after removing the two main contributions of stellar jitter, one that varies with the photometric period (2.8 days) and another that varies with the synodic period of the star-planet system (4.36 days). We present a new method to determine these jitter components, considering them as second and third signals in the system. A discussion on possible star-planet interaction is included, based on the Bayesian analysis of the activity indices, which indicates that they modulate with the synodic period. We propose two different sources for flare events in this system: one related to the geometry of the system and the relative movement of the star and planet, and a second one purely stochastic source that is related to the evolution of stellar surface active regions. Also, we observe for the first time the magnetic field of the star, from spectropolarimetric data

Barium and iron abundances in red giants

An intermediate-dispersion abundance analysis has been carried out on a sample of 21 barium and 14 comparison stars. The excess of barium over iron has been used as the most representative indicator of peculiarity. These excesses are higher in the peculiar stars than in the nonpeculiar stars. Particularly interesting is the case of HD 67447, included in the comparison stars, with an excess Ba/Fe abundance = 1.61, probably a new barium star. A trend indicating a possible anticorrelation between barium overabundance and metallicity favors the suggestion that the "barium strong" group is older than the "barium weak" one

Stellar activity in barium stars .1. Analysis of H-lines and K-lines CA-II-lines in 10 barium stars

High dispersion spectra have been obtained in order to study the activity level of ten barium stars by means of the Ca II H and K emission flux, looking for a relation between barium intensity index and activity. Absolute magnitudes obtained from the Wilson-Bappu relationship disagree, in some cases, with the magnitudes computed from parallaxes, but this fact is not due to barium nature. Total emission fluxes, F(H + K) or R_HK index, plotted versus effective temperature show a distribution similar to that of cool giant stars. The asymmetry of K emission line, [F(K_2ν)/F(K_2r)], has been analyzed in relation with effective temperature, in this sense barium stars behave as expected of late-type giants with the only exception of two stars

Library of high and mid-resolution spectra in the CaII H & K, Hα, Hβ, NaI D_1, D_2, and HeI D3 line regions of F, G, K and M field stars

In this work we present spectroscopic observations centered in the spectral lines most widely used as optical indicators of chromospheric activity (Hα, Hβ, CaII H & K, and HeI D_3) in a sample of F, G, K and M chromospherically inactive stars. The spectra have been obtained with the aim of providing a library of high and mid-resolution spectra to be used in the application of the spectral subtraction technique to obtain the active-chromosphere contribution to these lines in chromospherically active single and binary stars. This library can also be used for spectral classification purposes. A digital version with all the spectra is available via ftp and the World Wide Web (WWW) in both ASCII and FITS formats

Late-type members of young stellar kinematic groups - I. Single stars

This is the first paper of a series aimed at studying the properties of late-type members of young stellar kinematic groups. We concentrate our study on classical young moving groups such as the Local Association (Pleiades moving group, 20-150 Myr), IC 2391 supercluster (35 Myr), Ursa Major group (Sirius supercluster, 300 Myr), and Hyades supercluster (600 Myr), as well as on recently identified groups such as the Castor moving group (200 Myr). In this paper we compile a preliminary list of single late-type possible members of some of these young stellar kinematic groups. Stars are selected from previously established members of stellar kinematic groups based on photometric and kinematic properties as well as from candidates based on other criteria such as their level of chromospheric activity, rotation rate and lithium abundance. Precise measurements of proper motions and parallaxes taken from the Hipparcos Catalogue, as well as from the Tycho-2 Catalogue, and published radial velocity measurements are used to calculate the Galactic space motions (U, V W) and to apply Eggen's kinematic criteria in order to determine the membership of the selected stars to the different groups. Additional criteria using age-dating methods for late-type stars will be applied in forthcoming papers of this series. A further study of the list of stars compiled here could lead to a better understanding of the chromospheric activity and their age evolution, as well as of the star formation history in the solar neighbourhood. In addition, these stars are also potential search targets for direct imaging detection of substellar companions

The age-mass relation for chromospherically active binaries - III. Lithium depletion in giant components

We present a study of the lithium abundances of a sample of evolved components of Chromospherically Active Binary Systems. We show that a significant part of them have lithium excesses, independently of their mass and evolutionary stage. Therefore, it can be concluded that Li abundance does not depend on age for giant components of CABS. These overabundances appear to be closely related to the stellar rotation, and we interpret them as a consequence of the transfer of angular momentum from the orbit to the rotation as the stars evolve: in and off the Main Sequence, in a similar way as it happens in the dwarf components of the same systems and in the Tidally Locked Binaries belonging to the Hyades and M67