Coronal and Chromospheric Emission in A-type Stars

Abstract

Abstract Cool stars on the main sequence generate X-rays from coronal activity, powered by a convective dynamo. With increasing temperature, the convective envelope becomes smaller and X-ray emission fainter. We present Chandra/HRC-I observations of four single stars with early A spectral types. Only the coolest star of this sample, τ 3 Eri (T eff ≈ 8, 000 K), is detected with log ( L X / L bol ) = − 7.6 while the three hotter stars (T eff ≥ 8, 000 K), namely δ Leo, β Leo, and ι Cen, remain undetected with upper limits log ( L X / L bol ) < − 8.4 . The drop in X-ray emission thus occurs in a narrow range of effective temperatures around ∼8100 K and matches the drop of activity in the C iii and O vi transition region lines.