Wavelet analysis of the long-term activity of V833 Tau

TL;DR

This study applies wavelet analysis to over a century of photometric data of V833 Tau to distinguish true stellar activity cycles from stochastic variations, suggesting a possible century-long cycle consistent with stellar dynamo theory.

Contribution

It introduces a wavelet-based method for analyzing long-term stellar activity records, improving the identification of genuine activity cycles.

Findings

V833 Tau shows variations on 2-50 year timescales similar to solar mid-term variations.

The star's true activity cycle, if present, may be around a century or longer.

Results support the consistency of long-term stellar activity with dynamo theory.

Abstract

The bulk of available stellar activity observations is frequently checked for the manifestation of signs in comparison with the known characteristic of solar magnetic modulation. The problem is that stellar activity records are usually an order of magnitude shorter than available observations of solar activity variation. Therefore, the resolved time scales of stellar activity are insufficient to decide reliably that a cyclic variation for a particular star is similar to the well-known 11-yr sunspot cycles. As a result, recent studies report several stars with double or multiple cycles which serve to challenge the underlying theoretical understanding. This is why a consistent method to separate 'true' cycles from stochastic variations is required. In this paper, we suggest that a conservative method, based on the best practice of wavelet analysis previously applied to the study of solar activity, for studying and interpreting the longest available stellar activity record - photometric monitoring of V833 Tau for more than 100 years. We find that the observed variations of V833 Tau with timescales of 2-50 yr should be comparable with the known quasi-periodic solar mid-term variations, whereas the true cycle of V833 Tau, if it exists, should be of about a century or even longer. We argue that this conclusion does not contradict the expectations from stellar dynamo theory.