Signs of deep mixing in starspot variability
- Author(s)
- O. V. Arkhypov, Maxim L. Khodachenko, Manuel Güdel, Colin Johnstone, Theresa Rank-Lüftinger, Helmut Lammer
- Abstract
The current knowledge on plasma mixing in stellar interiors is based on theoretical modeling, which calibrates the empirical relations between the mixing and observable stellar parameters. Hence, a model-independent method of studying the mixing process is a desirable, but yet unfounded approach. Here, using a new spectral-correlation method, verified for the Sun, we show that deep mixing is manifested in stellar photometric light curves. We measure the timescales of the stochastic change in the spectral power of rotational variability of hundreds of main-sequence stars from the Kepler mission archive. The discovered proportionality of these timescales to the turnover time of the standard mixing length theory, their consistency with Kolmogorov's theory of turbulence, and the relation with stellar activity provide a new approach to the probing of stellar interiors. This opens a broad perspective for experimental studies of deep mixing and magnetic dynamos in stars.
- Organisation(s)
- Department of Astrophysics
- External organisation(s)
- Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften (ÖAW), Anuchin Research Institute and Museum of Anthropology, Karl-Franzens-Universität Graz
- Journal
- Astronomy & Astrophysics
- Volume
- 576
- No. of pages
- 7
- ISSN
- 0004-6361
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/201425307
- Publication date
- 04-2015
- Peer reviewed
- Yes
- Austrian Fields of Science 2012
- 103003 Astronomy, 103004 Astrophysics
- Keywords
- ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Astronomy and Astrophysics, Space and Planetary Science
- Portal url
- https://ucrisportal.univie.ac.at/en/publications/signs-of-deep-mixing-in-starspot-variability(161c8029-ec97-40d7-80c2-d9c32545eabd).html