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Measuring the magnetic fields in the chromospheres of low-mass stars
Authors:
Tianqi Cang,
Pascal Petit,
Jean-François Donati,
Hui Tian,
Jianning Fu,
Hao Li,
Stefano Bellotti,
Xueying Hu,
Xiaoyu Ma,
Arturo Lopez Ariste,
Keyu Xing,
Julien Morin,
Hongpeng Lu,
Weikai Zong
Abstract:
Magnetic fields in the upper atmospheres of solar-like stars are believed to provide an enormous amount of energy to power the hot coronae and drive large-scale eruptions that could impact the habitability of planetary systems around these stars. However, these magnetic fields have never been routinely measured on stars beyond the solar system. Through decade-long spectropolarimetric observations,…
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Magnetic fields in the upper atmospheres of solar-like stars are believed to provide an enormous amount of energy to power the hot coronae and drive large-scale eruptions that could impact the habitability of planetary systems around these stars. However, these magnetic fields have never been routinely measured on stars beyond the solar system. Through decade-long spectropolarimetric observations, we have now achieved the measurements of magnetic fields in the lower and middle chromospheres of three M-dwarfs. Our results indicate that the line-of-sight component of the chromospheric magnetic fields can reach up to hundreds of Gauss, whose sign frequently opposes that of the photospheric field. The measurements highlight the magnetic field complexity and the variation with height close to the surface of these M-dwarfs. They provide critical constraints on the energy budget responsible for heating and eruptions of stellar upper atmospheres, and enable assessments of how stellar magnetic activity may affect exoplanet environments.
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Submitted 11 November, 2025;
originally announced November 2025.
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Inactive longitude and superflare in the active single-lined pre-main sequence binary V2279 Cyg
Authors:
Xueying Hu,
Tianqi Cang,
Jian-Ning Fu,
Xuan Wang,
Keyu Xing,
Haotian Wang,
Pascal Petit,
Jiaxin Wang,
Yong Yang,
He Zhao
Abstract:
Young, solar-like stars in the pre-main sequence (PMS) stage exhibit vigorous magnetic activity that significantly influences their circumstellar environments and the processes of planetary formation and evolution. In binary systems, tidal forces and magnetic interactions can further shape the magnetic geometry. We report a longitudinal preference of star spots, chromospheric activities, and flare…
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Young, solar-like stars in the pre-main sequence (PMS) stage exhibit vigorous magnetic activity that significantly influences their circumstellar environments and the processes of planetary formation and evolution. In binary systems, tidal forces and magnetic interactions can further shape the magnetic geometry. We report a longitudinal preference of star spots, chromospheric activities, and flares in the active single-lined spectroscopic PMS binary system V2279 Cyg, based on long-term photometric observations from \textit{Kepler} and \textit{TESS} alongside spectroscopic data from LAMOST. The system is classified as a weak-line T Tauri binary, with component masses estimated at 0.86 $M_\odot$ and 0.27 $M_\odot$. V2279 Cyg's nearly circular orbit is synchronized with its 4.126-day rotational period. Observations reveal large star spot regions clustered near the far-side hemisphere. Spectroscopic data show strong, double-peak H$α$ emission, the strength of which is highly correlated with star spot distribution, indicating the presence of an active longitude on the primary star. We also mapped the prominence structure co-rotating with the primary star, suggesting a dense structure close to the near-side hemisphere. Furthermore, we identify an inactive longitude of flares during the 4-year \textit{Kepler} observations, where the frequency of flare activity is significantly reduced after the superior conjunction, marking the first such identification in active binary systems. Additionally, a white light superflare, releasing energy of $2.5 \times 10^{37}$ erg, was detected in \textit{TESS} observations. These findings provide valuable insights into the magnetic field geometry and dynamo processes in PMS binaries, underscoring the critical role of tidal interactions in shaping magnetic activities.
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Submitted 15 July, 2025;
originally announced July 2025.
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The Mini-SiTian Array: Light Curves Analysis of Asteroids
Authors:
Zhaoxing Liu,
Jian Gao,
Hongrui Gu,
Yang Huang,
Shaoming Hu,
Hu Zou,
Keyu Xing,
Hao Huang,
Zehao Zhang
Abstract:
The SiTian project, with its vast field of view, will become an ideal platform for asteroid scientific research. In this study, we develop a pipeline to analyze the photometry of asteroids and derive their periods from the data collected by the SiTian pathfinder project Mini-SiTian (MST). The pipeline is applied to the MST f02 region, a MST test region with a sky area of…
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The SiTian project, with its vast field of view, will become an ideal platform for asteroid scientific research. In this study, we develop a pipeline to analyze the photometry of asteroids and derive their periods from the data collected by the SiTian pathfinder project Mini-SiTian (MST). The pipeline is applied to the MST f02 region, a MST test region with a sky area of $2.29^{\circ} \times 1.53^{\circ}$. Rotation periods of 22 asteroids are derived by the obtained light curves analysis. Among them, there are 8 asteroids available in the Asteroid Lightcurve Photometry Database (ALCDEF), and 6 of them with more photometric points ($>$200) have similar period parameters as the ones in ALCDEF. Additionally, the periods for 14 of these asteroids are newly obtained and are not listed in ALCDEF. This study demonstrates the feasibility of asteroid photometric research by the SiTian project. It shows that future observations from the SiTian project will provide even more photometry of asteroids, significantly increasing the number of available light curves. The potential vast photometric data of asteroids will help us to further understand the physics of asteroids, their material composition, and the formation and evolution of the solar system.
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Submitted 2 April, 2025;
originally announced April 2025.
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Flares hunting in hot subdwarf and white dwarf stars from Cycles 1-5 of TESS photometry
Authors:
Keyu Xing,
Weikai Zong,
Roberto Silvotti,
Jian-Ning Fu,
Stéphane Charpinet,
Tianqi Cang,
J. J. Hermes,
Xiao-Yu Ma,
Haotian Wang,
Xuan Wang,
Tao Wu,
Jiaxin Wang
Abstract:
Stellar flares are critical phenomena on stellar surfaces, which are closely tied to stellar magnetism. While extensively studied in main-sequence (MS) stars, their occurrence in evolved compact stars, specifically hot subdwarfs and white dwarfs (WDs), remains scarcely explored. Based on Cycles 1-5 of TESS photometry, we conducted a pioneering survey of flare events in $\sim12,000$ compact stars,…
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Stellar flares are critical phenomena on stellar surfaces, which are closely tied to stellar magnetism. While extensively studied in main-sequence (MS) stars, their occurrence in evolved compact stars, specifically hot subdwarfs and white dwarfs (WDs), remains scarcely explored. Based on Cycles 1-5 of TESS photometry, we conducted a pioneering survey of flare events in $\sim12,000$ compact stars, corresponding to $\sim38,000$ light curves with 2-minute cadence. Through dedicated techniques for detrending light curves, identifying preliminary flare candidates, and validating them via machine learning, we established a catalog of 1016 flares from 193 compact stars, including 182 from 58 sdB/sdO stars and 834 from 135 WDs, respectively. However, all flaring compact stars showed signs of contamination from nearby objects or companion stars, preventing sole attribution of the detected flares. For WDs, it is highly probable that the flares originated from their cool MS companions. In contrast, the higher luminosities of sdB/sdO stars diminish companion contributions, suggesting that detected flares originated from sdB/sdO stars themselves or through close magnetic interactions with companions. Focusing on a refined sample of 23 flares from 13 sdB/sdO stars, we found their flare frequency distributions were slightly divergent from those of cool MS stars; instead, they resemble those of hot B/A-type MS stars having radiative envelopes. This similarity implies the flares on sdB/sdO stars, if these flares did originate from them, may share underlying mechanisms with hot MS stars, which warrants further investigation.
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Submitted 25 February, 2024;
originally announced February 2024.
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Amplitude and frequency variations in PG~0101+039 from K2 photometry -- A pulsating hot B subdwarf star in an unsynchronized binary system
Authors:
Xiao-Yu Ma,
Weikai Zong,
Jian-Ning Fu,
Stéphane Charpinet,
Jiaxin Wang,
Keyu Xing
Abstract:
K2 photometry is suitable for the exploitation of mode variability on short timescales in hot B subdwarf stars, which is important to constrain nonlinear quantities addressed by the stellar theory of high-order perturbation in the future. We analyze the $\sim80$~d high-quality K2 data collected on PG~0101+039 and extract the frequency content of oscillation. We then determine its rotational and or…
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K2 photometry is suitable for the exploitation of mode variability on short timescales in hot B subdwarf stars, which is important to constrain nonlinear quantities addressed by the stellar theory of high-order perturbation in the future. We analyze the $\sim80$~d high-quality K2 data collected on PG~0101+039 and extract the frequency content of oscillation. We then determine its rotational and orbital properties, as well as characterize the dynamics of amplitude and frequency. The frequencies are extracted from light curves via a standard prewhitening technique. The binary information is obtained from variations both in brightness and radial velocities. Amplitude and frequency modulation of oscillation modes are measured by piece-wise light curves and characterized by EMCMC method. We have extracted 137 independent frequencies in PG~0101+039 and derived period spacing of ~252s and 144s for the dipole and quadruple modes, respectively. We derive a rotation rate of 8.81+-0.06d and ~8.60+-0.16d based on g- and p-mode multiplets, implying a marginally differential rotation with a probability of ~ 60%. We find that the rotation period is much shorter than the orbital period of ~0.57d, indicating that this system is not synchronized. Amplitude and frequency modulation are measurable for 44 frequencies with high enough amplitude, including 12 rotational components. We characterize their modulating patterns and find a clear correlation between amplitude and frequency variation, which is linked to nonlinear resonant couplings. In general, the modulating scale and timescale are on an order of a few dozen of nano hertz and a few tens of days, respectively, whose values are important constraints to future calculations of nonlinear amplitude equations.
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Submitted 8 October, 2023; v1 submitted 20 September, 2023;
originally announced September 2023.