Flare Activity and Magnetic Feature Analysis of the Flare Stars. II. Subgiant Branch

We present an investigation of the magnetic activity and flare characteristics of the subgiant stars mostly from F and G spectral types and compare the results with the main-sequence (MS) stars. The light curve of 352 stars on the subgiant branch (SGB) from the Kepler mission is analyzed in order to infer stability, relative coverage, and contrast of the magnetic structures and also flare properties using three flare indexes. The results show the following. (i) Relative coverage and contrast of the magnetic features along with rate, power, and magnitude of flares increase on the SGB due to the deepening of the convective zone and more vigorous magnetic field production. (ii) Magnetic activity of the F- and G-type stars on the SGB does not show dependency on the rotation rate and does not obey the saturation regime. This is the opposite of what we saw for the MS, in which the G-, K-, and M-type stars show clear dependency on the Rossby number. (iii) The positive relationship between the magnetic features' stability and their relative coverage and contrast remains true on the SGB; though, it has a lower dependency coefficient in comparison with the MS. (iv) Magnetic proxies and flare indexes of the SGB stars increase with increasing relative mass of the convective zone.

Automated summary

The magnetic activity and flare characteristics of subgiant stars, particularly those of F and G spectral types, differ significantly from main-sequence stars due to deepening of the convective zone and more vigorous magnetic field production leading to increased relative coverage and contrast of magnetic features. Unlike main-sequence stars, magnetic activity of F and G-type subgiant stars does not depend on rotation rate and does not follow the saturation regime.