The Mg II Features Near 2800Å and Spectral Classification

Abstract

The Mg II resonance lines at 2795.523 and 2802.698Å and their respective subordinate lines at 2797.989 and 2790.768Å are probably among the most prominent and interesting spectral features in the ultraviolet; they are perhaps the most significant in the mid-ultraviolet. They are also observable in one form or the other in stars of practically all spectral types. We shall discuss relatively high (about 0.4Å) resolution observations of these features.In the early spectral types both the resonance and subordinate lines are seen primarily as absorption lines. An interstellar absorption of varying strengths is superimposed on the photospheric absorption of the resonance lines. The strengths of the photospheric resonance and subordinate lines increase from 0 to B, e.g., Lamers et al. (1973) and Kondo et al. (1975). The subordinate lines begin to merge with the resonance lines in late-B stars. In mid-A type stars, the resonance and subordinate absorption strengths become maximum. In F-type stars, the photospheric absorption strenghts continue to decrease. Chromospheric emissions become definitely detectable in F-type stars (Kondo et al. 1972). In a G2 V star, the sun, the chromospheric emission is fairly prominent at the core of relatively weak photospheric absorption. In K and M-type stars, this region is presumably dominated by the chromospheric emissions of Mg II resonance lines with the photospheric absorption becoming negligible in late-K stars; the only extant observation in this region is that of e Eri (K2 V) (McClintock et al. 1975).