Bibcode
Watson, C. A.; Steeghs, D.; Dhillon, V. S.; Shahbaz, T.
Bibliographical reference
Astronomische Nachrichten, Vol.328, Issue 8, p.813-816
Advertised on:
10
2007
Citations
11
Refereed citations
9
Description
It is well known that magnetic activity in late-type stars increases
with increasing rotation rate. Using inversion techniques akin to
medical imaging, the rotationally broadened profiles from such stars can
be used to reconstruct `Doppler images' of the distribution of cool,
dark starspots on their stellar surfaces. Interacting binaries, however,
contain some of the most rapidly rotating late-type stars known and thus
provide important tests of stellar dynamo models. Furthermore, magnetic
activity is thought to play a key role in their evolution, behaviour and
accretion dynamics. Despite this, we know comparatively little about the
magnetic activity and its influence on such binaries. In this review we
summarise the concepts behind indirect imaging of these systems, and
present movies of the starspot distributions on the cool stars in some
interacting binaries. We conclude with a look at the future
opportunities that such studies may provide.