Radial Velocity Monitoring of the Young Star Hubble 4: Disentangling Starspot Lifetimes from Orbital Motion

TL;DR

This study monitored the young star Hubble 4 over 14 years to distinguish between starspot activity and orbital motion, revealing long-lived starspots lasting over 5 years, impacting models of stellar magnetic fields and exoplanet detection.

Contribution

First long-term radial velocity study of Hubble 4 that disentangles starspot effects from orbital motion, providing new constraints on starspot lifetimes in young stars.

Findings

Starspots on Hubble 4 last at least 5.1 years.

Spot evolution occurs within a 12-year timescale.

Long-lived spots influence stellar magnetic models and exoplanet searches.

Abstract

We studied the weak-lined T Tauri star Hubble 4, a known long-period binary, and its starspot phenomena. We used optical radial velocity (RV) data taken over a span of 14 years (2004-2010, 2017-2019) at the McDonald Observatory 2.7m Harlan J. Smith telescope and single epoch imaging from the HST/WFC3 instrument. The observed and apparent RV variations show contributions, respectively, from the binary motion as well as from a large spot group on one of the stars, presumed to be the primary. Fitting and removing the orbital signal from the RVs, we found the lower bound on the lifetime of a previously identified large spot group on the surface of the star to be at least 5.1 years. A $\sim5$ year lower limit is a long, but not unprecedented, duration for a single spot group. The later epoch data indicate significant spot evolution has occurred, placing an upper bound on the spot group lifetime at 12 years. We find that pre-main sequence evolutionary models for the age of Taurus ($\sim2$ Myr), combined with component mass estimates from the literature, permit us to reproduce the HST relative photometry and the binary-induced contribution to the apparent RV variations. The long-lived star spot we find on Hubble 4 has significant implications for dynamo models in young stars, as it adds evidence for long lifetimes of magnetic field topologies. There are also significant implications for young star exoplanet searches as long-lived coherent RV signals may be spot-induced and not the result of planetary motion. (This paper includes data taken at The McDonald Observatory of The University of Texas at Austin.)