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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Zhao, Xinlin, Wang, Song, Li, Xue, Xiang, Yue, Xu, Fukun, Gu, Shenghong, Liu, Jifeng
Format: Preprint
Published: 2024
Subjects:
Online Access:https://arxiv.org/abs/2401.06991
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Table of Contents:
  • Stellar activity cycles reveal continuous relaxation and induction of magnetic fields. The activity cycle is typically traced through the observation of cyclic variations in total brightness or Ca H&K emission flux of stars, as well as cyclic variations of orbital periods of binary systems. In this work, we report the identification of a semi-detached binary system (TIC 16320250) consisting of a white dwarf (0.67 $M_{\odot}$) and an active M dwarf (0.56 $M_{\odot}$). The long-term multi-band optical light curves spanning twenty years revealed three repeated patterns, suggestive of a possible activity cycle of about ten years of the M dwarf. Light curve fitting indicates the repeated variation is caused by the evolution, particularly the motion, of polar spots. The significant Ca H&K, H$α$, ultra-violet, and X-ray emissions imply that the M dwarf is one of the most magnetically active stars. We propose that in the era of large time-domain photometric sky surveys (e.g., ASAS-SN, ZTF, LSST, Sitian), long-term light curve modeling can be a valuable tool for tracing and revealing stellar activity cycle, especially for stars in binary systems.