Doppler maps and surface differential rotation of EI Eri from the MUSICOS 1998 observations

We present time-series Doppler images of the rapidly-rotating active binary star EI Eri from spectroscopic observations collected during the MUSICOS multi-site campaign in 1998, since the critical rotation period of 1.947 days makes it impossible to obtain time-resolved images from a single site. From the surface reconstructions a weak solar-type differential rotation, as well as a tiny poleward meridional flow are measured.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, 1 table, proceedings of Cool Stars 15, St Andrews, July 2008, to be published in the Conference Proceedings Series of the AI

The Blazhko behaviour of RR Geminorum I - CCD photometric results in 2004

Extended CCD monitoring of RR Gem revealed that it is a Blazhko type RRab star with the shortest Blazhko period (7.23d) and smallest modulation amplitude (Delta Mmax<0.1 mag) currently known. The short period of the modulation cycle enabled us to obtain complete phase coverage of the pulsation at each phase of the modulation. This is the first multicolour observation of a Blazhko star which is extended enough to define accurate mean magnitudes and colours of the variable at different Blazhko phases. Small, but real, changes in the intensity mean colours at different Blazhko phases have been detected. The Fourier analysis of the light curves shows that, in spite of the mmag and smaller order of the amplitudes, the triplet structure is noticeable up to about the 14th harmonic. The modulation is concentrated to a very narrow, 0.2 phase range of the pulsation, centred on the supposed onset of the H emission during rising light. These observational results raise further complications for theoretical explanation of the long known but poorly understood Blazhko phenomenon.Comment: 10 pages, 12 figures, 3 tables. Accepted for publication in Astronomy and Astrophysic

A study of X-ray flares - II. RS CVn type Binaries

We present an analysis of seven flares detected from five RS CVn-type binaries (UZ Lib, \sigma Gem, \lambda And, V711 Tau and EI Eri) observed with XMM-Newton observatory. The quiescent state X-ray luminosities in the energy band of 0.3-10.0 keV of these stars were found to be 10^{30.7-30.9} erg/s. The exponential decay time in all the sample of flares range from ~ 1 to 8 hrs. The luminosity at peak of the flares in the energy band of 0.3-10.0 keV were found to be in the range of 10^{30.8} - 10^{31.8} erg/s. The great sensitivity of the XMM-EPIC instruments allowed us to perform time resolved spectral analysis during the flares and also in the subsquent quiescent phases. The derived metal abundances of coronal plasma were found to vary during the flares observed from \sigma Gem, V771 Tau and EI Eri. In these flares elemental abundances found to be enhanced by factors of ~ 1.3-1.5 to the quiescent states. In most of the flares, the peak temperature was found to be more than 100 MK whereas emission measure increased by factors of 1.5 - 5.5. Significant sustained heating was present in the majority of flares. The loop lengths (L) derived for flaring structure were found to be of the order of 10^{10 -11} cm and are smaller than the stellar radii (R*) i.e. L/R* \lesssim 1. The flare from \sigma Gem showed a high and variable absorption column density during the flare.Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRA

Doppler imaging of stellar surface structure

We present a simultaneous photometric and spectroscopic imaging analysis of the long-period RS CVn binary σ Gem, covering 3.6 consecutive rotation cycles with high time resolution. From six overlapping but consecutive Doppler maps we trace the evolution of individual spots throughout the time range covered. All spots group either along a band at approximately +45°latitude and a width of 30°, or appear centered at the equator. No polar spot is detected. We did not find a conclusive migration pattern from the cross-correlation maps from one rotation to the next and attribute this to a masking effect of short-term spot changes

Doppler imaging of stellar surface structure. Pt. 16: A time-series analysis of the moderately-rotating K1-giant #sigma# Geminorum

SIGLEAvailable from TIB Hannover: RR 7310(2001-18) / FIZ - Fachinformationszzentrum Karlsruhe / TIB - Technische InformationsbibliothekDEGerman

Doppler imaging of stellar surface structure

Aims.We present the first Doppler images of the bright RS CVn-type binary ζ And. The star is a magnetically active K1 giant with its rotation synchronized to the 17.8-day orbital period. Our revised lithium abundance of $\log n=1.2$ places ζ And in the vicinity of Li-rich RGB stars but it is nevertheless a Li-normal chromospherically active binary star. The star seems to undergo its first standard dredge-up dilution. Methods.Four consecutive Doppler images were obtained from a continuous 67-night observing run at NSO-McMath in 1996/97. An additional single image was obtained from a continuous 19-night run at KPNO in 1997/98. These unique data allow to compute a small time series of the evolution of the star's surface structure. All line-profile inversions are done with a modified TempMap version that takes into account the non-spherical shape of the star. Representative test reconstructions are performed and demonstrate the code's reliability and robustness. Results.High and low-latitude spot activity was recovered together with an asymmetric polar cap-like feature. The latter dominated the first half of the two-month time series in 1996/97. The second half showed mostly medium-to-high latitude activity and only a fainter polar spot. The coolest areas were restored with a temperature contrast of about $1000\pm200$ K. Some weaker features at equatorial latitudes were also recovered but these could be partially spurious and appear blurred due to imperfect phase coverage. We use our line profiles to reconstruct an average non-sphericity of $R_{\rm pole}/R_{\rm point}=0.96$ which would, if not taken into account, mimic a temperature difference pole-to-equator of ≈220 K, especially at the phases of quadrature. Finally, we apply two different methods for restoring surface differential rotation and found a weak solar-type rotation law with a shear $\Delta\Omega\approx0.95$°/day ($\alpha=\Delta\Omega/\Omega_{\rm eq}=+0.049\pm0.003$), i.e. roughly a factor of four weaker at a rotation rate roughly 1.5 times faster than the Sun's