Least squares deconvolution of the stellar intensity and polarization spectra

Least squares deconvolution (LSD) is a powerful method of extracting high-precision average line profiles from the stellar intensity and polarization spectra. Despite its common usage, the LSD method is poorly documented and has never been tested using realistic synthetic spectra. In this study we revisit the key assumptions of the LSD technique, clarify its numerical implementation, discuss possible improvements and give recommendations how to make LSD results understandable and reproducible. We also address the problem of interpretation of the moments and shapes of the LSD profiles in terms of physical parameters. We have developed an improved, multiprofile version of LSD and have extended the deconvolution procedure to linear polarization analysis taking into account anomalous Zeeman splitting of spectral lines. This code is applied to the theoretical Stokes parameter spectra. We test various methods of interpreting the mean profiles, investigating how coarse approximations of the multiline technique translate into errors of the derived parameters. We find that, generally, the Stokes parameter LSD profiles do not behave as a real spectral line with respect to the variation of magnetic field and elemental abundance. This problem is especially prominent for the Stokes I variation with abundance and Stokes Q variation with magnetic field. At the same time, the Stokes V LSD spectra closely resemble profile of a properly chosen synthetic line for the magnetic field strength up to 1 kG. We conclude that the usual method of interpreting the LSD profiles by assuming that they are equivalent to a real spectral line gives satisfactory results only in a limited parameter range and thus should be applied with caution. A more trustworthy approach is to abandon the single-line approximation of the average profiles and apply LSD consistently to observations and synthetic spectra.Comment: Accepted for publication in Astronomy & Astrophysics; 15 pages, 12 figures; second version includes minor language correction

Chemical spots in the absence of magnetic field in the binary HgMn star 66 Eridani

According to our current understanding, a subclass of the upper main sequence chemically peculiar stars, called mercury-manganese (HgMn), is non-magnetic. Nevertheless, chemical inhomogeneities were recently discovered on their surfaces. At the same time, no global magnetic fields stronger than 1-100 G are detected by modern studies. The goals of our study are to search for magnetic field in the HgMn binary system 66 Eri and to investigate chemical spots on the stellar surfaces of both components. Our analysis is based on high quality spectropolarimetric time-series observations obtained during 10 consecutive nights with the HARPSpol instrument at the ESO 3.6-m telescope. To increase the sensitivity of the magnetic field search we employed a least-squares deconvolution (LSD). We used spectral disentangling to measure radial velocities and study line profile variability. Chemical spot geometry was reconstructed using multi-line Doppler imaging. We report a non-detection of magnetic field in 66 Eri, with error bars 10-24 G for the longitudinal field. Circular polarization profiles also do not indicate any signatures of complex surface magnetic fields. For a simple dipolar field configuration we estimated an upper limit of the polar field strength to be 60-70 G. For the HgMn component we found variability in spectral lines of Ti, Ba, Y, and Sr with the rotational period equal to the orbital one. The surface maps of these elements reconstructed with the Doppler imaging technique, show relative underabundance on the hemisphere facing the secondary component. The contrast of chemical inhomogeneities ranges from 0.4 for Ti to 0.8 for Ba.Comment: 13 pages, 14 figure

Three-dimensional magnetic and abundance mapping of the cool Ap star HD 24712 I. Spectropolarimetric observations in all four Stokes parameters

High-resolution spectropolarimetric observations provide simultaneous information about stellar magnetic field topologies and three-dimensional distributions of chemical elements. Here we present analysis of a unique full Stokes vector spectropolarimetric data set, acquired for the cool magnetic Ap star HD 24712. The goal of our work is to examine circular and linear polarization signatures inside spectral lines and to study variation of the stellar spectrum and magnetic observables as a function of rotational phase. HD 24712 was observed with the HARPSpol instrument at the 3.6-m ESO telescope over a period of 2010-2011. The resulting spectra have S/N ratio of 300-600 and resolving power exceeding 100000. The multiline technique of least-squares deconvolution (LSD) was applied to combine information from the spectral lines of Fe-peak and rare-earth elements. We used the HARPSPol spectra of HD 24712 to study the morphology of the Stokes profile shapes in individual spectral lines and in LSD Stokes profiles corresponding to different line masks. From the LSD Stokes V profiles we measured the longitudinal component of the magnetic field, , with an accuracy of 5-10 G. We also determined the net linear polarization from the LSD Stokes Q and U profiles. We determined an improved rotational period of the star, P_rot = 12.45812 +/- 0.00019d. We measured from the cores of Halpha and Hbeta lines. The analysis of measurements showed no evidence for a significant radial magnetic field gradient in the atmosphere of HD 24712. We used our and net linear polarization measurements to determine parameters of the dipolar magnetic field topology. We found that magnetic observables can be reasonably well reproduced by the dipolar model. We discovered rotational modulation of the Halpha core and related it a non-uniform surface distribution of rare-earth elements.Comment: Accepted for publication in A&

No magnetic field in the spotted HgMn star mu Leporis

Chemically peculiar stars of the mercury-manganese (HgMn) type represent a new class of spotted late-B stars, in which evolving surface chemical inhomogeneities are apparently unrelated to the presence of strong magnetic fields but are produced by some hitherto unknown astrophysical mechanism. The goal of this study is to perform a detailed line profile variability analysis and carry out a sensitive magnetic field search for one of the brightest HgMn stars - mu Lep. We acquired a set of very high-quality intensity and polarization spectra of mu Lep with the HARPSpol polarimeter. These data were analyzed with the multiline technique of least-squares deconvolution in order to extract information on the magnetic field and line profile variability. Our spectra show very weak but definite variability in the lines of Sc, all Fe-peak elements represented in the spectrum of mu Lep, as well as Y, Sr, and Hg. Variability might also be present in the lines of Si and Mg. Anomalous profile shapes of Ti II and Y II lines suggest a dominant axisymmetric distribution of these elements. At the same time, we found no evidence of the magnetic field in mu Lep, with the 3 sigma upper limit of only 3 G for the mean longitudinal magnetic field. This is the most stringent upper limit on the possible magnetic field derived for a spotted HgMn star. The very weak variability detected for many elements in the spectrum mu Lep suggests that low-contrast chemical inhomogeneities may be common in HgMn stars and that they have not been recognized until now due to the limited precision of previous spectroscopic observations and a lack of time-series data. The null result of the magnetic field search reinforces the conclusion that formation of chemical spots in HgMn stars is not magnetically driven.Comment: Accepted for publication in Astronomy & Astrophysic

Magnetism, chemical spots, and stratification in the HgMn star ϕ Phoenicis

Context. Mercury-manganese (HgMn) stars have been considered as non-magnetic and non-variable chemically peculiar (CP) stars for a long time. However, recent discoveries of the variability in spectral line profiles have suggested an inhomogeneous surface distribution of chemical elements in some HgMn stars. From the studies of other CP stars it is known that magnetic field plays a key role in the formation of surface spots. All attempts to find magnetic fields in HgMn stars have yielded negative results. Aims. In this study, we investigate the possible presence of a magnetic field in ϕ Phe (HD 11753) and reconstruct surface distribution of chemical elements that show variability in spectral lines.We also test a hypothesis that a magnetic field is concentrated in chemical spots and look into the possibility that some chemical elements are stratified with depth in the stellar atmosphere. Methods. Our analysis is based on high-quality spectropolarimetric time-series observations, covering a full rotational period of the star. Spectra were obtained with the HARPSpol at the ESO 3.6-m telescope. To increase the sensitivity of the magnetic field search, we employed the least-squares deconvolution (LSD) technique. Using Doppler imaging code INVERS10, we reconstructed surface chemical distributions by utilising information from multiple spectral lines. The vertical stratification of chemical elements was calculated with the DDAFit program. Results. Combining information from all suitable spectral lines, we set an upper limit of 4 G on the mean longitudinal magnetic field. For chemical spots, an upper limit on the longitudinal field varies between 8 and 15 G. We confirmed the variability of Y, Sr, and Ti and detected variability in Cr lines. Stratification analysis showed that Y and Ti are not concentrated in the uppermost atmospheric layers. Conclusions. Our spectropolarimetric observations rule out the presence of a strong, globally-organised magnetic field in ϕ Phe. This implies an alternative mechanism of spot formation, which could be related to a non-equilibrium atomic diffusion. However, the typical time scales of the variation in stratification predicted by the recent time-dependent diffusion models exceed significantly the spot evolution time-scale reported for ϕ Phe

Are there tangled magnetic fields on HgMn stars?

Several recent spectrophotometric studies failed to detect significant global magnetic fields in late-B HgMn chemically peculiar stars, but some investigations have suggested the presence of strong unstructured or tangled fields in these objects. We used detailed spectrum synthesis analysis to search for evidence of tangled magnetic fields in high-quality observed spectra of 8 slowly rotating HgMn stars and one normal late-B star. We also evaluated recent sporadic detections of weak longitudinal magnetic fields in HgMn stars based on the moment technique. Our analysis of the Zeeman broadening of magnetically sensitive spectral lines reveals no evidence of tangled magnetic fields in any of the studied HgMn or normal stars. We infer upper limits of 200-700 G for the mean magnetic field modulus -- much smaller than the field strengths implied by studies based on differential magnetic line intensification and quadratic field diagnostics. The new HARPSpol longitudinal field measurements for the extreme HgMn star HD 65949 and the normal late-B star 21 Peg are consistent with zero at a precision of 3-6 G. Re-analysis of our Stokes V spectra of the spotted HgMn star HD 11753 shows that the recent moment technique measurements retrieved from the same data are incompatible with the lack of circular polarization signatures in the spectrum of this star. We conclude that there is no evidence for substantial tangled magnetic fields on the surfaces of studied HgMn stars. We cannot independently confirm the presence of very strong quadratic or marginal longitudinal fields for these stars, so results from the moment technique are likely to be spurious.Comment: 12 pages, 11 figures; accepted for publication in A&

Magnetically Controlled Accretion on the Classical T Tauri Stars GQ Lupi and TW Hydrae

Stars and planetary system

Magnetically Controlled Accretion on the Classical T Tauri Stars GQ Lupi and TQ Hydrae

We present high spectral resolution (R ≈ 108,000) Stokes V polarimetry of the classical T Tauri stars (CTTSs) GQ Lup and TW Hya obtained with the polarimetric upgrade to the HARPS spectrometer on the ESO 3.6 m telescope. We present data on both photospheric lines and emission lines, concentrating our discussion on the polarization properties of the He i emission lines at 5876 Å and 6678 Å. The He i lines in these CTTSs contain both narrow emission cores, believed to come from near the accretion shock region on these stars, and broad emission components which may come from either a wind or the large-scale magnetospheric accretion flow.We detect strong polarization in the narrow component of the two He i emission lines in both stars. We observe a maximum implied field strength of 6.05 ± 0.24 kG in the 5876 Å line of GQ Lup, making it the star with the highest field strength measured in this line for a CTTS. We find field strengths in the two He i lines that are consistent with each other, in contrast to what has been reported in the literature on at least one star. We do not detect any polarization in the broad component of the He i lines on these stars, strengthening the conclusion that they form over a substantially different volume relative to the formation region of the narrow component of the He i lines

The search for magnetic fields in mercury-manganese stars

We performed a highly sensitive search for magnetic fields on a large set of HgMn stars. With the aid of a new polarimeter attached to the HARPS spectrometer at the ESO 3.6m-telescope, we obtained high-quality circular polarization spectra of 41 single and double HgMn stars. Using a multi-line analysis technique on each star, we co-added information from hundreds of spectral lines resulting in significantly greater sensitivity to the presence of magnetic fields, including very weak fields. For the 47 individual objects studied, including 6 components of SB2 systems, we do not detect any magnetic fields at greater than the 3 sigma level. The lack of detection in the circular polarization profiles indicates that if strong fields are present on these stars, they must have complex surface topologies. For simple global fields, our detection limits imply upper limits to the fields present of 2-10 Gauss in the best cases. We conclude that HgMn stars lack large-scale magnetic fields, typical for spotted magnetic Ap stars, sufficient to form and sustain the chemical spots observed on HgMn stars. Our study confirms that in addition to magnetically altered atomic diffusion, there exists another differentiation mechanism operating in the atmospheres of late-B main sequence stars which can compositional inhomogeneities on their surfaces.Comment: 12 pages, 8 figures, 2 table