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The magnetic dynamo mechanism of giant stars remains an open question, which can be explored by investigating their activity–rotation relations with multiple proxies. By using the data from the LAMOST and Galaxy Evolution Explorer surveys, we carried out a comprehensive study of activity–rotation relations of evolved stars based on Ca ii H and K lines, H α lines, and near-ultraviolet (NUV) emissions. Our results show that evolved stars and dwarfs obey a similar power law in the unsaturated region of the activity–rotation relation, indicating a common dynamo mechanism in both giants and dwarfs. There is no clear difference in the activity levels between red giant branch stars and red clump stars, nor between single giants and those in binaries. Additionally, our results show that the NUV activity levels of giants are comparable to those of G- and K-type dwarfs and are higher than those of M dwarfs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many giant stars are magnetically active, which causes rotational variability, chromospheric emission lines, and X-ray emission. Large outbursts in these emission features can set limits on the magnetic field strength and thus constrain the mechanism of the underlying dynamo. HD 251108 is a Li-rich active K-type giant. We find a rotational period of 21.3 days with color changes and additional long-term photometric variability. Both can be explained with very stable stellar spots. We followed the decay phase of a superflare for 28 days with NICER and from the ground. We track the flare decay in unprecedented detail in several coronal temperature components. With a peak flux around 1034 erg s−1 (0.5–4.0 keV) and an exponential decay time of 2.2 days in the early decay phase, this is one of the strongest flares ever observed, yet it follows trends established from samples of smaller flares, for example, for the relations between H α and X-ray flux, indicating that the physical process that powers the flare emission is consistent over a large range of flare energies. We estimate a flare loop length about 2–4 times the stellar radius. No evidence is seen for abundance changes during the flare. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Determining the evolutionary stage of stars is crucial for understanding the evolution of exoplanetary systems. In this context, red giant branch (RGB) and red clump (RC) stars, which formed at stages in the later evolution of stars situated before and after the helium flash, harbor critical clues to unveiling the evolution of planets. The first step in revealing these clues is to confirm the evolutionary stage of the host stars through asteroseismology. However, up to now, host stars confirmed to be RGB or RC stars are extremely rare. In this investigation, we present a comprehensive asteroseismic analysis of two evolved stars, HD 120084 and HD 29399, known to harbor exoplanets, using data from the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite. We have discovered for the first time that HD 120084 is an RC star in the helium-core-burning phase, and confirmed that HD 29399 is an RGB star in the hydrogen-shell burning phase. Through the precise measurement of asteroseismic parameters such as ${\nu }_{\max }$ , Δ ν , and ΔΠ _1 , we have determined the evolutionary states of these stars and derived their fundamental stellar parameters. The significance of this study lies in the application of automated techniques to measure asymptotic period spacings in red giants, which provides critical insights into the evolutionary outcomes of exoplanet systems. We demonstrate that asteroseismology is a potent tool for probing the internal structures of stars, thereby offering a window into the past and future dynamics of planetary orbits. The presence of a long-period giant planet orbiting HD 120084, in particular, raises intriguing questions about the potential engulfment of inner planets during the host star’s expansion, a hypothesis that warrants further investigation.

The magnetic dynamo mechanism of giant stars remains an open question, which can be explored by investigating their activity–rotation relations with multiple proxies. By using the data from the LAMOST and Galaxy Evolution Explorer surveys, we carried out a comprehensive study of activity–rotation relations of evolved stars based on Ca ii H and K lines, H α lines, and near-ultraviolet (NUV) emissions. Our results show that evolved stars and dwarfs obey a similar power law in the unsaturated region of the activity–rotation relation, indicating a common dynamo mechanism in both giants and dwarfs. There is no clear difference in the activity levels between red giant branch stars and red clump stars, nor between single giants and those in binaries. Additionally, our results show that the NUV activity levels of giants are comparable to those of G- and K-type dwarfs and are higher than those of M dwarfs.

We examined the double red clump (RC) observed in the Galactic bulge, interpreted as a difference in distance (“X-shaped bulge scenario”) or in chemical composition (“multiple population scenario”). To verify chemical differences between the RC groups, we performed low-resolution spectroscopy for RC and red giant branch (RGB) stars using Gemini-South/GMOS in three fields of the bulge and collected diverse data from the literature. We divided our sample stars not only into bright RC (bRC) and faint RC (fRC) groups, but also into bluer ([Fe/H] < −0.1) and redder ([Fe/H] > −0.1) groups following recent u -band photometric studies. For the metal-poor stars, no statistically significant difference in the CN index was detected between the bright and faint RC groups for all observed fields. However, we found, from crossmatching with high-resolution spectroscopic data, a sign of Na enhancement in the “metal-poor and bright” RC group compared to the “metal-poor and faint” group at ( l , b ) = (−1°, −8.°5). When the contributions of the RGB stars on the RC regimes are taken into account, the Na abundance difference between genuine RCs would correspond to Δ[Na/Fe] ≃ 0.23 dex, similar to a globular cluster (GC) with multiple populations. In contrast, the metal-rich stars do not show chemical differences between the bright and faint RC groups. This implies that the double RC observed in the metal-poor component of the bulge might be linked to the multiple populations originating from GC-like subsystems, whereas that of the metal-rich component would have been produced by the X-shaped structure. Our results support previous studies suggesting the composite nature of the Milky Way bulge.

Many giant stars are magnetically active, which causes rotational variability, chromospheric emission lines, and X-ray emission. Large outbursts in these emission features can set limits on the magnetic field strength and thus constrain the mechanism of the underlying dynamo. HD 251108 is a Li-rich active K-type giant. We find a rotational period of 21.3 days with color changes and additional long-term photometric variability. Both can be explained with very stable stellar spots. We followed the decay phase of a superflare for 28 days with NICER and from the ground. We track the flare decay in unprecedented detail in several coronal temperature components. With a peak flux around 10 ^34 erg s ^−1 (0.5–4.0 keV) and an exponential decay time of 2.2 days in the early decay phase, this is one of the strongest flares ever observed, yet it follows trends established from samples of smaller flares, for example, for the relations between H α and X-ray flux, indicating that the physical process that powers the flare emission is consistent over a large range of flare energies. We estimate a flare loop length about 2–4 times the stellar radius. No evidence is seen for abundance changes during the flare.

In this work, we studied the distribution of lithium abundances in giants as a function of stellar mass. We used a sample of 1240 giants common among Kepler photometric and LAMOST medium-resolution ( R ≈ 7500) spectroscopic survey fields. The asteroseismic Δ P –Δ ν diagram is used to define core He-burning red clump giants and red giant branch stars with an inert He core. Li abundances have been derived using spectral synthesis for all sample stars. Directly measured values of asteroseismic parameters Δ P (or ΔΠ _1 ) and Δ ν are either taken from the literature or measured in this study. Of the 777 identified red clump giants, we found 668 low-mass (≤2 M _⊙ ) primary red clump giants and 109 high-mass (>2 M _⊙ ) secondary red clump giants. Observed Li abundances in secondary red clump giants agree with the theoretical model predictions. The lack of Li-rich giants among secondary red clump giants and the presence of Li-rich, including super Li-rich, giants among primary red clump stars reinforces the idea that helium flash holds the key for Li enrichment among low-mass giants. The results will further constrain theoretical models searching for a physical mechanism for Li enhancement among low-mass red clump giants. Results also serve as observational evidence that only giants with mass less than ≈2 M _⊙ develop a degenerate He core and undergo He flash.

The study of Li phenomena in red clump (RC) stars can give us a deeper understanding of the structure and evolution of stars. Chanamé et al. explained the RC Li abundance distributions naturally using only standard post-main-sequence (MS) Li evolution models when the distribution of progenitor masses and the depletion of Li during the MS observed in MS stars were considered, thus neither an extra Li depletion nor Li creation mechanism is required. Nevertheless, it is interesting to consider the effects of mixing caused by some extra mechanisms. By constructing different models, we find that the mixing caused by internal gravity waves can explain the observed Li abundances of RC stars with low-mass progenitors. To explain this, we rely on the extra mixing induced by internal gravity waves that are excited at the bottom of the convective envelope during the red giant branch (RGB) stage. During the RGB stage, introducing internal gravity waves can improve the diffusion coefficient and strengthen the mixing effect. The effective enrichment of Li occurs during the late RGB stage and requires the diffusion coefficient of the H-burning shell to reach ∼10 ^8 cm ^2 s ^−1 . Our models predict that the Li abundance decreases from ∼1.5 to ∼0.0 dex at the end of the core He-burning stage, thereby revealing ∼99% of the observed Li abundance distribution. Thermohaline mixing regulates the Li abundance of RGB stars, which combined with internal gravity waves can explain the Li abundances of most giants.

We present a BVI photometric study of four old open clusters (OCs) in the the Milky Way, Czernik 30, Berkeley 34, Berkeley 75, and Berkeley 76 using the observation data obtained with the Small and Moderate Aperture Research Telescope System 1.0 m telescope at the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory, Chile. These four OCs are located at the anti-Galactocentric direction and in the Galactic plane. We determine the fundamental physical parameters for the four OCs, such as age, metallicity, distance modulus, and color excess, using red clump and PARSEC isochrone fitting methods after finding center and size of the four OCs. These four old OCs are 2–3 Gyr old and 6–8 kpc away from the Sun. The metallicity ([Fe/H]) values of the four OCs are between −0.6 and 0.0 dex. We combine data for these four OCs with those for old OCs from five literatures resulting in 236 objects to investigate Galactic radial-metallicity distribution. The gradient of a single linear fit for this Galactocentric [Fe/H] distribution is −0.052 ± 0.004 dex kpc ^−1 . If we assume the existence of a discontinuity in this radial-metallicity distribution, the gradient at Galactocentric radius

Asteroseismology is a powerful tool that may be applied to shed light on stellar interiors and stellar evolution. Mixed modes, behaving like acoustic waves in the envelope and buoyancy modes in the core, are remarkable because they allow for probing the radiative cores and evanescent zones of red giant stars. Here, we have developed a neural network that can accurately infer the coupling strength, a parameter related to the size of the evanescent zone, of solar-like stars in ∼5 ms. In comparison with existing methods, we found that only ∼43% of inferences were in agreement with a difference less than 0.03 in a sample of ∼1700 Kepler red giants. To understand the origin of these differences, we analyzed a few of these stars using independent techniques such as the Monte Carlo Markov Chain method and echelle diagrams. Through our analysis, we discovered that these alternate techniques are supportive of the neural-net inferences. We also demonstrate that the network can be used to yield estimates of coupling strength and period spacing in stars with structural discontinuities. Our findings suggest that the rate of decline in the coupling strength in the red giant branch is greater than previously believed. These results are in closer agreement with calculations of stellar-evolution models than prior estimates, further underscoring the remarkable success of stellar evolution theory and computation. Additionally, we show that the uncertainty in measuring period spacing increases rapidly with diminishing coupling strength.