Direct detection of a magnetic field at the surface of V390 Aurigae – an effectively single active giant^*

¹ Institute of Astronomy, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, 72 Tsarigradsko shose, 1784 Sofia, Bulgaria e-mail: [antovi;iliani]@astro.bas.bg
² Laboratoire d'Astrophysique de Toulouse-Tarbes, Université Paul Sabatier, CNRS, Observatoire Midi Pyrénées, 57 avenue d'Azereix, 65008 Tarbes, France e-mail: [michel.auriere;rcabanac;donati;petit]@ast.obs-mip.fr
³ Laboratoire d'Astrophysique, CNRS, Observatoire de Grenoble, BP 53, 38041 Grenoble Cedex 09, France e-mail: david.mouillet@obs.ujf-grenoble.fr

Received: 19 July 2007
Accepted: 8 December 2007

Abstract

Aims.We have studied the active giant V390 Aur using spectropolarimetry to obtain direct and simultaneous measurements of the magnetic field and the activity indicators in order to infer the origin of the activity.

Methods.We used the new spectropolarimeter NARVAL at the Bernard Lyot Telescope (Observatoire du Pic du Midi, France) to obtain a series of Stokes I and Stokes V profiles. Using the LSD technique we were able to detect the Zeeman signature of the magnetic field in each of our 5 observations and to measure its longitudinal component. Using the wide wavelength range of the spectra we could monitor the CaII K&H and IR triplet, as well as the H_α lines which are activity indicators. The Stokes I LSD profiles enabled us to detect and measure the profiles of two weak stellar companions.

Results.From five observations obtained from November 2006 to March 2007, we deduce that the magnetic field has a complex structure which evolves with time and is reminiscent of a dynamo-induced magnetic field. The activity indicators also present day to day variations, but their behaviour does not completely follow the magnetic field variations, because their longitudinal component can cancel the contribution of complex magnetic features. There is a significant difference between the magnetic field observed on November 27, 2006 and on March 15, 2007, at the same rotational phase, but with an interval of 10 rotations. The behaviour of the activity indicators together with the measured enhanced magnetic field on March 15, 2007 support the idea of a change in the field topology. Analysis (RV and EW) of the absorption components of the Stokes I LSD profile shows that the secondary of the visual wide orbit binary ADS 3812 is itself a spectroscopic binary, and suggests that the synchronization effect does not play role for V390 Aur (the primary), and that the giant should be considered as effectively single with regard to its fast rotation and activity.