Magnetic fields and differential rotation on the pre-main sequence - II. The early-G star HD 141943 - coronal magnetic field, Hα emission and differential rotation

• Published in: Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society Vol. 413; no. 3; pp. 1939 - 1948
• Main Authors: Marsden, S. C., Jardine, M. M., Ramírez Vélez, J. C., Alecian, E., Brown, C. J., Carter, B. D., Donati, J.-F., Dunstone, N., Hart, R., Semel, M., Waite, I. A.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford, UK Blackwell Publishing Ltd 21.05.2011; Wiley-Blackwell
• Subjects: Astronomy; Earth, ocean, space; Exact sciences and technology; magnetic fields; stars: activity; stars: imaging; stars: individual: HD 141943; magnetic fields; stars: imaging; stars: activity; stars: individual: HD 141943; Differential rotation; Dipoles; H-alpha lines; G stars; Spectral type; Field emission; Topology; Young stars; K stars; Surface brightness; Stellar activity; Magnetic fields; S stars; Spectropolarimetry
• ISSN: 0035-8711; 1365-2966
• DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-2966.2011.18272.x

Spectropolarimetric observations of the pre-main sequence early-G star HD 141943 were made at three observing epochs (2007, 2009 and 2010). The observations were made using the 3.9-m Anglo-Australian Telescope with the UCLES echelle spectrograph and the SEMPOL spectropolarimeter visitor instrument. The brightness and surface magnetic field topologies (given in Paper I) were used to determine the star's surface differential rotation and reconstruct the coronal magnetic field of the star. The coronal magnetic field at the three epochs shows on the largest scales that the field structure is dominated by the dipole component with possible evidence for the tilt of the dipole axis shifting between observations. We find very high levels of differential rotation on HD 141943 (∼8 times the solar value for the magnetic features and ∼5 times solar for the brightness features), similar to that evidenced by another young early-G star, HD 171488. These results indicate that a significant increase in the level of differential rotation occurs for young stars around a spectral type of early-G. We also find for the 2010 observations that there is a large difference in the differential rotation measured from the brightness and magnetic features, similar to that seen on early-K stars, but with the difference being much larger. We find only tentative evidence for temporal evolution in the differential rotation of HD 141943.