High-resolution spectropolarimetric of k Cet: A proxy for the young Sun

Among the solar proxies studied in the Sun in Time k Cet (HD 20630) stands out as potentially having a mass very close to solar and a young age. On this study, we monitored the magnetic field and the chromospheric activity from the Ca II H & K lines of k Cet. We used the Least-Square-Deconvolution (LSD, Donati et al. 1997) by simultaneously extracting the information contained in all 8,000 photospheric lines of the echelogram (K1 type star). To reconstruct a reliable magnetic map and characterize the surface differential rotation of k Cet we used 14 exposures spread over 2 months, in order to cover at least two rotational cycles (Prot ~ 9.2 days). The LSD technique was applied to detect the Zeeman signature of the magnetic field in each of our 14 observations and to measure its longitudinal component. In order to reconstruct the magnetic field geometry of k Cet, we applied the Zeeman Doppler Imaging (ZDI) inversion method. ZDI revealed a structure in the radial magnetic field consisting of a polar magnetic spot. On this study, we present the fisrt look results of a high-resolution spectropolarimetric campaign to characterize the activity and the magnetic fields of this young solar proxy.
2 pages, 2 figures