Magnetic activity cycles are an important phenomenon in both the Sun and other stars. The shape of the solar cycle is commonly characterised by a fast rise and a slower decline, but not much attention has been paid to the shape of cycles in other stars. Our aim is to study whether the asymmetric shape of the solar cycle is common in other stars as well, and compare the cycle asymmetry to other stellar parameters. We also study the differences in the shape of the solar cycle, depending on what activity indicator is used. The observations are also compared to simulated activity cycles. We use the chromospheric Ca II H&K data from the Mount Wilson Observatory HK Project. From this data set we identify 47 individual cycles from 18 stars. We use the statistical skewness of a cycle as a measure of its asymmetry, and compare this to other stellar parameters. A similar analysis has been done to magnetic cycles extracted from direct numerical magnetohydrodynamic simulations of solar-type convection zones. The shape of the solar cycle (fast rise and slower decline) is common in other stars as well, although the Sun has particularly asymmetric cycles. Cycle-to-cycle variations are large, but the average shape of a cycle is still fairly well represented by a sinusoid. We find only slight correlations between the cycle asymmetry and other stellar parameters. There are large differences in the shape of the solar cycle, depending on what activity indicator is used. In the simulated cycles, there is a difference in the symmetry of global simulations covering the full longitudinal range, hence capable of exciting non-axisymmetric dynamo modes, versus wedge simulations covering a partial extent in longitude, where only axisymmetric modes are possible. The former produce preferentially positive skewness, while the latter a negative one.
The monthly average values of the main solar activity indices such as Wolf numbers (W), 10,7 cm radio flux (F10,7), 0,1-0,8 nm background, total solar irradiance and Mg II UV-index (280 nm core to wing ratio) were studied for 23 activity cycle. The correlation coefficients of linear regression for main solar activity indices versus F10,7 were analyzed for every year of 23 activity cycle. All the correlation coefficients for 23 activity cycle have the minimum values in 2001. We also analyzed the connection between monthly average values of the most popular indices W and F10,7 for 21, 22 and 23 …
We analyze intermediate degree p- and f-mode eigenfrequencies measured by GONG and MDI/SOHO for a complete solar cycle to study their correlation with solar activity. We demonstrate that the frequencies do vary linearly with the activity, however the degree of correlation differs from phase to phase of the cycle. During the rising and the declining phases, the mode frequencies are strongly correlated with the activity proxies whereas during the low- and high-activity periods, the frequencies have significantly lower correlation with all the activity proxies considered here.
The analysis of the effect of the hysteresis, which manifests itself in an ambiguous relationship of radiation from the photosphere, chromosphere and corona on the rise and decline phases of the solar and stellar activity cycles have done. Some indices of solar activity: the flux of the hydrogen Lyman-alpha emission, the 10.7 cm flux, the sunspot number SSN, the flux in the coronal green line 530.3 nm, the solar constant TSI and the 280 nm Mg II flux were studied. The stars with the well-determined cycles were examined to detect the effect of hysteresis between the chromosphere's S-index CaII …
The paper presents the results of the analysis of the geometric characteristics of sunspots for the period of 19-24 cycles of activity. The shape of sunspots was studied on the basis of the method of normalization of images of sunspots to study the average profile of the spot. The deviation of the shape of sunspots from the axisymmetric configuration is investigated. It was found that the spots, as a rule, have an ellipsoid shape, and the major axis of the ellipse has a predominant inclination to the equator, opposite in the Northern and Southern hemispheres. The angle of inclination of the su…
An explanation is suggested for the north-south asymmetry of the polar magnetic field reversal in the current cycle of solar activity. The contribution of the Babcock-Leighton mechanism to the poloidal field generation is estimated using sunspot data for the current activity cycle. Estimations are performed separately for the northern and southern hemispheres. The contribution of the northern hemisphere exceeded considerably that of the southern hemisphere during the initial stage of the cycle. This is the probable reason for the earlier reversal of the northern polar field. The estimated cont…
The spectral analysis with stochastic significance cannot distinguish the spurious cycles effectively, because a non-stationary signal can make a significant peak in spectrum. I show that the random separation between the grand extremes such as grand maxima and minima in solar activity can make a spurious but significant peak in spectrum. And it is possible to pick even the weak stable cycle by applying an averaging down-sampling and the differencing to a random signal. This is because both operations variously change the height of peak in spectrum and the spurious cycle is in turn unstable in…
We discuss possible mechanisms underlying the observed features of stellar activity cycles, such as multiple periodicities in very active stars, non-cyclic activity observed in moderately active stars, and spatial distribution of stellar magnetic regions. We review selected attempts to model the dependence of stellar activity cycles on stellar properties, and their comparison with observations. We suggest that combined effects of dynamo action, flux emergence and surface flux transport have substantial effects on the long-term manifestations of stellar magnetism.
Although chromospheric activity cycles have been studied in a larger number of late-type stars for quite some time, very little is known about coronal activity-cycles in other stars and their similarities or dissimilarities with the solar activity cycle. While it is usually assumed that cyclic activity is present only in stars of low to moderate activity, we investigate whether the ultra-fast rotator AB Dor, a K dwarf exhibiting signs of substantial magnetic activity in essentially all wavelength bands, exhibits a X-ray activity cycle in analogy to its photospheric activity cycle of about 17 y…
Solar activity forecasting is an important topic for numerous scientific and technological areas, such as space mission operations, electric power transmission lines, power transformation stations and earth geophysical and climatic impact. Nevertheless, the well-known difficulty is how to accurately predict, on the basis of various recorded solar activity indices, the complete evolution of future solar cycles, due to highly complex dynamical and stochastic processes involved, mainly related to interaction of different components of internal magnetic fields. There are two main distinct classes …
Astrometry from Gaia will measure the positions of stellar photometric centroids to unprecedented precision. We show that the precision of Gaia astrometry is sufficient to detect starspot-induced centroid jitter for nearby stars in the Tycho-Gaia Astrometric Solution (TGAS) sample with magnetic activity similar to the young G-star KIC 7174505 or the active M4 dwarf GJ 1243, but is insufficient to measure centroid jitter for stars with Sun-like spot distributions. We simulate Gaia observations of stars with 10 year activity cycles to search for evidence of activity cycles, and find that Gaia as…
We have studied long-term variations of galactic cosmic ray (GCR) intensity in relation to the sunspot number (SSN) during the most recent solar cycles. This study analyses the time-lag between the GCR intensity and SSN, and hysteresis plots of the GCR count rate against SSN for solar activity cycles 20-23 to validate a methodology against previous results in the literature, before applying the method to provide a timely update on the behaviour of cycle 24. Cross-plots of SSN vs GCR show a clear difference between the odd-numbered and even-numbered cycles. Linear and elliptical models have bee…
We applied the method of continuous wavelet-transform to the time-frequency analysis to the sets of observations of relative sunspot numbers, sunspot areas and to 6 Mount Wilson HK-project stars with well-defined magnetic cycles. Wavelet analysis of these data reveals the following pattern: at the same time there are several activity cycles whose periods vary widely from the quasi-biennial up to the centennial period for the Sun and vary significant during observations time of the HK-project stars. These relatively low-frequency periodic variations of the solar and stellar activity gradually c…
We compile a list of 121 RS CVn type stars from the bibliography in southern hemisphere, to search for activity cycles, covering a large range of luminosities and rotation periods. For each system of the list, we obtain photometric data from the All Sky Automated Survey (ASAS), and we complement it with our own photometry, obtained with the Optical Robotic Observatory (ORO). We analyze this data with the Generalized Lomb-Scargle periodogram to determine the rotation period and possible activity cycles for each system. We found rotation periods for 102 systems and activity cycles for 91 systems…
Using data of fast-rotating active dwarf stars in the Kepler database, we perform time-frequency analysis of the light curves in order to search for signs of activity cycles. We use the phenomenon that the active region latitudes vary with the cycle (like the solar butterfly diagram), which causes the observed rotation period to change as a consequence of differential rotation. We find cycles in 8 cases of the 39 promising targets with periods between of 300-900 days.
During the solar magnetic activity cycle the emergence latitudes of sunspots change, leading to the well-known butterfly diagram. This phenomenon is poorly understood for other stars as starspot latitudes are generally unknown. The related changes in starspot rotation rates caused by latitudinal differential rotation can however be measured. Using the set of 3093 Kepler stars with activity cycles identified by Reinhold et al. (2017), we aim to study the temporal change in starspot rotation rates over magnetic activity cycles, and how this relates to the activity level, mean rotation rate, and …
(Abridged) Most stellar activity cycles similar to that found in the Sun have been detected by using the chromospheric Ca II H&K lines as stellar activity proxies. However, it is unclear if such activity cycles could be identified using other optical lines. Aims. To detect activity cycles in solar-analog stars and determine if these can be identified through other optical lines, such as Fe II and Balmer lines. We study the solar-analog star HD 45184. Methods. We analyse the activity signatures of HD 45184 by using 291 HARPS spectra obtained between 2003 and 2014. In order to search for line-co…
The evolution of the solar activity comprises, apart from the well-known 11-year cycle, various temporal scales ranging from months up to the secondary cycles known as mid-term oscillations. Its nature deserves a physical explanation. In this work, we consider the 5-to-6 year oscillations as derived both from sunspot and from solar magnetic dipole time series. Using the solar dynamo model, we deduced that these variations may be a manifestation of the dynamo nonlinearities and non-harmonic shape of the solar activity cycles. We conclude that the observed mid-term oscillations are related to th…
We analyse light curves covering four years of 39 fast-rotating ($P_\mathrm{rot}< 1d$) late-type active stars from the Kepler database. Using time-frequency analysis (Short-Term Fourier-Transform), we find hints for activity cycles of 300-900 days at 9 targets from the changing typical latitude of the starspots, which, with the differential rotation of the stellar surface change the observed rotation period over the activity cycle. We also give a lowest estimation for the shear parameter of the differential rotation, which is ~0.001 for the cycling targets. These results populate the less stud…
The young and magnetically active K dwarf Epsilon Eridani exhibits a chromospheric activity cycle of about 3 years. Previous reconstructions of its large-scale magnetic field show strong variations at yearly epochs. To understand how Epsilon Eridani's large-scale magnetic field geometry evolves over its activity cycle we focus on high cadence observations spanning 5 months at its activity minimum. Over this timespan we reconstruct 3 maps of Epsilon Eridani's large-scale magnetic field using the tomographic technique of Zeeman Doppler Imaging. The results show that at the minimum of its cycle, …
Chromospheric activity monitoring of a wide range of cool stars can provide valuable information on stellar magnetic activity and its dependence on fundamental stellar parameters such as effective temperature and rotation.We compile a chromospheric activity catalogue of 4454 cool stars from a combination of archival HARPS spectra and multiple other surveys, including the Mount Wilson data that have recently been released by the NSO. We explore the variation in chromospheric activity of cool stars along the main sequence for stars with different effective temperatures. Additionally, we also per…
The atmospheric activity of the Sun and solar-type stars is analysed involving observations from HK-project at the Mount Wilson Observatory, the California and Carnegie Planet Search Program at the Keck and Lick Observatories, and the Magellan Planet Search Program at the Las Campanas Observatory. We show that for stars of F, G and K spectral classes, the cyclic activity, similar to the 11-yr Solar cycles, is different: it becomes more prominent in K-stars. Comparative study of solar-type stars with different levels of the chromospheric and coronal activity confirms that the Sun belongs to sta…
The forthcoming solar cycle (SC) 25 was beleived to be rather low when using the sunspot number (SN) as a measurement of the level of activity. The most popular prediction was made by the panel of NASA in 2019, including works based on extrapolations of dynamo-type models. We however discovered that using different observations to measure the level of polar regions activity several years before the start of SC25 and also after the start of the SC25 in 2020, the height of the SC25 could be high. The polar regions activity we considered seems related to the polar coronal holes (CH) activity and …
The direct measurements of the meridional flow velocities on stars are impossible today. To evaluate the meridional flow velocities on solar-like stars with stable activity periods, we supposed that during the stellar Hale cycle the matter on surfaces of stars passes the meridional way equivalent to $2πR_\star$. We present here the dependence of the mean meridional flow velocity on Rossby number, which is an effective parameter of the stellar magnetic dynamo.
The magnetic activity of the Sun becomes stronger and weaker over roughly an 11 year cycle, modulating the radiation and charged particle environment experienced by the Earth as "space weather". Decades of observations from the Mount Wilson Observatory have revealed that other stars also show regular activity cycles in their Ca II H+K line emission, and identified two different relationships between the length of the cycle and the rotation rate of the star. Recent observations at higher cadence have allowed the discovery of shorter cycles with periods between 1-3 yr. Some of these shorter cycl…
A stable cyclicity of correlation coefficients Kcorr for some solar activity indices versus F10,7 was found after monthly averages values analysis. These indices are: Wolf numbers, 10,7 cm radio flux F10,7, 0,1-0,8 nm background, the total solar irradiance, Mg II UV-index (280 nm core to wing ratio) and counts of flares. The correlation coefficients of the linear regression of these solar activity indices versus F10,7 were analyzed for every year in solar cycles 21 - 23. We found out that the values of yearly determined correlation coefficients Kcorr for solar activity indices versus F10,7 sho…
We analysed the sunspot group data from Greenwich Photoheliographic Results (GPR) during 1874-1976 and Debrecen Photoheliographic Data (DPD) during 1977-2017 and studied the cycle-to-cycle variations in the values of 13-month smoothed monthly mean sunspot-group area in whole sphere (WSGA), northern hemisphere (NSGA), and southern hemisphere (SSGA) at the epochs of maxima of Sunspot Cycles 12-24, and at the epochs of maxima of WSGA, NSGA, and SSGA Cycles 12-24. The cosine fits to the values of WSGA, NSGA, and SSGA at the maxima of the sunspot number, WSGA, NSGA, and SSGA Cycles 12-24, and to th…
The current photometric datasets, that span decades, allow for studying long-term cycles on active stars. Complementary Ca H&K observations give information also on the cycles of normal solar-like stars, which have significantly smaller, and less easily detectable, spots. In the recent years, high precision space-based observations, for example from the Kepler satellite, have allowed also to study the sunspot-like spot sizes in other stars. Here I review what is known about the properties of the cyclic stellar activity in other stars than our Sun.
We investigated the Korean records of naked-eye sunspot observations and found an implication of periodicity of about 200-year. Adding the Chinese records we showed that the historical naked-eye sunspot observations have the similar periodicity. Recent some works showed that there would be no intrinsic periodicities except 11-year cycle. We adopt the new approach called samplogram to test sampling stability of cycles in terms of power spectra and difference series and show that the Suess/de Vries cycle of about 207-year is a deterministic cycle of the stochastic solar activity. Also we show th…
The diagram of indices of coronal and chromospheric activity allowed us to reveal stars where solar-type activity appears and regular cycles are forming. Using new consideration of a relation between coronal activity and the rotation rate, together with new data on the ages of open clusters, we estimate the age of the young Sun corresponding to the epoch of formation of its cycle. The properties of the activity of this young Sun, with an age slightly older than one billion years, are briefly discussed. An analysis of available data on the long-term regular variability of late-type stars leads …
Long-term photometric measurements in a sample of ultrashort-period (P~0.5 days or less) single and binary stars of different interior structures are analysed. A loose correlation exists between the rotational rate and cycle lengths of active stars, regardless of their evolutionary state and the corresponding physical parameters. The shortest cycles are expected on the fastest rotators in the order of 1-2 years, which is reported in this paper.
It is very important to forecast the future solar activity due to its effect on our planet and near space. Here, we employ the new version of the sunspot number index (version 2) to analyse the relationship between the solar maximum amplitude and max-max cycle length proposed by Du (2006). We show that the correlation between the parameters used by Du (2006) for the prediction of the sunspot number (amplitude of the cycle, Rm, and max-max cycle length for two solar cycles before, Pmax-2) disappears when we use solar cycles prior to solar cycle 9. We conclude that the correlation between these …
The solar meridional flow is an important ingredient in Babcock-Leighton type models of the solar dynamo. Global variations of this flow have been suggested to explain the variations in the amplitudes and lengths of the activity cycles. Recently, cycle-related variations in the amplitude of the $P_2^1$ term in the Legendre decomposition of the observed meridional flow have been reported. The result is often interpreted in terms of an overall variation in the flow amplitude during the activity cycle. Using a semi-empirical model based upon the observed distribution of magnetic flux on the solar…
Context. The detection of chromospheric activity cycles in solar-analogue and twin stars, can be used to put in context the solar cycle. However, there is a relatively low percentage of these stars with activity cycles detected. It is well known that the cores of Ca II H&K lines are modulated by stellar activity. The behaviour of Balmer and other optical lines with stellar activity is not yet completely understood. Aims. To search for Ca II H&K, Balmer and Fe II line variations modulated by the stellar activity. In particular, we apply a novel strategy to detect possible shape variations in th…
After decades of effort, the solar activity cycle is exceptionally well characterized but it remains poorly understood. Pioneering work at the Mount Wilson Observatory demonstrated that other sun-like stars also show regular activity cycles, and suggested two possible relationships between the rotation rate and the length of the cycle. Neither of these relationships correctly describe the properties of the Sun, a peculiarity that demands explanation. Recent discoveries have started to shed light on this issue, suggesting that the Sun's rotation rate and magnetic field are currently in a transi…
Magnetic cycles have been detected in tens of solar-like stars. The relationship between the cycle properties and global stellar parameters is not fully understood yet. We searched for activity cycles in 90 solar-like stars with ages between 4 and 95 Myr aiming to investigate the properties of activity cycles in this age range. We measured the length $P_{ cyc}$ of a given cycle by analyzing the long-term time-series of three activity indexes. For each star, we computed also the global magnetic activity index <IQR> that is proportional to the amplitude of the rotational modulation and is a prox…
The prediction of the evolution of individual solar cycles is a developing field, faced with divergence of forecasts even for a few years in the future. Specifically for solar flares, long-term modeling is practically absent even in rough terms. In this article a forecast for the evolution of solar cycle 25 in terms of solar flares activity is presented. It is derived from an existing phenomenological model based on the coupling of an internal solar component and a planetary component. In addition to competent temporal resolution, the predictions are characterized by features which both differ…
Studying cool star magnetic activity gives an important insight into the stellar dynamo and its relationship with stellar properties, as well as allowing us to place the Sun's magnetism in the context of other stars. Only 61 Cyg A (K5V) and $τ$ Boo (F8V) are currently known to have magnetic cycles like the Sun's, where the large-scale magnetic field polarity reverses in phase with the star's chromospheric activity cycles. $τ$ Boo has a rapid $\sim$240 d magnetic cycle, and it is not yet clear whether this is related to the star's thin convection zone or if the dynamo is accelerated by interact…
The application of the Wavelet analysis and Fourier analysis to the dataset of variations of radiation fluxes of solar-like stars and the Sun is examined. In case of the Sun the wavelet-analysis helped us to see a set of values of periods of cycles besides "11-year" cycle: the long-duration cycles of 22-year, 40-50 year and 100-120 year and short-duration cycles of 2-3,5 years and 1,3-year. We present a method of the chromospheric flux simulation using the 13 late-type stars, which have well-determined cyclic flux variations similar to the 11-year solar activity cycle. Our flux prediction is b…
Context. Long-term chromospheric activity in slow-rotating fully-convective stars has been scarcely explored. Ross 128 (Gl 447) is a slow-rotator and inactive dM4 star which has been extensively observed. It hosts the fourth closest extrasolar planet. Aims. Ross 128 is an ideal target to test dynamo theories in slow-rotating low-mass star. Methods. To characterize the magnetic activity of Ross 128 we study the SK indexes derived from CASLEO, HARPS, FEROS, UVES and XSHOOTER spectra. Using the Generalized Lomb-Scargle and CLEAN periodograms, we analyze the whole SK time-series obtained between 2…
Low-degree solar p-mode observations from the long-lived Birmingham Solar Oscillations Network (BiSON) stretch back further than any other single helioseismic data set. Results from BiSON have suggested that the response of the mode frequency to solar activity levels may be different in different cycles. In order to check whether such changes can also be seen at higher degrees, we compare the response of medium-degree solar p-modes to activity levels across three solar cycles using data from Big Bear Solar Observatory (BBSO), Global Oscillation Network Group (GONG), Michelson Doppler Imager (M…
A detailed investigation of the magnetic properties of young Sun-like stars can provide valuable information on our Sun's magnetic past and its impact on the early Earth. We determine the properties of the moderately rotating young Sun-like star kappa Ceti's magnetic and activity cycles using 50 years of chromospheric activity data and six epochs of spectropolarimetric observations. The chromospheric activity was determined by measuring the flux in the Ca II H and K lines. A generalised Lomb-Scargle periodogram and a wavelet decomposition were used on the chromospheric activity data to establi…
Having advanced knowledge of solar activity is important because the Sun's magnetic output governs space weather and impacts technologies reliant on space. However, the irregular nature of the solar cycle makes solar activity predictions a challenging task. This is best achieved through appropriately constrained solar dynamo simulations and as such the first step towards predictions is to understand the underlying physics of the solar dynamo mechanism. In Babcock-Leighton type dynamo models, the poloidal field is generated near the solar surface whereas the toroidal field is generated in the s…
The present paper reviews results derived from statistical studies on solar activity indices. The prolonged minimum phase of cycle 23 raised the question of peculiarities inherent in cycle 23. The most important solar activity index is the relative sunspot number and though most of other indices are closely related, shifts are obtained between their peak activity of the order of 1-2 years. These shifts reveal a 22-yr pattern which can be attributed to solar interior or dynamo related processes. The minimum phase of cycle 23 is not found to be exceptional. Investigating the relative sunspot num…
Stellar activity can be a source of radial velocity (RV) noise and can reproduce periodic RV variations similar to those produced by an exoplanet. We present the vigorous activity cycle in the primary of the visual binary HD200466, a system made of two almost identical solar-type stars with an apparent separation of 4.6 arcsec at a distance of 44+/-2 pc. High precision RV over more than a decade, adaptive optics (AO) images, and abundances have been obtained for both components. A linear trend in the RV is found for the secondary. We assumed that it is due to the binary orbit and once coupled …
The behaviour of the large-scale dipolar field, during a star's magnetic cycle, can provide valuable insight into the stellar dynamo and associated magnetic field manifestations such as stellar winds. We investigate the temporal evolution of the dipolar field of the K dwarf 61 Cyg A using spectropolarimetric observations covering nearly one magnetic cycle equivalent to two chromospheric activity cycles. The large-scale magnetic field geometry is reconstructed using Zeeman Doppler imaging, a tomographic inversion technique. Additionally, the chromospheric activity is also monitored. The observa…
The minimum of solar cycle 24 is significantly different from most other minima in terms of its duration as well as its abnormally low levels of activity. Using available helioseismic data that cover epochs from the minimum of cycle 23 to now, we study the differences in the nature of the solar rotation between the minima of cycles 23 and 24. We find that there are significant differences between the rotation rates during the two minima. There are differences in the zonal-flow pattern too. We find that the band of fast rotating region close to the equator bifurcated around 2005 and recombined …
Sunspots are a canonical marker of the Sun's internal magnetic field which flips polarity every ~22-years. The principal variation of sunspots, an ~11-year variation in number, modulates the amount of magnetic field that pierces the solar surface and drives significant variations in our Star's radiative, particulate and eruptive output over that period. This paper presents observations from the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory and Solar Dynamics Observatory indicating that the 11-year sunspot variation is intrinsically tied it to the spatio-temporal overlap of the activity bands belonging to…
The atmospheric activity of the Sun and Sun-like stars is analyzed involving observations from HK-project at the Mount Wilson Observatory, the California and Carnegie Planet Search Program at the Keck and Lick Observatories and the Magellan Planet Search Program at the Las Campanas Observatory. We show that for stars of F, G and K spectral classes, the cyclic activity, similar to the 11-yr solar cycles, is different: it becomes more prominent in K-stars. Comparative study of Sun-like stars with different levels of the chromospheric and coronal activity confirms that the Sun belongs to stars wi…
Solar activity has significantly changed over the last two Schwabe cycles. After a long and deep minimum at the end of Cycle 23, the weaker activity of Cycle 24 contrasts with the previous cycles. In this work, the response of the solar acoustic oscillations to solar activity is used in order to provide insights on the structural and magnetic changes in the sub-surface layers of the Sun during this on-going unusual period of low activity. We analyze 18 years of continuous observations of the solar acoustic oscillations collected by the Sun-as-a-star GOLF instrument onboard the SoHO spacecraft.…
