Bibcode
DOI
Ball, B.; Drake, Jeremy J.; Lin, L.; Kashyap, V.; Laming, J. M.; García-Alvarez, D.
Bibliographical reference
The Astrophysical Journal, Volume 634, Issue 2, pp. 1336-1345.
Advertised on:
12
2005
Journal
Citations
19
Refereed citations
18
Description
We present an analysis of Chandra High Energy Transmission Grating
(HETG) spectra of the corona of the critical intermediate-activity,
quadruple stellar system ξ UMa. Using the maximum A/B subsystem
separation in 2001, we attempted to resolve for the first time in X-rays
the two components using the HETG Medium Energy Grating (MEG). We found
the Aa component of the system to be at least 2 orders of magnitude
fainter than the Bb component. We used the Markov Chain Monte Carlo
method to reconstruct differential emission measures (DEMs) and
abundances and discuss first ionization potential (FIP) issues. The
reconstructed DEMs showed two pronounced peaks at logT~6.5 and logT~7.0
K, respectively, similar to brighter solar active regions. A plot of
coronal abundances, with respect to stellar photospheric, versus FIP
reveals that the FIP behavior of ξ UMa is intermediate between less
and more active stars, commensurate with its X-ray luminosity. The
abundances of Mg, Fe, and Si are just subsolar, with Fe having the
lowest abundance of these. The low-FIP elements Na and Al have similar
abundances, and they are both higher than the Mg, Fe, and Si group. The
abundances show a minimum at S, rising gradually to Ne, which is higher
than photospheric, as has been seen by other authors on similar stars.
Some of the FIP behavior seen here is predicted by the new ponderomotive
force model of Laming.