Asteroseismic Signatures of Magnetic Activity Variations in Solar-type Stars

TL;DR

This paper explores how asteroseismology can detect magnetic activity variations in solar-type stars, shedding light on stellar dynamos and their relation to magnetic cycles, including recent findings from the Kepler mission.

Contribution

It highlights the emerging connection between magnetic activity studies and asteroseismology, emphasizing recent observational results from Kepler that reveal internal stellar properties related to magnetic cycles.

Findings

Detection of magnetic activity signatures in stellar oscillations

Evidence for multiple dynamo regions in stars

Kepler data revealing internal magnetic cycle characteristics

Abstract

Observations of magnetic activity cycles in other stars provide a broader context for our understanding of the 11-year sunspot cycle. The discovery of short activity cycles in a few stars, and the recognition of analogous variability in the Sun, suggest that there may be two distinct dynamos operating in different regions of the interior. Consequently, there is a natural link between studies of magnetic activity and asteroseismology, which can characterize some of the internal properties that are relevant to dynamos. I provide a brief historical overview of the connection between these two fields (including prescient work by Wojtek Dziembowski in 2007), and I highlight some exciting results that are beginning to emerge from the Kepler mission.