Tau Bootis is a late F-type main sequence star orbited by a Hot Jupiter. During the last years spectropolarimetric observations led to the hypothesis that this star may host a global magnetic field that switches its polarity once per year, indicating a very short activity cycle of only one year duration. In our ongoing observational campaign, we have collected several X-ray observations with XMM-Newton and optical spectra with TRES/FLWO in Arizona to characterize tau Boo's corona and chromosphere over the course of the supposed one-year cycle. Contrary to the spectropolarimetric reconstructions, our observations do not show indications for a short activity cycle.
@article{arxiv.1303.0311,
title = {A magnetic cycle of tau Bootis? The coronal and chromospheric view},
author = {K. Poppenhaeger and H. M. Guenther and J. H. M. M. Schmitt},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1303.0311},
year = {2013}
}
Comments
4 pages, 2 figures, appeared in Astronomical Notes 333, 1, 26-29 (2012)