Levels of coronal and chromospheric activity in late-type stars and various types of dynamo waves

Abstract

We analyze the X-ray emission and chromospheric activity of late-type F, G, and K stars studied in the framework of the HK project. More powerful coronas are possessed by stars displaying irregular variations of their chromospheric emission, while stars with cyclic activity are characterized by comparatively modest X-ray luminosities and ratios of the X-ray to bolometric luminosity L X/L bol. This indicates that the nature of processes associated with magnetic-field amplification in the convective envelope changes appreciably in the transition from small to large dynamo numbers, directly affecting the character of the (α-Ω) dynamo. Due to the strong dependence of both the dynamo number and the Rossby number on the speed of axial rotation, earlier correlations found between various activity parameters and the Rossby number are consistent with our conclusions. Our analysis makes it possible to draw the first firm conclusions about the place of solar activity among analogous processes developing in active late-type stars.