Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-q99xh Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-23T06:41:30.306Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Solar-stellar Connection: Magnetic Braking and Stellar Activity

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 April 2016

L. Mestel
L. Mestel*
Affiliation:
University of Sussex, Falmer, Brighton, BN1 9QH, England
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The theory of coronal structure and of the associated angular momentum transport by magneto-thermo-centrifugal winds is reviewed, with reference to recent observations of rapidly rotating late-type stars. In particular, the combined optical and X-ray studies of AB Doradus are consistent with the predicted picture of a hot, magnetically-controlled ‘dead zone’ in near corotation with the star, and of cooler wind-emitting regions (analogues of the solar coronal holes). The standard theory predicts a rate of angular momentum transport that depends on the extent of the wind zone, the relative importance of thermal and centrifugal driving, and the variation of the dynamo-built surface field with rotation. For stars like the Sun, with approximately one tenth of the mass in the convective envelope, detailed comparison of the theory with the observed rotations of stars in clusters of different ages is sensitive to the strength of the coupling between the envelope and the radiative core, and is constrained by helioseismological limitations on rotational shear within the present-day Sun. An inferred strong braking during the early epochs may hint at a non-standard braking model, with the Maxwell stresses dominant far from as well as near the stellar surface.

Type
Invited
Information
Publications of the Astronomical Society of Australia , Volume 10 , Issue 1 , 1992 , pp. 3 - 7
Copyright
Copyright © Astronomical Society of Australia 1992

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Barker, D.M., 1991, DPhil thesis, Univ. of Sussex, Brighton, England.Google Scholar
Collier Cameron, A., Bedford, D.K., Rucinski, S.M., Vilhu, O. and White, N.E., 1988, Mon. Not. R. astr. Soc, 231, 131.Google Scholar
Collier Cameron, A., Duncan, D.K., Ehrenfreund, P., Foing, B.H., Kuntz, K.D., Penston, M.V., Robinson, R.D. and Soderblom, D.R., 1990, Mon. Not. R. astr. Soc, 247, 415.Google Scholar
Goldreich, P. and Julian, W.H., 1970, Astrophys. J., 261, 279.Google Scholar
Gray, D.F., 1982, Astrophys. J., 261, 259.Google Scholar
Havnes, O. et al. (eds.), 1988, Activity in Cool Star Envelopes, Kluwer, Dordrecht.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lust, R. and Schluter, A., 1955, Zeits. f. Astrophys., 38, 190.Google Scholar
McGregor, K.B., 1991, in Angular Momentum Evolution of Young Stars, Catalano, S. and Stauffer, J.R. (eds), Kluwer, Dordrecht.Google Scholar
Mestel, L., 1967, in Plasma Astrophysics, Sturrock, P.A. (ed), Academic Press, London.Google Scholar
Mestel, L., 1968, Mon. Not. R. astr. Soc., 138, 359.Google Scholar
Mestel, L. and Spitzer, L., 1956, Mon. Not. R. astr. Soc., 116, 583.Google Scholar
Mestel, L. and Spruit, H.C., 1987, Mon. Not. R. astr. Soc, 226, 57.Google Scholar
Mestel, L. and Weiss, N.O., 1987, Mon. Not. R. astr. Soc, 226, 123.Google Scholar
Nakano, T.C., 1976, Pub. astr. Soc. Japan, 28, 355.Google Scholar
Noyes, R.W., Hartmann, L.W., Baliunas, S.L., Duncan, D.K. and Vaughan, A.H., 1984, Astrophys. J., 279, 763.Google Scholar
Parker, E.N., 1963, Interplanetary Dynamical Processes, Interscience, New York.Google Scholar
Pizzo, V., Schwenn, R., Marsch, E., Rosenbauer, H., Mühlhäuser, K-H and Neubauer, F.M., 1983, Astrophys. J., 271, 335.Google Scholar
Pneuman, G. and Kopp, R.A., 1971, Sol. Phys., 18, 258.Google Scholar
Sakurai, T., 1985, Astr. Astrophys., 152, 121.Google Scholar
Schatzman, E., 1962, Ann. Astrophys., 25, 18.Google Scholar
Skumanich, A., 1972, Astrophys. J., 171, 565.Google Scholar
Stauffer, J.R., 1991, in Angular Momentum Evolution of Young Stars, Catalano, S. and Stauffer, J.R. (eds), Kluwer, Dordrecht.Google Scholar
Stauffer, J.R. and Hartmann, L.W., 1987, Astrophys. J., 318, 337.Google Scholar
Tayler, R.J., 1987, Mon. Not. R. astr. Soc., 227, 553.Google Scholar
Vilhu, O., 1984, Astr. Astrophys., 133, 117.Google Scholar
Weber, E.J. and Davis, L., 1967, Astrophys. J., 148, 217.Google Scholar