Relationship between Ca and Hα chromospheric emission in F-G-K stars: Indication of stellar filaments?

Abstract

Context. Different relationships between the Hα and Ca II chromospheric emissions have been reported in solar-type stars. In particular, the time-series of emissions in these two lines are clearly anti-correlated for a few percent of the stars, contrary to what is observed on the Sun. Aims. Our objective is to characterise these relationships in more detail using complementary criteria, and to constrain the properties of filaments and plages that are necessary to explain the observations. Methods. We analysed the average level and variability of the Hα and Ca II emission for 441 F-G-K stars, paying particular attention to their (anti-)correlations on both short and long timescales. We also computed synthetic Hα and Ca II time-series for different assumptions of plage and filament properties and compared them with the observations. Results. We were not able to find plage properties that, alone, are sufficient to reproduce the observations at all timescales simultaneously, even when allowing different Hα and Ca II emission relationships for different stars. We also specified the complex and surprising relationship between the average activity levels of both indexes, in particular for low-activity stars. Conclusions. We conclude that plages alone are unlikely to explain the observed variety of relationships between Ca II and Hα emission, and that the presence of other phenomena like filaments may help to reconcile the models with observations.