Magnetic activity of red giants: correlation between the amplitude of solar-like oscillations and chromospheric indicators

TL;DR

This study investigates magnetic activity in red giants using multiple chromospheric indicators, revealing that binary systems with tidal locking exhibit enhanced magnetic activity and that certain spectral line features correlate with oscillation amplitudes, offering new ways to estimate stellar magnetic fields.

Contribution

It introduces a multi-indicator approach to assess magnetic activity in red giants and uncovers correlations between spectral line features and oscillation amplitudes, advancing understanding of stellar magnetism.

Findings

Binary red giants show higher chromospheric emission than single stars.

Spectral line depths correlate with oscillation amplitudes, independent of rotation.

No excess of Mg I emission observed in active giants.

Abstract

Previous studies have found that red giants (RGs) in close binary systems undergoing spin-orbit resonance exhibit an enhanced level of magnetic activity with respect to single RGs rotating at the same rate, from measurements of photometric variability $S'_{ph}$ and chromospheric emission S-index $S_{Ca_{II}}$. Here, we consider a sample of 4465 RGs observed by the NASA Kepler mission to measure additional activity indicators that probe different heights in the chromosphere: the near-ultraviolet (NUV) excess from NASA GALEX photometric data, and chromospheric indices based on the depth of H$\alpha$, Mg$_{I}$ and infared Ca$_{II}$ absorption lines from LAMOST spectroscopic data. Firstly, as for Ca$_{II}$ H&K, we observe that RGs belonging to close binaries in a state of spin-orbit resonance display larger chromospheric emission than the cohort of RGs, as illustrated by an NUV excess and shallower H$\alpha$ and infrared Ca$_{II}$ lines. We report no excess of Mg$_{I}$ emission. This result reinforces previous claims that tidal locking leads to enhanced magnetic fields, and allows us to provide criteria to classify active red giants -- single or binary --, based on their rotation periods and magnetic activity indices. Secondly, we strikingly observe that the depths of the Mg$_{I}$ and H$\alpha$ lines are anti-correlated and correlated, respectively, with the amplitude of solar-like oscillations for a given surface gravity $\log g$, regardless of the presence of photometric rotational modulation. Such a correlation opens up future possibilities of estimating the value of magnetic fields at the surface of RG stars, whether quiet or active, by combining spectroscopic and asteroseismic measurements with three-dimensional atmospheric models including radiative transfer.