The character of solar-type activity and the depth of the convective zone

Abstract

The origin of solar-type activity for low-mass stars of late spectral types is considered. Spectroscopic data were used to study the dependence of the activity level logR′ HK on the lithium abundance logA(Li) and axial rotation rate. A close correlation between logA(Li) and logR′ HK is found for two groups of G stars, hotter and cooler than the Sun. This relation is most clearly expressed in the case of high activity, and is somewhat more strongly expressed for G6-K3 dwarfs, which includes many BY Dra variables, than for F8-G5 stars. It is confirmed that, for stars with high activity, both the lithium abundance and the activity level are determined by the rotation rate, which depends on the age. The lithium abundance exhibits different dependences on the chromospheric activity, depending on the level of this activity. Cooler stars, with detectable lithium and solar-like chromospheres, possess much stronger coronas. This change in the relationship between the relative luminosities of the chromosphere and corona can be reliably traced using larger datasets. The different ratios between the activity of the choromosphere and corona for cooler and hotter G stars may reflect the fact that their convective zones become deeper or shallower than some critical value. This is consistent with observations of parameters describing rotational modulation and the correlation and anti-correlation of chromospheric and photospheric activity indices for stars hotter and cooler than the Sun. Physically, this means that the character of the activity could be related to a changing contribution of the large-scale and local magnetic fields to the generation of the activity. The results of this study confirm the earlier idea that there may be different evolution paths associated with solar-type activity. The results can be used to refine methods for estimating ages of stars from their activity levels (gyrochronology).