Chromospheric activity of late-type giants and supergiants: reappearance of dynamo activity in the interior due to the spin-up of the core in evolution

Abstract

The renewal of chromospheric activity in red giants and supergiants is interpreted in terms of the reappearance of dynamo activity in the interior due to the spin-up of the core caused by its contraction in the course of evolution from the main sequence to the giant stage. A region of very high rotational shear (differential rotation) develops between the core, which spins up by a large factor through the drastic contraction, and the envelope, which spins down in contrast by virtue of expansion. Mechanisms of angular momentum transfer may operate to smear this large shear, and bring the inner part of the envelope into sheared rotation. A convective layer, on the other hand, develops in the envelope from the surface inwards, when the envelope expands and the temperature is lowered. A dynamo layer, or a layer in which the sheared rotation co-exists with the convection (the presence of a remnant magnetic field being postulated), will thus reappear in the inner part of the envelope when the envelope-convection reaches down and invades the layer of sheared rotation. Surface chromospheric activity due to the magnetic field is thus renewed when the regenerated magnetic field is brought up to the surface by the envelope-convection. These phenomena occur as the star evolves into the giant stage and hence explain the observed characteristic of gradual revival of chromospheric activity from the subgiant to the giant stage.