Bibcode
DOI
Berger, E.; Basri, G.; Gizis, J. E.; Giampapa, M. S.; Rutledge, R. E.; Liebert, J.; Martín, E.; Fleming, T. A.; Johns-Krull, C. M.; Phan-Bao, N.; Sherry, W. H.
Bibliographical reference
The Astrophysical Journal, Volume 676, Issue 2, pp. 1307-1318.
Advertised on:
4
2008
Journal
Citations
72
Refereed citations
65
Description
As part of our ongoing investigation of magnetic activity in ultracool
dwarfs we present simultaneous radio, X-ray, UV, and optical
observations of LSR1835+32 (M8.5), and simultaneous X-ray and UV
observations of VB10 (M8), both with a duration of about 9 hr.
LSR1835+32 exhibits persistent radio emission, and Hα variability
on timescales of 0.5-2 hr. The detected UV flux is consistent with
photospheric emission, and no X-ray emission is detected to a deep limit
of LX/Lbol<~10-5.7. The Hα and
radio emission are temporally uncorrelated, and the ratio of radio to
X-ray luminosity exceeds the correlation seen in F-M6 stars by
>2×104. The lack of radio variability during four
rotations of LSR1835+32 requires a uniform stellar-scale field of ~10 G,
and indicates that the Hα variability is dominated by much smaller
scales, <10% of the chromospheric volume. VB10, on the other hand,
shows correlated flaring and quiescent X-ray and UV emission, similar to
the behavior of early M dwarfs. Delayed and densely sampled optical
spectra exhibit a similar range of variability amplitudes and
timescales. Along with our previous observations of the M8.5 dwarf
TVLM513-46546 we conclude that late M dwarfs exhibit a mix of activity
patterns, which points to a transition in the structure and heating of
the outer atmosphere by large-scale magnetic fields. We find that
rotation may play a role in generating the fields as evidenced by a
tentative correlation between radio activity and rotation velocity. The
X-ray emission, however, shows evidence for supersaturation at
vsini>25 km s-1, which could be the result of secondary
effects such as inefficient heating or centrifugal stripping of extended
coronal loops. These effects may underlie the severe violation of the
radio/X-ray correlation in ultracool dwarfs.