Starspot lifetimes

Abstract

Photometry and Doppler imaging are both powerful techniques that can be used to evaluate the timescales of surface activity phenomena on active rapidly rotating objects. Active longitudes are most easily detected through photometry. These are found to have lifetimes of between 4-8 years. Many RSCVn binary systems and single stars show the “flip-flop” effect, where dominant spotted regions switch back and forth by 180° longitude over a set number of years. Doppler imaging is most effective at evaluating the presence of polar spots and smaller scale spots in the mid to low latitude regions (up to 3° resolution at the equator). This technique enables the monitoring of spot group lifetimes with greater accuracy than with photometry alone. Polar spots are found to have lifetimes of over a decade in RSCVn binary systems (V711 Tau & EI Eri) and in single MS stars, (AB Dor). In AB Dor, long-term photometry and Doppler imaging show that when the star was at its most spotted, there was no polar spot. Recent results indicate that surface shear was also suppressed in AB Dor at the same epoch. This implies that spot lifetimes can also be affected by changing surface shear rates over the course of an activity cycle. Mid to low latitude spots on single MS stars are found to have lifetimes of under 1 month. Spots in active components of RSCVn binaries show less modulation over a month compared to single MS rapid rotators. This indicates that either less flux is injected into the stellar surface over one month, or else that flux emergence is confined to small preferred regions in tidally locked systems. More long-term monitoring of these and other rapidly rotating systems using Doppler imaging, photometry and molecular band mapping using TiO and OH will enable us to evaluate whether or not these initial trends are representative of active cool stars.