History of the Magnetic Sun.
PIs:Pascal Petit, IRAP, Toulouse France.
Science
Magnetic fields have been shown to have a crucial impact on star formation and evolution, activity,
angular momentum evolution, and interaction with protoplanetary disks and short period exoplanets.
While a wealth of data have been obtained on pre-main sequence, main sequence, and giant stars, we
are still missing an understanding of how magnetic properties evolve with time from the PMS to the late
-MS. The aim of the present Large Program is to bridge the gap between early PMS stars (1-5 Myr)
and mature MS stars (2-5 Gyr), by deriving the magnetic topologies of young solar analogues in open
clusters that sample the age range from 20 Myr to 600 Myr. We will thus trace the Magnetic History of
the Sun. The datasets to be obtained will allow us to investigate the behavior of stellar dynamos as a
function of age, rotation and depth of the convective zone as these young suns evolve from the PMS to
the MS. Comparing the magnetic properties of early suns to those of mature ones, we will identify the
critical parameters involved in dynamo field generation, including the strong rotational shear at the
tachocline predicted by angular momentum evolution models.
Observations
The History of the Magnetic Sun (HMS) is a CFHT large program that was allocated 215.8 hours of observing time on ESPaDOnS. The program was executed during the 2015A to 2016B semesters.
The data can be downloaded directly from the CADC using the following URLs:
Access all HMS data at the CADC.
Raw data only.
Processed data only.