Multi-scale magnetic field investigation of the M-dwarf eclipsing binary CU Cancri

¹ Department of Physics and Astronomy, Uppsala University, Box 516 751 20 Uppsala, Sweden
e-mail: axel.hahlin@physics.uu.se
² LUPM, Université de Montpellier, CNRS, Place Eugène Bataillon, 34095 Montpellier, France
³ European Space Agency, Keplerplaan 1, 2201 AZ Noordwijk, The Netherlands
⁴ Physics Department, Hobart and William Smith Colleges, 300 Pulteney Street, Geneva, NY 14456, USA
⁵ Department of Astronomy, Cornell University, 245 East Avenue, Ithaca, NY 14850, USA
⁶ Department of Physics and Astronomy, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN 37235, USA

Received: 27 November 2023
Accepted: 31 January 2024

Abstract

Aims. We aim to characterise the magnetic field of the eclipsing binary CU Cancri, which consists of two M-dwarf components. The determination of the magnetic field parameters of this target enables comparisons with both observations of similar stars and theoretical predictions of the magnetic field strength in CU Cnc. The target therefore provides an excellent opportunity to test our understanding of the generation of magnetic fields in low-mass stars and its impact on stellar structure.

Methods. We used spectropolarimetric observations obtained with ESPaDOnS at the CFHT to investigate the magnetic properties of CU Cnc. To improve the signal, we used least-squares deconvolution (LSD) to create average line profiles. From these LSD profiles, we extracted information about the radial velocities of the components, significantly expanding the number of radial velocity measurements available and allowing for a determination of the orbital parameters. Stokes V LSD profiles were used with Zeeman Doppler imaging to obtain the large-scale magnetic field structures of the two components. We also used detailed polarised radiative transfer modelling to investigate the small-scale fields, by Zeeman-splitting magnetically sensitive Ti I lines in non-polarised spectra.

Results. We obtain both the small- and large-scale magnetic field properties of the two components. The large-scale fields are dominantly poloidal, and both components have an average strength of approximately 100 G. This analysis of the large-scale fields likely suffers from some amount of hemisphere degeneracy due to the high inclination of the target, which would cause the large-scale field strength of the components to be underestimated. Both components also show unusual magnetic field configurations compared to stars with similar parameters: the primary is weakly axisymmetric (∼10%), and the secondary has a strong toroidal contribution (∼20%). The small-scale fields are significantly stronger, 3.1 and 3.6 kG for the primary and secondary, respectively. This measurement is in excellent agreement with surface field strength predictions for CU Cnc from magneto-convective stellar evolution models. These results indicate that magnetic fields could play a significant role in the radius inflation due to convective inhibition.