Solar and Stellar Astrophysics (astro-ph.SR)

Abstract: We present the results from our deep optical photometric observations of Bochum 2 (Boc2) star cluster obtained using the $1.3$m Devasthal Fast Optical Telescope along with archival photometric data from Pan-STARRS2/2MASS/UKIDSS surveys. We also used high-quality parallax and proper motion data from the $Gaia$ Data Release 3. We found that the Boc2 cluster has a small size ($\sim$1.1 pc) and circular morphology. Using $Gaia$ parallax of member stars and isochrone fitting method, the distance of this cluster is estimated as $3.8\pm0.4$ kpc. We have found that this cluster holds young ($\sim5$ Myr) and massive (O$7-$O$9$) stars as well as an older population of low mass stars. We found that the massive stars have formed in the inner region of the Boc2 cluster in a recent epoch of star formation. We have derived mass function slope ($\Gamma$) in the cluster region as $-2.42\pm0.13$ in the mass range $\sim0.72<$M/M$_{\odot}<2.8$. The tidal radius of the Boc2 cluster ($\sim7-9$) is much more than its observed radius ($\sim1.1$ pc). This suggests that most of the low-mass stars in this cluster are the remains of an older population of stars formed via an earlier epoch of star formation.

Abstract: The centrifugal force is often omitted in simulations of stellar convection. This force might be important in rapidly rotating stars such as solar analogues due to its $\Omega^2$ scaling, where $\Omega$ is the rotation rate of the star. We study the effects of the centrifugal force in a set of 21 semi-global stellar dynamo simulations with varying rotation rates. Among these, we include three control runs aimed at distinguishing the effects of the centrifugal force from the nonlinear evolution of the solutions. We solve the 3D MHD equations with the Pencil Code in a solar-like convective zone in a spherical wedge setup with a $2\pi$ azimuthal extent. We decompose the magnetic field in spherical harmonics and study the migration of azimuthal dynamo waves (ADWs), energy of different large-scale magnetic modes, and differential rotation. In the regime with the lowest rotation rates, $\Omega = 5-10\Omega_\odot$, where $\Omega_\odot$ is the rotation rate of the Sun, we see no marked changes in neither the differential rotation nor the magnetic field properties. For intermediate rotation with $\Omega = 20-25\Omega_\odot$ we identify an increase of the differential rotation as a function of centrifugal force. The axisymmetric magnetic energy tends to decrease with centrifugal force while the non-axisymmetric one increases. The ADWs are also affected, especially the propagation direction. In the most rapidly rotating set with $\Omega=30\Omega_\odot$, these changes are more pronounced and in one case the propagation direction of the ADW changes from prograde to retrograde. Control runs suggest that the results are a consequence of the centrifugal force and not due to the details of the initial conditions or the history of the run. We find that the differential rotation and properties of the ADWs change as a function of the centrifugal force only when rotation is rapid enough.

Abstract: Recently much progress has been made in probing the embedded stages of massive star formation, pointing to formation scenarios akin to a scaled up version of low-mass star formation. However, the latest stages of massive star formation have rarely been observed. Using 1st and 2nd overtone CO bandhead emission and near- to mid-infrared photometry we aim to characterize the remnant formation disks around 5 unique pre-main-sequence (PMS) stars with masses $6-12~\rm M_{\odot}$, that have constrained stellar parameters thanks to their detectable photospheres. We seek to understand this emission and the disks it originates from in the context of the evolutionary stage of the studied sources. We use an analytic LTE disk model to fit the CO bandhead and the dust emission, found to originate in different disk regions. For the first time we modeled the 2nd overtone emission. Furthermore, we fit continuum normalized bandheads and show the importance of this in constraining the emission region. We also include $^{13}\rm CO$ in our models as an additional probe of the young nature of the studied objects. We find that the CO emission originates in a narrow region close to the star (<1 AU) and under very similar disk conditions (temperatures and densities) for the different objects. This is consistent with previous modeling of this emission in a diverse range of young stellar objects. We discuss these results in the context of the positions of these PMS stars in the Hertzsprung-Russel diagram and the CO emission's association with early age and high accretion rates in (massive) young stellar objects. We conclude that, considering their mass range and for the fact that their photospheres are detected, the M17 PMS stars are observed in a relatively early formation stage. They are therefore excellent candidates for longer wavelength studies to further constrain the end stages of massive star formation.

Abstract: We present an analytical and numerical study of a system composed of a stellar binary pair and a massless, locally isothermal viscous accretion disk that is coplanar to the binary orbital plane. Analytically, we study the effect of the binary's gravitational potential over short timescales through the study of stability for epicyclic orbits, and over long timescales by revisiting the concept of resonant torques. Numerically, we perform two-dimensional Newtonian numerical simulations of the disk-binary system over a range of binary mass ratios. We find that the results of our simulations are consistent with previous numerical studies. We additionally show, by comparison of the analytical and numerical results, that the circumbinary gap is maintained on the orbital timescale through the driving of epicyclic instabilities, and does not depend on resonant torquing, contrary to standard lore. While our results are applicable to any disk-binary system, we highlight the importance of this result in the search for electromagnetic and gravitational-wave signatures from supermassive black-hole binaries.

Abstract: Earth-side observations of solar p modes can be used to image and monitor magnetic activity on the Sun's far side. Here we use magnetograms of the far side obtained by the Polarimetric and Helioseismic Imager (PHI) onboard Solar Orbiter (SO) to directly assess -- for the first time -- the validity of far-side helioseismic holography. We wish to co-locate the positions of active regions in helioseismic images and magnetograms, and to calibrate the helioseismic measurements in terms of magnetic field strength. We identify three magnetograms on 18 November 2020, 3 October 2021, and 3 February 2022 displaying a total of six active regions on the far side. The first two dates are from SO's cruise phase, the third from the beginning of the nominal operation phase. We compute contemporaneous seismic phase maps for these three dates using helioseismic holography applied to time series of Dopplergrams from the Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager (HMI) on the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO). Among the six active regions seen in SO/PHI magnetograms, five active regions are identified on the seismic maps at almost the same positions as on the magnetograms. One region is too weak to be detected above the seismic noise. To calibrate the seismic maps, we fit a linear relationship between the seismic phase shifts and the unsigned line-of-sight magnetic field averaged over the active region areas extracted from the SO/PHI magnetograms. SO/PHI provides the strongest evidence so far that helioseismic imaging provides reliable information about active regions on the far side, including their positions, areas, and mean unsigned magnetic field.

Abstract: One of the most reliable means of studying the stellar interior is through the apsidal motion in double line eclipsing binary systems since these systems present errors in masses, radii, and effective temperatures of only a few per cent. On the other hand, the theoretical values of the apsidal motion to be compared with the observed values depend on the stellar masses of the components and more strongly on their radii (fifth power).The main objective of this work is to make available grids of evolutionary stellar models that, in addition to the traditional parameters (e.g. age, mass, log g, T$_{\rm eff}$), also contain the necessary parameters for the theoretical study of apsidal motion and tidal evolution. This information is useful for the study of the apsidal motion in eclipsing binaries and their tidal evolution, and can also be used for the same purpose in exoplanetary systems. All models were computed using the MESA package. We consider core overshooting for models with masses $\ge$ 1.2 M$_\odot$. For the amount of core overshooting we adopted a recent relationship for mass $\times$ core overshooting. We adopted for the mixing-length parameter $\alpha_{\rm MLT}$ the value 1.84 (the solar-calibrated value). Mass loss was taken into account in two evolutionary phases. The models were followed from the pre-main sequence phase to the white dwarf (WD) stage.The evolutionary models containing age,luminosity, log g, and Teff, as well as the first three harmonics of the internal stellar structure (k$_2$, k$_3$, and k$_4$), the radius of gyration $\beta$ y, and the dimensionless variable $\alpha$, related to gravitational potential energy, are presented in 69 tables covering three chemical compositions: [Fe/H] = -0.50, 0.00, and 0.50. Additional models with different input physics are available.