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# The 𝐾–selected Butcher-Oemler Effect

## 1 Introduction

In the late 1970’s a variety of new imaging technologies were being tried out, with an order of magnitude or more better sensitivity than photographic plates. Butcher & Oemler’s (1978) observations of two galaxy clusters at $`z0.4`$ using the ISIT Vidicon on the KPNO 2.1 m altered the landscape for studies of distant galaxies, providing the first clear indication of dramatic changes in galaxy properties, and in the unexpectedly recent past. Butcher & Oemler (1984; hereafter BO84) confirmed the reality of the effect by addressing a number of concerns about systematic effects in the analysis procedure, and by broadening the sample both in number and redshift. The Butcher-Oemler (BO) effect—the discovery that galaxy clusters at $`z>0.2`$ contain a higher fraction of blue galaxies ($`f_B`$) than do nearby galaxy clusters—inspired an empirical approach to galaxy evolution which continues to the present day.

The origin of the BO effect is important to discern. Larson, Tinsley, & Caldwell (1980) suggested that S0s could be later type disks transformed by the cluster environment into earlier types. The fraction of blue galaxies in $`z0.4`$ clusters is qualitatively similar to the excess of lenticulars (S0) in nearby clusters relative to those at $`z0.5`$ (Dressler et al., 1997), supporting the idea that infalling field spirals are transformed into S0s. Morphological transformation from spiral to S0 may be induced by starbursts occurring upon cluster infall and leading to the rapid exhaustion of gas reservoirs (Dressler & Gunn, 1983; Barger et al., 1996; Poggianti et al., 1999), by truncation of normal star formation after infall (Abraham et al., 1996; Morris et al, 1998), or by a gradual decline in star formation as the dark haloes surrounding spirals are removed and gas supplies can no longer be replenished by cooling and infall (Larson et al., 1980; Balogh et al., 2000). These mechanisms also provide natural explanations for the origin of the morphology-density relation (Dressler, 1980) and agree with the apparent preference of the blue galaxies for the outskirts of clusters (BO84). The starburst explanation is supported by spectroscopy of the blue galaxies indicating that they are seen during or shortly after an episode of star formation (Couch & Sharples, 1987; Couch et al., 1994, 1998) (hereinafter CS87, C94, and C98 respectively). Finally, $`HST`$ images indicate that the blue galaxies are predominantly normal late-type disks, with some tendency to be involved in interactions (Lavery & Henry 1988, Oemler et al. 1997, C94, C98).

On the other hand, Rakos et al. (1997) and C98 conclude that many of the most actively star forming blue galaxies are actually low luminosity systems, temporarily brightened by starbursts, which will fade from view and evolve not into S0s but into dwarf galaxies. In this bursting dwarf scenario the optical luminosities of such galaxies are boosted to enter the luminosity cut defined by BO84. This raises the possibility that at least part of the BO effect is a result of photometric selection. In BO84 selection is carried out in optical passbands, which could magnify the effect of even minor starbursts (even though the BO84 passbands correspond approximately to the rest-frame $`V`$ band).

Our understanding of the physical mechanisms responsible for the BO effect remains contentious. Part of the problem is simply that there is a wide range in measured blue fractions at a given redshift. This could be explained by the larger problem that the cluster samples usually used in studies of the BO effect do not consist of the same kind of clusters over the redshift range of interest. Andreon & Ettori’s (1999) analysis of the clusters in BO84 using X-ray data indicate that the latter’s results are biased. They found that the $`L_x`$ of the BO84 sample increases with redshift, whereas there is no evidence for evolution in the X-ray luminosity function up to $`z0.8`$. When Andreon & Ettori (1999) add X-ray selected clusters to the BO84 sample, the trend of the blue fraction with redshift is much reduced. Margoniner & de Carvalho (2000) found similar results, underscoring the need for a study of the BO effect using a well-defined sample of clusters, over a large redshift range. Further illustrating the importance of sample selection, Margoniner et al. (2001) found a strong correlation between cluster richness and the blue fraction, in the sense that $`f_B`$ is higher for poorer clusters, using a large sample of 295 Abell clusters.

Selection of galaxy samples in the near-infrared as opposed to the optical should result in samples more representative by stellar mass (Aragon-Salamanca et al., 1991; Gavazzi et al., 1996; Stanford et al., 1998). Stanford et al. (1998) and De Propris et al. (1999) have shown that the luminosities and colors of galaxies selected in the $`K`$ band are not strongly dependent on their environment. Therefore $`K`$-selected samples can be used to constrain the masses of the blue galaxies causing the BO effect and investigate if these objects evolve into S0’s or dwarfs.

We present here a study of the BO effect in distant clusters using galaxies selected in the $`K`$ band. Our sample, observations and data reduction are described in the next section. The analysis and the main results are presented in Section 3. We discuss our findings in Section 4. For consistency with BO84, we adopt a cosmology with $`H_0=50`$ km s-1 Mpc-1 and $`q_0=0.1`$.

## 2 Data

Our sample is the heterogeneous set of clusters which were studied for luminosity function evolution by De Propris et al. (1999). For this sample, we have $`JK`$ and two optical bands of imaging which reach at least to 1.5 magnitudes below an evolving $`K^{}`$ at the 5$`\sigma `$ level. The optical bands change with redshift, bracketing the 4000 $`\mathrm{\AA }`$ break as closely as possible. Catalogs for these clusters were generated from the $`K`$-band images. The observations, data reduction, and photometry for this sample are presented in Stanford et al. (2002).

## 3 Analysis

In our analysis we are attempting to duplicate the methodology of BO84 as closely as possible. To that end, we begin with a summary of the cluster sample and procedures used by BO84. Their sample consisted of 33 clusters spanning the range $`0.003(\mathrm{Virgo})<z<0.54`$ drawn mostly from the Abell catalog. The data used by BO84 came from three main sources. Except for CL0016+16 (photographic plates were obtained by Koo 1981), the most distant clusters were observed with the ISIT Vidicon camera on the Kitt Peak 2.1 m telescope in the $`V`$ and $`R`$ bands covering areas of $``$6.2 arcmin2 down to a limit of $`R22.0`$. The photometry for their intermediate redshift clusters was obtained using $`J`$ and $`F`$ plates on the 4 m telescopes at KPNO and CTIO and covered areas of 55 arcmin2 down to a red magnitude of 22. The photometry for the low redshift clusters was obtained from $`J`$ and $`F`$ plates done at the Palomar 1.2 m Schmidt and covered areas of radius 1.5 Mpc.

BO84 defined ‘blue’ galaxies as (i) objects lying within a radius containing 30% of the cluster population (R30); (ii) brighter than a no-evolution $`M_V=20`$; and (iii) bluer by 0.2 magnitudes in rest frame $`BV`$ than the red sequence defined by the cluster E/S0 galaxies. BO84 derived the slope and intercept of the color-magnitude relation from their data or from the unevolved slope of the relation in nearby clusters (Sandage & Visvanathan, 1978) and calculated their $`BV`$ color offset using spectral energy distributions from Coleman et al. (1980) and assuming no evolution.

Because of the smaller size of infrared detectors, we are generally unable to cover enough field to trace the surface density distribution of galaxies and derive $`R_{30}`$ directly from our data. Therefore we adopt circular apertures of radius 0.5 and 0.7 Mpc centered on the brightest cluster galaxy. The $`R_{30}`$ listed in Table 1 of BO84 are between $``$1 and $``$5 arcmin with an average of 2.2 arcmin for the clusters at $`z>0.2`$ (see our Table 2 for the $`R_{30}`$ of the comparison clusters). A radius $`=0.7`$ Mpc is very similar to this average $`R_{30}`$ in the redshift range where our sample overlaps with that of BO84.

As for the magnitude limit for our samples, first we need to convert from the optical band used in BO84 to the $`K`$-band we are using for galaxy selection. We calculate that $`M_V=20`$ corresponds to $`M_K=23.05`$ for early-type galaxies in the present epoch, based on data from the $`UBVRIzJHK`$ survey of the Coma cluster by Eisenhardt et al. (2003). Our data on the distant clusters do not reach $`M_K=23.05`$ in all cases. We choose to use a magnitude cut at $`K^{}+1.5`$, where $`K^{}`$ has been determined from our data on each cluster (De Propris et al., 1999). Table 1 gives these $`K^{}`$, along with both the limiting $`K`$ actually used with our data in calculating blue fractions, the observed frame $`K`$ magnitude that is equivalent to the nominal $`M(V)=20.0`$ for an elliptical galaxy assuming pure $`k`$correction (using the models of Poggianti 1997) of the observed colors of Coma early-types, and the observed frame $`K`$ equivalent to the actual limits in $`M(V)`$ used by BO84 (see Table 2). For $`0.1<z<0.3`$ our limiting magnitudes are somewhat brighter than those used in BO84, a point we will return to later. While different from the fixed absolute magnitude cut used by BO84, our variable magnitude limit accounts for the passive evolution seen in cluster galaxies (e.g., Stanford et al. 1998). The single absolute magnitude limit used by BO84 translates into a cut relative to $`M^{}`$ that changes with redshift, thus possibly including variable proportions of giant and dwarf galaxies into their samples, whereas our magnitude limit is more likely to sample similar populations at all redshifts.

To determine which galaxies in our samples defined by the magnitude and area limits described above are blue we follow the methodology of BO84. First we correct the galaxy colors for the color-magnitude correlation of E/S0 galaxies by fitting the optical and optical-IR colors with a robust linear least squares routine with brightest cluster galaxies excluded from the fits. This algorithm minimizes least absolute deviation (rather than its square) with iterative rejection (Applied Statistics algorithm # 132) and therefore reduces the influence of outliers. We carry out this fit within the 0.5 Mpc region to maximize the strength of the cluster red sequence. We inspect the fit by eye and, occasionally, intervene manually to produce a more acceptable relation (i.e. one where the mode of the marginalized color distribution is as close as possible to 0). The fit should be done only to the early-type galaxies but we do not have morphological information on all the clusters in our sample. The color-magnitude diagrams and the best fits are shown in Figure 1 for both the optical-IR and the pure optical colors.

In order to set a color boundary that defines the blue galaxies for our chosen passbands, we need to transform the rest frame $`(BV)=0.2`$ offset into a difference in the observed colors ($`BR`$, $`gR`$, $`VI`$, $`RI`$, $`RK`$ and $`IK`$ as described below) at the redshift of each cluster. We follow the procedure outlined by BO84 and Smail et al. (1998) and use E, Sa and Sc spectral energy distributions from Poggianti (1997). We find that a mixture of 55% Sa and 45% Sc yields a spectrum with a color difference $`\mathrm{\Delta }(BV)=0.2`$ from an E model. We use this mixed spectrum to calculate the corresponding $`\mathrm{\Delta }(color)`$ (for our observed colors) at $`z=0`$. We then use the $`k`$ corrections given in Poggianti (1997) (for no-evolution models) to calculate a color difference as a function of redshift (i.e., we compute the no-evolution colors for the E model and for the Sa+Sc mixture). For example, the difference corresponding to an offset of $`(BV)=0.2`$ in the observed $`VI`$ at $`z=0`$ is 0.21 mag. For a solar metallicity elliptical in e.g. GHO1601+4253 the $`k`$correction in $`V`$ is 1.77 mag and 0.41 in $`I`$ (Poggianti 1997); for the composite Sa+Sc spectrum the $`k`$correction is 1.24 in $`V`$ and 0.21 in $`I`$. Therefore the $`k`$corrected difference corresponding to $`(BV)=0.2`$ is 0.54 magnitudes in $`VI`$ at $`z=0.54`$.

We remove contamination from field galaxies by using the SPICES survey (Stern et al., 2002; Eisenhardt et al., 2003). SPICES is an imaging survey of four fields (Cetus, Lynx, Pisces, and SA57) in $`BRIzJK`$. Objects in these fields were selected in the $`K`$ band down to $`K=20.0`$, where the completeness level is $`80`$%. These objects were photometered in the same manner as was done for the clusters in our sample (Stanford et al., 2002). Before being used for background correction, color distributions for the field galaxy samples are corrected for the color-magnitude relations derived for each cluster. We have no $`g`$ or $`V`$ data in the SPICES field survey and so need to interpolate magnitudes for those bands for the clusters which have $`g`$ or $`V`$ data. As part of the analysis of SPICES data, photometric redshifts have been determined by A. Connolly using the methods of Connolly & Szalay (1999) and Csabai et al. (2000). This process yields spectral types as well photometric redshifts. Using these spectral types and the Coleman et al. (1980) spectral energy distributions, we may calculate colors in any band for the objects in the SPICES catalogs. As a test of this procedure, we show a comparison of interpolated and measured colors in Figure 2. The average of the differences amounts to only a few hundredths of a magnitude with an rms varying from 0.15 to 0.3 mags (as shown in the figure). This indicates that the interpolated $`g`$ and $`V`$ band colors of the field galaxies in the SPICES sample are reasonably accurate. The above rms values are typically 2–3 times smaller than the actual offsets in the observed colors that are used in determining which are the blue galaxies when calculating Butcher-Oemler fractions.

The marginal color distributions for the clusters and the field sample, normalized by the relative areas and with the appropriate magnitude limits, are shown in Figure 3. The partial galaxies in the field histograms are due to the normalization to the area and magnitude limit of each cluster. As we state above, we have checked that the mode of the color distributions are close to 0 as expected. This does not always work perfectly both because measurement scatter in the colors tends to place fainter objects towards the red, and because field galaxies are in the color-magnitude diagrams biasing the fits to the cluster color-mag sequences. The distributions for M0906 are a special case: note they have modes which are significantly different from 0. This appears to be due to the fact that this cluster is composed of two clumps in redshift space, each with its own color-magnitude relation (Ellingson et al., 2001).

The arrow in each panel of Figure 3 indicates the color corresponding to $`(BV)_{rest}=`$0.2 mag bluer than the early-type c–m relation. The blue fraction is defined as the ratio $`N_b/N`$, where $`N_b`$ is the field-corrected number of galaxies bluer than the BO84 color limit, and $`N`$ is the total number of cluster members (in a statistical sense, after subtraction of the field population). The error in this quantity is derived from

$$\frac{\sigma ^2(f_B)}{f_B^2}=\left(\frac{\sigma ^2N_b}{N_b^2}\right)+\left(\frac{\sigma ^2N}{N^2}\right)$$

and

$$N=N(\mathrm{all})N(\mathrm{field})$$

$$N_b=N_b(\mathrm{all})N(\mathrm{field})$$

where $`N(\mathrm{all})`$ and $`N_{(\mathrm{field})}`$ are Poisson variables (including an extra contribution from clustering which is computed from the four separate background fields of SPICES) and $`N_b(\mathrm{all})`$ and $`N_b(\mathrm{field})`$ are binomial variables. The correction for field contamination is statistical which means that the corrections can be too large resulting, on some occasions, in blue fractions that are negative. In these cases we have indicated that the value is an upper limit in Figures 4 and 5 below.

We plot blue fractions as a function of redshift for the 0.7 Mpc radii for both optical-infrared and optical-optical colors in Figure 4, and compare our results for the optical colors with the previous compilations by BO84 and Rakos & Schombert (1995) in Figure 5. The derived $`f_B`$’s for our $`K`$-selected samples are tabulated in Table 3. A fit to our data shows that $`f_B`$ is about 10% at all redshifts we consider (albeit with large scatter).

To see if there are any systematic differences between our blue fractions and those reported by BO84, we have attempted to make direct comparisons with BO84. For this purpose, there are four clusters in both our sample and that of BO84 for which we have adequate data to make useful comparisons: Abell 1942, CL0024+1654, 3C 295, and CL0016+16. For these clusters, we have selected samples in both the $`K`$-band and also in an optical band, $`R`$ or $`I`$, depending on the cluster redshift. Our samples are chosen over the same areas as in BO84, and to the same magnitude limits actually used by BO84, to the extent that these magnitude limits can be determined from the literature. The areas and magnitude limits for these comparisons are summarized, along with the resulting blue fractions, in Table 2. For 3 of the 4 clusters we find blue fractions in our optically-selected samples similar to those calculated by BO84. The exception is CL0016+16, the highest redshift cluster in BO84 at $`z=0.54`$, for which we determined a significantly higher value of $`f_B`$. However, the $`f_B=0.02\pm 0.07`$ found by BO84 is far below the value of $`f_B`$ predicted by the Butcher-Oemler effect for the cluster’s redshift. For all four clusters the $`f_B`$ that we found in our $`K`$-selected sample in this comparison are lower than those found from the optically-selected samples, even when the area and effective magnitude limits are the same. So these tests indicate that selecting in the $`K`$-band is the most important factor determining the generally lower values of $`f_B`$ that we find from our $`K`$-band selected samples.

## 4 Discussion

We find that: (i) our infrared selected blue fractions are generally lower than optically selected $`f_B`$ and (ii) our data show no strong trend in $`f_B`$ with redshift. However, at the redshifts $`z<0.6`$ where our sample overlaps with that of Butcher & Oemler, there is little if any significant difference in $`f_B`$ as determined from our $`K`$-selected samples and those of Butcher & Omeler, given the larger scatter in the $`f_B`$ found both by us and by Butcher & Oemler.

These points need further clarification. Our sample of clusters is heterogeneous and is somewhat biased to rich clusters at higher redshifts, for which blue fractions could be lower, as these objects are more likely to be more dynamically evolved. Andreon & Ettori (1999) show that the BO effect weakens when X-ray selected clusters are added to the set of clusters in BO84. However, we have shown that the same degree of passive evolution is present in at least the early-type galaxies in our sample (Stanford et al., 1998; De Propris et al., 1999) independent of the X-ray luminosity of the cluster.

The $`K`$-band selection procedure adopted will identify galaxies with colors of Sb’s or later types, as long as they are above our magnitude limit (i.e. are sufficiently massive). At the redshifts we are considering, the $`R`$ band passes through the rest frame $`B`$ and $`U`$ passbands, whereas $`I`$ samples the $`V`$ and $`B`$ bands, so our optical colors should be sensitive even to minor episodes of star formation in otherwise old populations. We show a comparison of blue fractions as derived in the optical-$`K`$ and optical-only colors in Figure 6. There is no evidence of large systematic differences in the derived blue fractions in these colors. On average the difference in blue fractions between optical-$`K`$ and purely optical colors is $`0.07\pm 0.10`$. Our $`K`$ selected sample is roughly equivalent to selection by stellar mass and therefore our results indicate that the star formation likely causing the BO effect takes place among relatively low mass objects as well as in normal spirals Dressler et al. (1994), Oemler et al. (1997).

A plausible interpretation of our results is that there are two components to the classical BO effect. One component, which is seen by our $`K`$-selected samples giving rise to the $``$10% values of $`f_B`$ that we find, is the massive galaxies, with colors approximately equivalent to those of Sb’s, that are present at a roughly constant fraction at all redshifts; these objects are likely to be field spirals whose star formation history is modified by infall into the cluster. The second component, which is missing from our infrared selected data, is responsible for both the larger blue fractions of optically-selected samples and their redshift dependence. If this is correct, these objects have $`K`$band luminosities lower than $`K^{}+1.5`$ and are likely to be a population of starbursting dwarfs (or low luminosity spirals), subject to luminosity boosting in the optical bands (Barger et al., 1996). The first population would be identified with the ‘normal’ spirals of C94 and C98, whereas the dwarfs would constitute the more extreme starburst and post-starburst objects. These dwarfs are unlikely to evolve into S0’s and instead contribute to the rich populations of dwarf galaxies observed in nearby clusters. As dwarfs are sampled from the more steeply rising power-law regime of the luminosity function ($`\alpha 1.3`$), the exact placement of an optical magnitude limit with respect to $`M^{}`$ strongly affects the number of dwarfs included in a sample and thus can result in a large increase in observed $`f_B`$. This is qualitatively consistent with the results of C98, where the greater part of the blue population corresponds to relatively low mass late type spirals and irregulars.

There is considerable evidence that low luminosity galaxies show greater star forming activity at moderate redshifts. The Canada-France Redshift Survey detected a population of bright objects with strong OII emission at $`z>0.2`$ (Hammer et al., 1997). The blue excess field population at $`z=0.5`$ consists of dwarfs (kinematically: Mallén-Ornelas et al. 1997). The luminosity function of dwarfs in two distant clusters, MS 2255.7+2039 at $`z=0.29`$ (Näslund et al., 2000) and CL1601+54 at $`z=0.54`$ (Dáhlen et al., 2001), appears to steepen with redshift, suggesting a brightening of the dwarf population associated with star formation episodes. Such objects would then fade to become part of the rich dwarf populations observed in nearby clusters (Wilson et al., 1997). This is consistent with the ‘harassment’ scenario of Moore et al. (1998) whereby low mass spirals are transformed into spheroidals via interactions with the cluster tidal field. A possible interpretation then would account for the Butcher-Oemler effect as a cluster counterpart of the faint blue field galaxies, coupled with an increase in cluster infall at larger redshift, as in the scenario presented by Ellingson et al. (2001).

Although our data only provide information on the bright, massive component of the BO effect, we observe that there is no redshift at which the blue fractions peak strongly in Figure 4. If the blue galaxies in our $`K`$-selected samples are mostly normal spirals falling into clusters, this suggests that there is no preferred epoch of cluster merging and that spiral and lenticular populations may be built up gradually by infall of small groups at least since $`z1`$.

To conclude, we need to caution the reader that our results are based on a heterogeneous sample of objects, which is likely to contain significant observational biases. One obvious example is that the fit in Fig. 5 is weighed to low blue fraction by the small number of clusters at $`z>0.7`$ which have low $`f_B`$. If we exclude these from our fit, we still find a shallower slope than BO84 but the discrepancy is much reduced. The higher redshift clusters are those most likely to be massive and to have low blue fractions because more highly evolved. This points to the the need to acquire more data, over wider fields of view and to fainter limits, and for a larger sample of clusters at high redshift, in order to confirm the results presented here.

The authors would like to thank NOAO for a generous allocation of observing time to this project, and the staffs at Kitt Peak and Cerro Tololo for their help with the observing. We wish to thank Warrick J. Couch for having read the manuscript and substantially improved it by his comments and advice. We also would like to thank the referee, Augustus E. Oemler, for his careful and cooperative reports which have made this paper substantially better. This research has made use of the NASA/IPAC Extragalactic Database (NED) which is operated by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, under contract with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Support for this work was provided by NASA through grant number AR–5790.02–94A from the Space Telescope Science Institute, which is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc., under NASA contract NAS5-26555. Portions of the research described here were carried out at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, under a contract with NASA. Work performed at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory is supported by the DOE under contract W7405-ENG-48.


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# Evidence of decoupled lattice distortion and ferroelectric polarization in the relaxor system PMN-𝑥PT

## Abstract

We report high $`q`$-resolution neutron scattering data on PMN-$`x`$PT single crystals with $`x=20\%`$ and $`27\%`$. No rhombohedral distortion occurs in the 20PT sample for temperatures as low as 50 K. On the other hand, the 27PT sample transforms into a rhombohedral phase below $`T_C375`$ K. Our data provide conclusive evidence that a new phase with an average cubic lattice is present in the bulk of this relaxor system at low PT concentration, in which the ferroelectric polarization and lattice distortion are decoupled. The rhombohedral distortion is limited to the outermost tens of microns of the crystal.

The complex perovskite system Pb(Mg1/3Nb2/3)O3 (PMN) is a close analogue to Pb(Zn1/3Nb2/3)O3 (PZN), both of which have been studied extensively because of their extraordinary piezoelectric properties. The addition of PbTiO3 (PT) enhances the piezoelectricity significantly, forming solid solutions PMN-$`x`$PT and PZN-$`x`$PT for $`0x1`$ Park and Shrout (1997); Kuwata et al. (1981). This discovery has motivated numerous studies of the structural phase transitions in these systems as a function of $`x`$. The current zero-field phase diagrams of PMN-$`x`$PT and PZN-$`x`$PT share many common features, including a purported cubic-to-rhombohedral phase transition at small values of $`x`$ Kuwata et al. (1981); Noheda et al. (2002); La-Orauttapong et al. (2002) (see Fig. 1). One exception to this is pure PMN ($`x=0`$), which is reported to retain an average cubic structure down to temperatures as low as 5 K Bonneau et al. (1989); de Mathan et al. (1991). The rhombohedral distortions in both PMN-$`x`$PT and PZN-$`x`$PT have been observed directly by x-ray scattering experiments Noheda et al. (2002); Ye et al. (2003); Lebon et al. (2002) and related to the establishment of ferroelectric order in each system.

Several recent studies have now uncovered evidence of a new phase located on the rhombohedral side of the phase diagram. Electric field studies of PZN-8PT by Ohwada et al. Ohwada et al. (2003) show that the unpoled system does not exhibit a rhombohedral unit cell distortion below $`T_C`$. This was the first hint that a new phase, which was labeled phase X, may exist there. Subsequent high energy x-ray structural studies by Xu et al. Xu et al. (2003) prove that the inside of single crystal PZN has an undistorted lattice, providing conclusive evidence of a new phase. Motivated by these findings, Gehring et al. Gehring et al. (2003) performed neutron scattering measurements with very fine q-resolution on a single crystal sample of PMN-10PT. In contrast to previous 8.9 keV Cu Kα x-ray measurements by Dkhil et al. Dkhil et al. (2001) on a powder sample of the same compound, the neutron data show no evidence of a rhombohedral distortion below $`T_C`$, and are consistent with the presence of phase X.

In this Letter we present high q-resolution neutron scattering data on PMN-$`x`$PT with $`x=20\%`$ (20PT) and $`27\%`$ (27PT), both of which are on the the R(X) side of the phase diagram (See Fig. 1). Our data show that these two compounds are notably different. One of them (20PT) exists as phase X at low temperatures, which has an undistorted lattice, inconsistent with the previously reported rhombohedral distortion by x-ray measurements on similar compounds Ye et al. (2003). On the other hand, 27PT shows a clear rhombohedral distortion below $`T_C375`$ K. We believe that phase X is one in which a rhombohedral polarization exists within an undistorted lattice, and thus highly unusual. This decoupling breaks down with increasing the PT concentration $`x`$, and allows the local atomic displacements to develop into a global rhombohedral phase.

Our samples are high quality single crystals of PMN-20PT and 27PT, having dimensions $`3\times 3\times 2`$ mm3 and $`7\times 3\times 2`$ mm3, respectively. Both of them have been depoled before the neutron measurements. The neutron scattering experiments were performed on the BT9 triple-axis spectrometer at the NIST Center for Neutron Research. Measurements were made using a fixed incident neutron energy $`E_i`$ of 14.7 meV, obtained from the (002) reflection of a PG monochromator, and horizontal beam collimations of 10’-46’-20’-40’. We exploited the (004) reflection of a perfect Ge crystal as analyzer to achieve unusually fine q-resolution near the relaxor (220) Bragg peak thanks to a nearly perfect matching of the sample and analyzer d-spacings. Close to the (220) Bragg peak, the $`q`$-resolution along the wave vector direction is about 0.0012 Å-1 ($`\delta q/q2\times 10^4`$Hig .

Fig. 2 shows longitudinal ($`\theta 2\theta `$) scans along the (220) pseudocubic Bragg peak both above and below $`T_C`$. The relative intensities have been scaled for ease of comparison. The Bragg profile for 20PT can be fit to a single peak at all temperatures and shows no evidence of any rhombohedral splitting. Above $`T_C300`$ K the profile fits well to a Gaussian line-shape with a narrow width only slightly larger than that of the instrumental resolution. However the Bragg peak broadens considerably below $`T_C`$ and is better described by a Lorentzian function. This broadening indicates the presence of a large internal strain within the crystal bulk below $`T_C`$.

By contrast, 27PT has a rhombohedral structure at low temperature. The (220) Bragg peak splits below $`T_C375`$ K, and is an unambiguous sign of the expected rhombohedral phase transition. The rhombohedral distortion increases on cooling, as shown by the plot of the rhombohedral angle $`\alpha `$ vs T (inset of Fig. 2).

These results clearly indicate that the low temperature phase of bulk 20PT is different from that of the rhombohedral phase observed in 27PT. The longitudinal full width at half maximum ($`2\mathrm{\Gamma }`$) of the (220) Bragg peak is plotted versus temperature in Fig. 3 as is the lattice parameter $`a`$. Data taken on heating and cooling yield similar results and thus no hysteretic effects. The 20PT Bragg profile is sharp and almost resolution limited at high temperature, but begins to broaden below $`T_C300`$ K, which is indicative of a true phase transition. For comparison, we also show the values of $`2\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ at 100 K for the 27PT sample (solid circle) and the PMN-10PT sample (open rectangle) measured by Gehring et al. Gehring et al. (2003). Clearly the broadening develops not only with cooling, but also with increasing PT concentration.

For normal ferroelectric oxides, the lattice parameter decreases linearly on cooling down to $`T_C`$, then increases in the ferroelectric region, as shown by the dotted line in Fig. 3. In relaxors, the linearity breaks down at a temperature $`T_x`$ above $`T_C`$. Experimental evidence for this have been provided by the independent measurements of Dkhil et al. Dkhil et al. (2001) and Ye et al. Ye et al. (2003) on a series of PMN-$`x`$PT samples. The 20PT lattice parameter follows the linear behavior seen in conventional ferroelectrics at high temperature, but shows a break at $`T_x380`$ K, and remains almost constant below $`T_x`$. In addition, the unit cell volume does not increase with cooling in the ferroelectric region. This anomalous feature is characteristic of phase X, and has also been observed in pure PMN Zhao et al. (1998); Dkhil et al. (2001) and PMN-10PT Gehring et al. (2003).

Our results provide additional evidence that PMN-xPT transforms into phase X at low temperature for small PT concentrations. The studies by Ohwada et al. Ohwada et al. (2003) and Xu et al. Xu et al. (2003) provide compelling evidence that the same picture is true for PZN-xPT. By using x-rays with different incident energies, Xu et al. Xu et al. (2003) also found out that the outermost $`50`$ $`\mu `$m of the PZN crystal does exhibit a rhombohedral distortion. The thickness of the outer-layer is estimated from the penetration depths of different x-ray energies, and may vary with different compounds. However, it is important to note that the existence of an outer-layer with a structure different from that of the inside naturally explains the discrepancies between earlier x-ray powder diffraction and the recent neutron and high-energy x-ray scattering results. And the fact that x-ray studies of pure PMN have not observed a rhombohedral phase could be understood if PMN represents the limiting case of phase X with a very thin outer-layer.

Our results, together with other neutron scattering measurements of phase X Stock et al. (2002); Gehring et al. (2003), show that all measured Bragg peaks broaden significantly in the longitudinal direction below the Curie temperature $`T_C`$. These neutron results are in contrast to the high energy x-ray case Xu et al. (2003), where the Bragg profiles are sharp for temperatures both above and below $`T_C`$. We speculate that these differences are due to the fact the incident neutron beam has a much larger size and divergence than the x-ray beam, therefore more sensitive to the inhomogeneity of the whole crystal. More measurements are currently underway for better understanding of these differences.

In phase X, the crystal lattice are undistorted, and the Bragg peaks do not split in diffraction measurements. However, the true symmetry is not yet known. To get detailed information on the atomic positions, we are planning further investigations on refinements from single crystal diffractions. Unfortunately, extinction effects arising from those near-perfect crystals are making this quite difficult.

Both PMN and PZN are relaxors that exhibit a broad and strongly frequency-dependent dielectric constant $`ϵ`$ as shown in Fig. 4. Despite the absence of a rhombohedral distortion in phase X, ferroelectric polar order is still present in the system. Recently, neutron inelastic scattering measurements by Wakimoto et al. Wakimoto et al. (2002) of the ferroelectric soft TO phonon in pure PMN revealed that the soft mode recovers at temperatures below $`T_C213`$ K. Similar measurements on PZN were later performed by Stock et al. Stock et al. (2002), where $`T_C410`$ K. The linear relationship between the soft TO phonon energy squared $`(\mathrm{}\omega _0)^21/ϵ`$ and T (see inset of Fig. 4) is a clear signature of an ordered ferroelectric phase below $`T_C`$.

In ferroelectric systems, the primary order parameter is the polarization $`\stackrel{}{P}`$ caused by ionic shifts. It is usually coupled to a secondary order parameter - the lattice distortion, which changes the shape of the unit cell and is more readily accessible by scattering methods. Recent reports on epitaxial films of SrTiO3 and BaTiO3 He et al. (2003) show that this coupling is broken in these systems, possibly due to epitaxy strain and substrate clamping effects. The coexistence of ferroelectric spontaneous polarization and an undistorted lattice is the first example of the decoupling inside a free-standing crystal.

In pure PMN, polar regions with sizes of a few nanometers start to form at the Burns temperature Burns and Dacol (1983) $`T_d600`$ K, and contribute directly to diffuse scattering Naberezhnov et al. (1999); Vakhrushev et al. (1989). Both neutron and x-ray measurements Dkhil et al. (2001); You and Zhang (1997); La-Orauttapong et al. (2001); Koo et al. (2002) show that in relaxors, the diffuse scattering intensity starts to be visible around $`T_d`$, and increases monotonically on cooling. An important step in understanding the nature of these polar nanoregions (PNR) has been made by Hirota et al. Hirota et al. (2002), with the concept of phase-shifted PNR. The atomic displacements derived from previous neutron diffuse scattering data on PMN Vakhrushev et al. (1995) by Vakhrushev et al. were re-examined and decomposed into the sum of two terms with comparable magnitudes. The first term satisfies the center-of-mass condition and is consistent with the values derived from inelastic scattering intensities from the soft TO mode Wakimoto et al. (2002); Gehring et al. (2001). The second term represents a uniform shift along the polar directions of the PNR relative to the surrounding lattices. In this picture, the PNR condense from the soft TO mode, and exhibit a ”uniform phase shift”, or displacement, below $`T_d`$. Experimental evidence of this uniform phase shift has been observed by Gehring et al. P. M. Gehring et al.  by applying an external electric field along the  direction of a PZN-8PT single crystal. The diffuse scattering intensity around the (003) Bragg peak is considerably reduced at all temperatures below $`T_C`$, while the diffuse scattering around (300) remains strong. The size of this phase shift is comparable to the first term and is estimated to be around 1/10 of the lattice spacing. This large phase shift creates a huge energy barrier, making it extremely difficult for the PNR to merge into the surrounding lattice.

The interaction between the PNR and the surrounding lattice can be viewed as a coupling parameter between the ferroelectric polarization and lattice distortion. We conjecture that the balance between the energy barrier caused by the uniform phase shift and this coupling parameter is the key in understanding phase X. For $`T<T_C`$, the entire system is polarized. Nevertheless, in order for a long range rhombohedral distortion to develop, the energy barrier must be overcome before the PNR can merge and grow into macroscopic rhombohedrally distorted domains. This can only be achieved when the interaction between the PNR and the surrounding environment is sufficiently strong. Otherwise, the lattice will remain undistorted, with confined ferroelectric polarization. In other words, phase X is a special confined form of rhombohedral phase. Electric field studies on PZN-8PT by Ohwada et al Ohwada et al. (2003) confirm this by showing that phase X always transforms into the MA phase first with increasing field, following the polarization rotation path of $`RM_AM_CT`$, indicating a {111} rhombohedral type of polarization in phase X.

The confinement of local rhombohedral order in phase X inevitably induces instability in the system. The interaction between the PNR and the surrounding undistorted lattice creates strain and stress in the system, which leads to the broadening of the Bragg profile below $`T_C`$. A small external “force” may be able to drive the whole system into a more stable phase. For example, by application of a small electric field, even pure PMN can be transformed into a rhombohedral phase below $`T_C`$ Calvarin et al. (1995). With increasing PT concentration, the coupling becomes stronger and the instability increases. Eventually, the “confinement” breaks down and the usual coupling between rhombohedral distortion and ferroelectric polarization is re-established for larger PT concentrations.

###### Acknowledgements.

We would like to thank C. Stock and S. B. Vakhrushev for stimulating discussions, and H. C. Materials for providing the single crystals. Financial support from the U.S. Department of Energy under contract No. DE-AC02-98CH10886 and Office of Naval Research under contracts N000140210340, N000140210126, and MURI N000140110761 is also gratefully acknowledged.


text:
# Three years in the coronal life of AB Dor

## 1 Introduction

AB Dor (HD 36705, K1 IV-V) is a frequent target for studies on stellar activity. Almost arrived in the main sequence, with an age of $``$20–30 Myr (Collier Cameron & Foing, 1997), it has a high rotation rate ($`P_{\mathrm{rot}}`$=0.5148 d), and persistent large-scale magnetic field patterns in its photosphere (see Donati et al., 1999; Hussain et al., 2002, and references therein). Two companions, not expected to interact with AB Dor, have been detected in the vicinity. The dM4e star Rossiter 137B (AB Dor B), detected as a faint source also in X-rays (Vilhu & Linsky, 1987), is 10$`\mathrm{}`$ away from the main source, while the third companion is a very low-mass star (0.08–0.11 M) at a distance of 0.2$`\mathrm{}`$–0.7$`\mathrm{}`$ (3–10 a.u.) from the primary (Guirado et al., 1997). The contribution of the companions to the X-ray spectrum of the main source can be considered negligible, essentially because the quiescent X-ray emission of the companions scales as their bolometric luminosity (in fact, for their young age, all the stars in the system emit close to the saturation level of $`L_\mathrm{X}`$/$`L_{\mathrm{bol}}`$10-3). AB Dor has been observed with the main space observatories in the UV, EUV, and X-rays, like HST, FUSE, ROSAT, BeppoSAX, ASCA and EUVE (see Vilhu et al., 1998; Ake et al., 2000; Schmitt et al., 1998; Kuerster et al., 1997; Maggio et al., 2000; Rucinski et al., 1995; Mewe et al., 1996; Sanz-Forcada et al., 2002, and references therein), showing rotational modulation in some lines formed in the transition region, and a corona dominated by material at temperatures of log $`T`$(K)$``$6.7–7.3, significantly higher than in the solar quiescent corona. Most recently, initial results from the first XMM observations of AB Dor, taken in May and June 2000, have been presented by Güdel et al. (2001), while a preliminary analysis of the first Chandra observation was made by Linsky et al. (2001).

Rotational modulation up to a factor $`2`$ has been detected in C iii and O vi lines which form in the upper chromosphere and in the transition region (Ake et al. 2000), but only at about the 15% level for the X-ray emission observed with ROSAT (Kürster et al. 1997). Several EUV and X-ray spectroscopic studies show that the corona of AB Dor is dominated by plasma at temperatures of log $`T`$(K)$``$6.7–7.3, significantly higher than in the solar quiescent corona. On the other hand, only few determinations of the plasma density have been published up to date: using density-sensitive C iii lines in orpheus and fuse spectra, densities of $`10^{11}`$ cm-3 or more at $`T80000`$ K have been determined by Schmitt et al. (1998) and by Ake et al. (2000), while Güdel et al. (2001) have estimated a coronal density of $`3\times 10^{10}`$ cm-3 at $`T2\times 10^6`$ K using the He-like O vii emission line triplet; finally, densities of the order of $`10^{12}`$ cm-3 at $`T10^7`$ K have been recently determined by Sanz-Forcada et al. (2002) from EUVE spectra.

There are still several open issues concerning the structure of the corona of AB Dor, and more in general on the coronae of very active stars in saturated X-ray emission regime. The first question is whether the hot coronal plasma is homogeneously distributed across the stellar surface, or rather it is spatially concentrated. Up to date, limited and sometimes contradicting information on the sizes and location of the X-ray emitting coronal structures has been derived from the analysis and modeling of X-ray flares observed with EXOSAT (Collier Cameron et al., 1988), BeppoSAX (Maggio et al., 2000), and XMM-Newton (Güdel et al., 2001), as well as from the reconstruction of the three-dimensional magnetic field geometry based on Zeeman-Doppler maps (Hussain et al., 2002; Jardine et al., 2002). A second related question is whether the coronal emission originates from compact (high-density) structures, possibly located above the high-latitude ($`>60^\mathrm{°}`$) spots suggested by Doppler images (Donati et al., 1999, and references therein), or perhaps also from the large-scale structures suggested to explain the stable slingshot prominences revealed by transient absorption features in the H$`\alpha `$ line (Collier Cameron & Robinson, 1989). The above questions, and the related issues on nature of the magnetic dynamo activity in AB Dor, can be usefully addressed by new accurate determinations of the plasma density from spectroscopic diagnostics and from a detailed study of the X-ray emission variability of this coronal source.

As one of the brightest X-ray stellar sources, AB Dor has been chosen for the XMM-Newton calibration program, and 15 observations are available to date, totalling 594 ks of clean RGS spectra. This is the first of a series of papers devoted to a detailed and systematic analysis of the XMM-Newton observations available to date, and it is dedicated to the high resolution spectra with the lowest and highest global count rates, with the aim of understanding the properties of the corona of AB Dor in two different activity levels. In this paper we also present the result of a new analysis of the higher resolution Chandra/HETG spectrum, performed with the same method employed for the XMM data. Issues related to the analysis of XMM/RGS and Chandra/HETG spectra are discussed, and a comparison with the results obtained from previous EUVE observations is presented.

The technical information related to the observations is given in Sect. 2. The methods employed to analyze the data are delineated in Sect. 3, as well as the issues that may affect the measurements in this kind of spectra. The scientific results are discussed in Sect. 4, followed by a summary of the conclusions in Sect. 5.

## 2 Observations

### 2.1 XMM-Newton

AB Dor has been frequently observed as XMM-Newton calibration target since May 2000 (Table 1), with different combinations of instruments operating simultaneously. XMM-Newton allows to carry out simultaneous observation with the EPIC (European Imaging Photon Camera) PN and MOS detectors (sensitivity range 0.15–15 keV and 0.2–10 keV respectively), and with the RGS (Reflection Grating Spectrometer, den Herder et al., 2001) ($`\lambda \lambda `$6–38 Å), allowing us to obtain simultaneously medium-resolution CCD spectra ($`\mathrm{\Delta }E`$70 eV at $`E`$1 keV) and high-resolution grating ($`\lambda `$/$`\mathrm{\Delta }\lambda `$100–500) spectra. The data have been reduced by employing the standard tasks present in the SAS (Science Analysis Software) package v5.3.3, removing the time intervals when the background was higher than 0.5 cts/s in CCD #9, in order to ensure a “clean” spectrum. The average count rates obtained in the RGS 2 spectra, after the high-background removal, are shown in Table 1. The observations with the lowest and highest RGS count rates (rev. #091 and rev. #205) are analyzed in detail in this work in order to investigate the differences in the coronal thermal structure among these two levels of activity. Light curves for the two observations (Fig. 1a and b) were obtained by selecting a circle centered on the source in the EPIC-pn images, and subtracting the background count rate taken proportionally. The image presents a clear asymmetry in the main source, that we attribute to AB Dor B; this source can contaminate both the light curve and the RGS spectra of AB Dor, but we can safely neglect its effects in the RGS spectra, given the flux ratio observed with Chandra (see below). High resolution spectra corresponding to the first order of the RGS (Fig. 2), together with some of the lines identified, are analyzed as explained in Sect. 3. Second order RGS spectra have been used to double check for the blends contributing to the main lines (Fig. 3), and to test the flux calibration with respect to the first order (see Sect. 3.1).

### 2.2 Chandra

AB Dor was observed on 9 October 1999 for 52 ks with the Chandra High Energy Transmission Grating Spectrograph, (HETG, Weisskopf et al., 2002). The HETGS is made of two gratings, HEG (High Energy Grating, $`\lambda \lambda `$1.5–15, $`\lambda /\mathrm{\Delta }\lambda `$120–1200), and MEG (Medium Energy Grating $`\lambda \lambda `$3–30, $`\lambda /\mathrm{\Delta }\lambda `$60–1200), that operate simultaneously, permitting the further analysis of the data with different spectral resolutions. Standard reduction tasks present in the CIAO v2.3 package have been employed in the reduction of data retrieved from the Chandra archive, and the extraction of the HEG and MEG spectra (Fig. 4). Two sources are visible in the CCD image at their zero-order positions. The main source ($`\alpha `$=5:28:44.8, $`\delta `$=–65:26:55.5) is identified as AB Dor, while the second source ($`\alpha `$=5:28:44.4 $`\delta `$=–65:26:46.5) agrees with the position of AB Dor B (dM4e). A light curve of AB Dor A+B was obtained using the first orders of HEG and MEG (Fig. 1c), while the zeroth-order was employed to get a light curve of the secondary source alone (the zeroth-order of the primary source is severely affected by pile-up). No significant flaring events are present in the light curve of AB Dor B, and a low-resolution ACIS-S spectrum (sensitivity range 0.4–10.0 keV, $`E/\mathrm{\Delta }E`$50 at 6 keV) was obtained for it (see Sanz-Forcada et al., 2003b, for further details). This spectrum was employed to calculate the flux in the range 6–25 Å ($`f_\mathrm{X}`$1.26$`\times `$10-12 erg s-1 cm-2, $`L_\mathrm{X}`$3.35$`\times `$1028 erg s-1). The flux of AB Dor A+B calculated in the same spectral range of the MEG spectra is $`f_\mathrm{X}`$2.75$`\times `$10-11 erg s-1 cm-2, $`L_\mathrm{X}`$7.35$`\times `$1030 erg s-1, therefore the secondary source only represents $``$4% of the total flux of the system. A 3-temperature global fit was made to the low-resolution spectrum of AB Dor B (Sanz-Forcada et al., 2003b) using the Astrophysical Plasma Emission Database (APED v1.3, Smith et al., 2001) in the Interactive Spectral Interpretation System (ISIS, Houck & Denicola, 2000) software package, provided by the MIT/CXC, and a synthetic MEG spectrum was constructed based on this fit. The comparison of this synthetic spectrum with the total MEG spectrum shows that the effects of AB Dor B on the total spectrum are negligible (both for HETG and XMM/RGS spectra).

Finally, the emission level of AB Dor at the time of the Chandra observation of AB Dor has been compared with the RGS 2 count rates by folding the Emission Measure Distribution based on the Chandra spectra (see below) with the RGS instrumental response. This simulation yields a count rate of $``$1.01 cts/s, consistent with the count rate obtained in the RGS #091 observation. Further analysis of the light curves and the long-term variability of the Chandra and XMM observations of AB Dor will follow in Sanz-Forcada et al. (2003b).

## 3 Data Analysis

Stellar coronae are commonly studied through the calculation of the coronal thermal structure. Such a structure is derived by using the plasma Emission Measure Distribution vs. Temperature (EMD), with the volume Emission Measure $`EM`$($`T`$) defined as $`_{\mathrm{\Delta }T}N_HN_edV`$ \[cm-3\]. The $`EM`$ quantifies how much material is emitting in a temperature range $`\mathrm{\Delta }T`$, and it can be used to compute the radiative losses in corona and hence to get information on the required coronal heating. Two different approaches are commonly employed in the derivation of the EMD in the corona: line-based methods and global-fitting techniques. The latter are based on the fit of the whole (lines plus continuum) spectrum using an atomic model and a discrete number of values of temperature and $`EM`$. Such an approach uses the metallicity (or even the abundances of individual elements) as free parameters in the fit. An alternative method, that can be carried out only for high-resolution spectra, implies the measurement of individual line fluxes and its comparison with the fluxes predicted by an atomic model for a given EMD (“line-based” methods, or “EMD reconstruction”). The application of these two approaches, although never directly compared, seems to yield different results, especially regarding the element abundances (Favata & Micela, 2003). In this work we will apply a line-based method to reconstruct the EMD of the corona of AB Dor in intervals of 0.1 dex in temperature. We have performed also a global fit to the spectra, with the aim to compare the results derived with the two techniques.

### 3.1 EMD reconstruction

The EMD reconstruction has been carried out by measuring the fluxes from spectral lines present in the RGS and HETG spectra. RGS spectra are characterized by a Line Spread Function (LSF) with particularly extended wings that, if not properly taken into account, may result in a wrong measurement of the lines fluxes (see an example in Fig. 5). The extended wings of the lines also create a false continuum that makes difficult the placement of the real source continuum to be used when line fluxes are measured (this is especially problematic in the 9–18 Å range, where numerous lines overlap, see Fig. 2). Such a problem has been solved by using an iterative process as explained below. The same process (partly similar to the method described by Huenemoerder et al., 2001) has been applied to the HETG spectral analysis, where the problems related to the shape of the LSF are less severe. Line fluxes from 108 lines, with their corresponding line blends (Table 2), have been considered in the analysis of HETG spectra, while 59 lines were used for the RGS spectra as listed in Table 3. Spectra, response matrices and the effective areas of the instruments, were loaded into the ISIS software package, in order to measure the line fluxes, following the procedure here described:

– A two-temperatures fit to the continuum is made in the case of HETG, using line-free regions only, as described in Huenemoerder et al. (2001) and Brickhouse (2001). This fit yields an initial estimate of the continuum, needed for the line measurements. In the case of RGS spectra, where line-free regions are more difficult to measure, a global 2-T fit to the spectrum is performed to calculate the initial continuum level.

– Measurements of line fluxes are made using the continuum predicted with the former fit, and convolving delta functions with the Line Response Function of the instrument. Simultaneous fit of the MEG and HEG spectra were carried out when possible, while separated measurements were made for RGS 1 and RGS 2 spectra. Initial line identification with atomic data from APED v1.3, is made on the basis of the Emission Measure Distribution (EMD) derived by Sanz-Forcada et al. (2002) from EUVE data. The false continuum created by the LSF of numerous lines in the range 9–18 Å of RGS (see Fig. 5), makes more difficult the measurement of lines in this spectral range; a fit involving the most intense adjacent lines for each of the line measurements was necessary in order to obtain results of the EMD that were consistent with the spectra. Much care has to be considered in the measurement of any line in this spectral range of RGS.

– Predicted fluxes are calculated using the emissivity functions present in APED and a trial EMD (the EUVE based EMD mentioned above is employed initially in this case), following the method described in Dupree et al. (1993). The quality of the fit is tested with the parameter $`\beta `$111The parameter $`\beta `$ is prefered to the more standard $`\chi ^2`$ statistic in order to give the same weight to all the selected lines; in fact, we note that the uncertainties on the comparison between observed and predicted fluxes are dominated by systematic errors on the line emissivities rather than by poissonian errors on the line counts, and the strongest lines do not necessarily have better known atomic data)., defined as:

$$\beta =\frac{1}{n}\underset{i=1}{\overset{n}{}}\left(\mathrm{log}\frac{F_{\mathrm{obs},i}}{F_{\mathrm{pred},i}}\right)^2$$
(1)
where n is the number of lines considered, $`F_{\mathrm{obs}}`$ are the fluxes measured in the spectra and $`F_{\mathrm{pred}}`$ are the fluxes predicted by combining the assumed EMD and the APED atomic models (a “perfect” fit would yield $`\beta `$=0). Only Fe lines are initially employed, thus avoiding uncertainties due to relative abundances. Line blends that may affect the main lines must be included in the analysis. Predicted fluxes are then compared to observed fluxes in order to improve the EMD.

– Once the $`\beta `$ parameter converges to a minimum value, neon lines are added to the analysis in order to extend the EMD to lower temperatures. The Ne x lines are mostly formed in a temperature range (log $`T`$\[K\]$``$6.6–7.3) which overlaps with that of the Fe lines, therefore permitting to set the Ne abundance. Then, the oxygen abundance can be set employing the O viii lines, and the O vii lines provide information down to log $`T`$(K)$``$6.2. Finally, the rest of the elements (Mg, S, Si, Ar, Ni, N, Ca, C, Al) are added one by one in the analysis, in order to calculate the abundances (relative to Fe) that better fit their fluxes, leaving the EMD unchanged.

– The continuum is recomputed, and new flux measurements are performed. Changes of the EMD shape are now permitted, once all elements are included in the fit. An iterative process is followed until the measurements of the lines converge. Electron densities (see below) are included in the analysis by applying the relevant values in their corresponding temperature ranges (log $`T`$\[K\]$``$6.1–6.4 for density derived from O vii lines, log $`T`$\[K\]$``$6.5–6.6 for density from Ne ix lines, and log $`T`$\[K\]$``$6.7–7.2 for density from Mg xi, Fe xxi and Fe xxii line ratios). The Fe abundance is determined once the EMD has been calculated, and the rest of abundances are scaled to the \[Fe/H\] value.

Statistical uncertainties on the EMD values (Table 4), are estimated using a Montecarlo method that varies the line fluxes randomly by 1–$`\sigma `$ (1000 different sets of fluxes are tested), and calculates the best result among 1000 possible EMDs (randomly generated, including variations by up to 1–$`\sigma `$ over the calculated abundances) for each pattern of fluxes. A criterion of convergence is established in the improvement of $`\beta `$ by at least 5$`\times 10^4`$. The 68% of the central values among those resulting from this fit, are considered in order to set the 1–$`\sigma `$ error bars of the $`EM`$ values. These error bars are not independent, a higher value of the $`EM`$ in a given temperature bin usually requires a lower value in an adjacent bin in order to match the observed line fluxes. Finally, uncertainties in the determination of the abundances (Table 6) are evaluated considering not only the statistical errors of the measured fluxes, but also the dispersion observed in the $`F_{\mathrm{obs}}/F_{\mathrm{pred}}`$ ratio of all the lines of each element. This is an indirect way to evaluate the errors induced by the uncertainties in atomic models.

The results obtained in the RGS rev. #091 are consistent with those of the HETG observation. The bump present at log $`T`$(K)$``$6.9 is very robust in both cases (see Table 4). The presence of a hot tail is well established for log $`T`$(K)$``$7.0–7.3, with some uncertainties on the exact shape. Larger error bars in the EMD are present at log $`T`$(K)$``$6.6, due to the lack of Fe lines that would reduce the uncertainties in the abundances of Ne and O. Fe xv and Fe xvi lines formed at those temperatures are well observed with EUVE (Sanz-Forcada et al., 2002) for AB Dor, and can be used (with some caution) for a consistency test of the results. However, these lines are affected by uncertainties in the determination of the ISM absorption, and the EUVE spectrum could correspond to a different level of emission. The formal solution, shown in Figs. 6 and 7 and Table 4, has been a compromise of the results found for the Ne lines and the mentioned EUVE lines, that are overestimated by up to $``$50% with the solution derived from HETG spectra. Finally, abundances of elements like Ca, Al and Ar are not very robust since they are derived from little number of lines. Also, C and N lines present in the spectra have a temperature range that overlaps mostly with that of O vii, and hence the abundances of C and N are linked to that of O. Marginal inconsistency in the abundances calculated from RGS and HETG detectors is only found for Ca, N and Ne.

The measurements of line fluxes in the RGS spectra during rev. #205 yield an EMD with similar shape to that of HETG and RGS rev.#091, but with higher $`EM`$ values. Abundances of the elements did not change significantly between the two RGS observations, except for the worse constrained cases of Ca and N. Finally, the line fluxes have been measured in the second order of RGS during rev. #091 (Table 5), resulting in a very good agreement with the EMD and abundances calculated with the first order of RGS (Fig. 8).

### 3.2 Global fitting approach

The EMD calculated for the XMM observation in rev. # 091 can be compared to the results obtained by Güdel et al. (2001) by applying a global fit to the spectrum. These authors found that the spectrum could be fitted using 3 values of the $`EM`$ (log $`EM`$(cm-3)$``$51.92, 52.56, 52.52) at the temperatures log $`T`$(K)=6.57, 6.90 and 7.35 respectively, using the VMEKAL atomic model. However, at the time of their analysis only preliminary calibration of the RGS data was available, and a direct comparison of results is not possible. In order to understand whether the use of a global fit using a 3-T model affects the results, we tried a 3-T fit to the RGS rev. # 091 spectrum, using APED in ISIS, as we made for the EMD reconstruction. The fit was performed first using only one temperature and \[Fe/H\] as free parameters, and adding progressively a second and third temperature components, and the abundances of individual elements. Several sets of values yield a similar quality of the fit, depending on the initial values and on the element abundances that are permitted to vary. These results show different values of abundances and emission measure (sometimes inconsistent among them as well), although the three temperatures do not vary substantially ($`\mathrm{\Delta }`$log $`T`$\[K\]$`\pm `$0.1). The best fit found was obtained for log $`T`$(K)=6.52$`\pm `$0.02, 6.89$`\pm `$0.01 and 7.27$`\pm `$0.01, and log $`EM`$(cm-3)$``$52.23$`\pm `$0.03, 52.61$`\pm `$0.02 and 52.54$`\pm `$0.01, together with the abundances listed in Table 6. These values were then used to predict the line fluxes to be compared with the measured ones. A value of $`\beta `$0.0479 is obtained if all the spectral lines are considered, but the result improves to $`\beta `$0.0161 (a value which is close to the $`\beta `$0.0151 obtained with the EMD reconstruction) when the Ca xvi $`\lambda `$21.45 line is excluded (this line is off by more than one order of magnitude in the 3-T fit). However some abundances obtained with the 3-T fit are not consistent with those calculated with the line-based approach (Table 6). Moreover, the flux of the EUVE lines of Fe xv $`\lambda `$284 and Fe xvi $`\lambda `$334 and $`\lambda `$361 lines is overestimated by one order of magnitude, a result that we consider inconsistent: variations in the flux of the lines between the different observations are possible, but in the case of the mentioned Fe xv and Fe xvi lines, no enhancements of more than a factor of 4 were detected during very large flares in stars with a coronal structure similar to that of AB Dor (Sanz-Forcada et al., 2002).

The same procedure was applied for a simultaneously fitting of the Chandra HEG and MEG spectra using a 3-T model as above, finding as the best result log $`T`$(K)$``$6.60$`\pm `$0.03, 6.91$`\pm `$0.01, 7.26$`\pm `$0.02, and log $`EM`$(cm-3)$``$52.33$`\pm `$0.06, 52.62$`\pm `$0.03, 52.64$`\pm `$0.02 respectively, and the abundances listed in Table 6. Moreover, the results are somewhat dependent on whether the abundances of elements with few lines in the spectrum, like Al, are treated as individual free parameters or fixed to the solar value. In this case the comparison of the observed fluxes and those resulting from the 3-T fit shows a much larger dispersion ($`\beta `$=0.0614) than for the EMD reconstruction ($`\beta `$=0.0247). Chandra results are inconsistent with those of the RGS observation in rev. # 091, unlike in the line-based approach.

In summary, both the lined-based method and the global fit approaches permit, only in the case of the RGS spectrum, to achieve a solution that is consistent with the observed spectra. However, the error bars provided by the global-fitting technique are unrealistic given the wide range of solutions that are “statistically acceptable”. The global-fitting technique assumes that the model can explain all the lines in the spectrum, while the line-based approach can reject lines that are problematic and assumes only to know well some of the lines. In the particular case of the 3-T approach, the use of 3 temperatures to characterize a corona can be only a parameterization of the real multi-temperature coronal structure. The fit of the Chandra spectrum clearly demonstrates that a more detailed thermal structure is necessary to explain the HETG emission. We therefore discourage the use of models with few isothermal components whenever the measurement of individual lines is possible. Hereafter we will refer only to the results obtained using the line-based approach.

### 3.3 Electron density

He-like triplets observed in the spectral range covered by HETG and RGS can be employed in the calculations of the electron densities (see Ness et al., 2002, and references therein). The relevant lines correspond to the resonance ($`r`$), intercombination ($`i`$), and forbidden ($`f`$) transitions. The $`f`$/$`i`$ flux ratio can be employed to calculate the electron density, while the ($`f`$+$`i`$)/$`r`$ flux ratio gives the average temperature of formation for each triplet. The O vii ($`\lambda `$21.6015, $`\lambda `$21.8036, $`\lambda `$22.0977), Ne ix ($`\lambda `$13.4473, $`\lambda `$13.5531, $`\lambda `$13.6990), Mg xi ($`\lambda `$9.1687, $`\lambda `$9.2282+$`\lambda `$9.2312, $`\lambda `$9.3143) and Si xiii ($`\lambda `$6.6479, $`\lambda `$6.6882, $`\lambda `$6.7403) triplets have been measured in the HETG spectra (Fig. 9, Table 7), and only the O vii triplet is used in RGS due to heavy blending in the other triplets. In all cases there are some blends that need to be considered, and they may eventually affect the results of the analysis (see Tables 2, 3). Some of these blends were measured as separated lines, while in other cases they are included in the measurement of the observed fluxes, and then evaluated using the EMD and abundances calculated. Only in the case of the Si xiii the $`f`$/$`i`$ flux ratio (3.9$`\pm `$0.5) resulted inconsistent with the predicted values ($``$2.9 in the low-density limit). This might indicate a problem in the atomic models lacking line blends to the $`\lambda `$6.7402 line. Given the uncertainties in the determination of the Si and Mg abundances, a contamination of up to $``$18% of the flux can be attributed to Mg xii lines. A contamination of $``$25% to the $`\lambda `$6.7402 line would be necessary in order to to have a $`f`$/$`i`$ value consistent with the low-density limit. A slightly higher contamination ($``$26%) would be required to reach a value consistent with a density of log ne(cm-3)$``$12.5, as obtained from the Fe xxi and Fe xxii lines (see Sect. 4.1).

Electron densities can be calculated also from several flux ratios of Fe xxi and Fe xxii lines (with maximum contribution at log $`T`$\[K\]$``$7.0 and 7.1 respectively) present in the HETG spectrum (Fig. 10, Table 8). Lines selected for these ratios are little, or not affected at all, by blends present in the APED models, and hence we consider the results from these ratios more trustful than those obtained from the He-like triplets. These results are consistent with those calculated using Fe xxi and Fe xxii lines ratios in the EUV range (Sanz-Forcada et al., 2002).

## 4 Results

### 4.1 EMD and electron densities

The general shape of the EMD derived from XMM and Chandra is consistent with the EMD obtained with EUVE (Sanz-Forcada et al., 2002), indicating a corona dominated by multi-T plasma with a peak at log $`T`$(K)$``$6.9, very well constrained by the line fluxes (see Fig. 11). The EMD at higher temperatures is supported by a large number of lines from different elements identified in the HETG and RGS spectra. Finally a lower peak seems to be present around log $`T`$(K)$``$6.3. However, the lack of coverage of Fe lines makes the results for the EMD at log $`T`$(K)$``$6.6 less robust than for higher temperatures.

Comparison of the EMDs reconstructed at different times (Fig. 11), including those of the XMM observations corresponding to different levels of activity of AB Dor, shows that the EMD peak is very stable, and thus an increase in the emission level is linked to higher emission measure values at all temperatures. The EMDs based on Chandra and XMM data show a steep increase with temperature in the range log $`T`$(K)$``$6.4–6.9, with a slope comprised between $`T^4`$ and $`T^5`$, while they are almost flat from the peak up to log $`T`$(K)$``$7.3.

The electron densities calculated using the O vii triplet (log $`n_\mathrm{e}`$\[cm-3\]$``$10.7–10.9 at log $`T`$\[K\]$``$6.3) are consistent in the three observations of HETG and RGS (Table 7). The value obtained for rev. #091 is also close to the one (log $`n_\mathrm{e}`$\[cm-3\]$``$10.3$`{}_{0.4}{}^{}{}_{}{}^{+0.3}`$) reported by Güdel et al. (2001). The density calculated from the Ne ix triplet (log $`n_\mathrm{e}`$\[cm-3\]$``$11 at log $`T`$\[K\]$``$6.6) is the value most affected by the presence of lines not deblended, and evaluated using the atomic model combined with the EMD (see also Brickhouse, 2001), and hence it has to be considered more uncertain. Higher densities (log $`n_\mathrm{e}`$\[cm-3\]$``$12 at log $`T`$\[K\]$``$6.9) are indicated by the Mg xi triplet. Finally, the Fe xxi and Fe xxii densities (Table 8) are obtained from lines that are quite well measured, and with little contributions from blends. Values in the range log $`n_\mathrm{e}`$(cm-3)$``$12.3–12.8 are indicated by most of these lines which form at $`T`$10 MK, having excluded the two most discrepant values. The results clearly suggest an increase of the electron density with temperature, also observed for Capella (Brickhouse, 2001; Argiroffi et al., 2003), and formerly suggested by EUVE observations of Capella and other active stars (see Brickhouse, 1996; Drake, 1996; Sanz-Forcada et al., 2002, and references therein).

In particular, the results obtained with the Mg xi triplet and the Fe xxi and Fe xxii line ratios seem to confirm the findings already derived from EUVE (Dupree et al., 1993; Brickhouse, 1996; Sanz-Forcada et al., 2002, 2003a) and Chandra (Huenemoerder et al., 2001, 2003) data, with densities of at least log $`n_\mathrm{e}`$(cm-3)$``$12 at log $`T`$(K)$``$6.8–7.1.

### 4.2 Element abundances

Coronal element abundances are subject of some controversy because of the different results (in many cases contradictory) found in the comparison from observations with different instruments and/or analyzed with different techniques (see Favata & Micela, 2003, and references therein). Stars with low levels of activity tend to show similar trends with the First Ionization Potential (FIP) as in the solar case (see Bowyer et al., 2000, and references therein), with elements with low FIP ($`<`$10 eV; e.g. Mg, Si, Fe) being enhanced with respect to elements with higher FIP ($``$ 10 eV; e.g. O, Ne, Ar) when compared with the photospheric values. The opposite effect is observed instead for more active stars (the so called MAD —“Metal abundances deficient”— effect, or the “inverse FIP effect” Schmitt et al., 1996; Brinkman et al., 2001; Drake et al., 2001). However, many of the studied active stars lack accurate information on the photospheric abundances, and/or show contradictory results depending on the technique applied in the analysis. We have carried out the two most typical approaches for the coronal analysis (global-fitting to the spectrum and EMD reconstruction from line fluxes) in order to clarify what is the origin of this discrepancy. The use of the EMD reconstruction approach shows very consistent results (see Table 6 and Fig. 12) for the different instruments, while the global-fitting results are not convergent, and show contradictory results (e.g. for Ni, Mg, Fe or Ne, see Table 6) in HETG and RGS for observations with similar flux level. The line-based analysis applied to Chandra and XMM data show a clear and consistent pattern of the abundances vs. FIP. An initial depletion of the abundances seems to be present for elements with FIP increasing up to the Fe value, and a progressive increment of the abundances for the elements with higher FIP (a similar behavior seems to be present in the case of AR Lac, Huenemoerder et al., 2003). Photospheric abundances of AB Dor are near solar photospheric values (with \[Fe/H\]$``$0.1 Vilhu et al., 1987). Coronal Fe abundance depletion for AB Dor was already found from EUVE and ASCA observations (Rucinski et al., 1995; Mewe et al., 1996), now confirmed by the HETG and RGS analysis.

The EMD can be extended down to log $`T`$(K)$``$4 through the measurements of lines in the UV. Sanz-Forcada et al. (2002) reported measurements from IUE not simultaneous to those of EUVE, and constructed an EMD of AB Dor in the range log $`T`$(K)$``$4.0–7.3. The calculation of the EMD in the lower temperature region (approximately log $`T`$\[K\]$``$4.0–5.5) was dominated basically by C lines, while the determination of the EMD for log $`T`$(K)$``$5.6 depends on Fe lines only. The combined data of IUE and EUV, in absence of better information, indicated a minimum of the EMD around log $`T`$(K)$``$5.8. The calculation of the \[C/Fe\] abundance with RGS allows us to correct the position of this minimum. Assuming that the value of \[C/Fe\]$``$0.5 is constant in the whole range of temperature, and the general flux levels of these observations is similar, the EMD calculated in the corona by (Sanz-Forcada et al., 2002) should be 0.5 dex higher, and the minimum of the EMD should occur at a lower temperature, log $`T`$(K)$``$5.3. Measurements of lines formed in the region log $`T`$(K)$``$5–6 would be needed in order to nail the temperature of this minimum.

## 5 Discussion and conclusions

Our analysis of the Chandra/HETG and XMM/RGS spectra has provided consistent results in terms of the plasma emission measure distribution (EMD) vs. temperature, the abundances of individual elements in corona, and even the plasma density as determined from the O vii He-like triplet. The superior spectral resolution of the Chandra instrument has also allowed us to obtain reliable estimates of the plasma density at different temperatures using the Ne ix and Mg xi triplets, as well as density-sensitive Fe xxi and Fe xxii line ratios. The corona of AB Dor appears to have a quite stable thermal structure with an amount of plasma steeply increasing with temperature from log $`T`$(K)$`6.4`$, to log $`T`$(K)$`6.9`$. A substantial amount of plasma (within a factor 2 from the peak value) is also present in a plateau of the EMD extending up to $`T2\times 10^7`$ K. A less constrained secondary peak is possibly also present at $`T2\times 10^6`$ K, the characteristic temperature of the corona of the quiet Sun.

The above description applies to AB Dor in quiescent state, i.e. outside of any evident isolated flaring event, and it is essentially in agreement with the information already available from previous observations of AB Dor with EUVE. However, the quiescent X-ray emission is not steady, but characterized by significant variability on time scales shorter than the rotation period, suggestive of a very dynamic corona where a large number of small-scale flares may occur at any time. On the other hand, we recall that AB Dor is also capable of producing very strong flares, which may affect the coronal thermal structure quite significantly: in the extreme case of the flares observed by SAX (Maggio et al., 2000), the peak value of the total volume emission measure was of the order of $`10^{54}`$ cm-3 at a temperature $`T10^8`$ K.

By comparing the EMDs corresponding to the lowest and highest X-ray emission levels observed in the first three years of XMM-Newton observations we learn that an increase of the source luminosity (in the range 6–20 Å) from $`L_\mathrm{x}=6.8\times 10^{29}`$ erg s-1 (Jun 2000) to $`L_\mathrm{x}=1.2\times 10^{30}`$ erg s-1 (Jan 2001), not associated to any large flare, can be explained by an increase of the whole EMD by factors 1.2–3, with the largest variation occurring in the level of the high-temperature plateau of the EMD. In principle, larger emission measures can be obtained with a (linear) increase of the emitting volume, or a (square root) increase of the plasma density, or both. Unfortunately, the statistical uncertainties on the density derived from the analysis of the O vii triplet at the two epochs does not allow us to distinguish between these possibilities.

Plasma densities are a key parameter to try to interpret the above scenario in terms of classes of magnetically-confined coronal structures. The measurements of the O vii triplet (log $`n_\mathrm{e}`$\[cm-3\]$``$10.8) yield plasma pressures $`p_\mathrm{e}2040`$ dyn cm-2 at $`T1`$$`2\times 10^6`$ K, already quite high for solar standards. Even higher values are indicated by a number of other line ratio diagnostics derived from the Chandra/HETG data only. In particular, the Ne ix triplet (log $`n_\mathrm{e}`$\[cm-3\]$``$11) indicates a pressure $`p_\mathrm{e}10^2`$ dyn cm-2 at $`T3`$$`5\times 10^6`$ K, while the Mg xi triplet (log $`n_\mathrm{e}`$\[cm-3\]$``$12.4) and the density-sensitive Fe xxi and Fe xxii lines (log $`n_\mathrm{e}`$\[cm-3\]$``$12.5) suggest a pressure increasing from $`p_\mathrm{e}2\times 10^3`$ dyn cm-2 up to $`0.7`$$`2\times 10^4`$ dyn cm-2 for plasma temperatures in the range $`5\times 10^6`$$`2\times 10^7`$ K.

Taking into account also the results obtained by Schmitt et al. (1998) and by Ake et al. (2000) from C iii line ratios – log $`n_\mathrm{e}`$(cm-3)$``$11, yielding $`p_\mathrm{e}2.2`$ dyn cm-2 at $`T8\times 10^4`$ K, i.e. at the base of the transition region – we derive the picture illustrated in Fig. 13: the plasma pressure appears to increase steadily from the transition region to the corona, with a steeper and steeper piece-wise power-law dependence on temperature (from $`T^{0.7}`$ at low temperatures, up to $`T^5`$ in the range of the EMD plateau). Note that this relationship was found using the peak temperatures of the line emissivity functions weighted by the EMD; a slightly different but qualitatively consistent behavior would appear considering the effective temperatures of line formation provided by the $`(f+i)/r`$ ratios, available for the He-like triplets only.

The steep increase of the plasma pressure with temperature is possibly one of the most intriguing results provided by the currently available Chandra high-resolution spectra of active stars (Favata & Micela, 2003). A similar trend was recently found in Capella by Argiroffi et al. (2003), and tentatively interpreted as due to the presence of different classes of coronal loop structures in isobaric conditions, having increasing pressures but decreasing volume filling factors for increasing maximum temperature of the trapped plasma.

The effective scale sizes and volumes of the structures responsible for the X-ray emission from stellar coronae essentially depend on two parameters: the plasma pressure scale height and the strength of the magnetic field required for plasma confinement. In the case of AB Dor, having a stellar radius $`R_{}1`$ R and a surface gravity $`g0.8`$ g (Maggio et al., 2000), we get pressure scale heights $`H_\mathrm{p}1.5\times 10^{10}`$ cm ($`0.2R_{}`$) for coronal loops with maximum temperature $`T_{\mathrm{max}}=2\times 10^6`$ K, and $`H_\mathrm{p}>7.5\times 10^{10}`$ cm ($`>1.1R_{}`$) for the structures having $`T_{\mathrm{max}}=10^7`$ K or hotter, which represent the dominant class in the corona of AB Dor. If the ratio between the plasma pressure and the magnetic field pressure, $`\beta `$, is larger than unity at the maximum height, $`LH_\mathrm{p}`$, above surface dictated by the pressure scale height, then magnetic confinement is effective at these heights and the volume of the emitting plasma in the visible stellar hemisphere can be expressed as

$$V_{\mathrm{max}}2\pi fR_{}^2L$$
(2)
where $`f`$ is a surface filling factor. The minimum field required to confine the plasma at a height $`L`$ is given by

$$B_{\mathrm{min}}(L)=(8\pi p_\mathrm{e})^{1/2}$$
(3)
From the available data we derive $`B_{\mathrm{min}}30`$ G at $`T2\times 10^6`$ K ($`p_\mathrm{e}=35`$ dyn cm-2) and $`B_{\mathrm{min}}460`$ G at $`T10^7`$ K ($`p_\mathrm{e}=8.5\times 10^3`$ dyn cm-2). Donati & Collier Cameron (1997) found that up to 20% of the surface of AB Dor is covered with magnetic regions having typical values of 500 G and peaks of 1.5 kG. Assuming that magnetic field at the stellar surface is 1.5 kG and that the field strength decreases with height as in a magnetic dipole ($`Br^3`$) rooted at the base of the convection zone (so from $`r0.5R_{}`$ to $`r0.5R_{}+L`$), we estimate that the plasma at $`2\times 10^6`$ K can be confined up to heights $`L=9.4\times 10^{10}`$ cm ($`1.3R_{}`$), while in the worst case of the high temperature ($`10^7`$ K) coronal structures, the maximum height is $`L=1.7\times 10^{10}`$ cm ($`0.24R_{}`$). Since the characteristic height of the high temperature structures is smaller than $`H_\mathrm{p}`$, the isobaricity of the plasma is ensured. We can estimate the filling factor $`f`$ by equating $`n_\mathrm{e}^2V_{\mathrm{max}}=EM`$, where $`n_\mathrm{e}`$ and $`EM`$ are the plasma density and volume emission measure derived from our analysis. In this way we derive $`f2\times 10^6`$ at $`T10^7`$ K. In the case of the low-temperature plasma, the observed emission originates mostly from the plasma below the pressure scale height $`H_\mathrm{p}`$, and the effective filling factor can be derived by replacing $`L`$ with $`H_\mathrm{p}`$, resulting in $`f2\times 10^4`$ at $`T2\times 10^6`$ K. These filling factors can be usefully compared with the $`7`$% fraction of surface in the polar cap of AB Dor above $`60^\mathrm{°}`$ latitude: this is a region always in view as the star rotates, where high field strengths are suggested by Zeeman-Doppler images (Jardine et al., 2002) and where a non-potential field component (i.e. capable of providing free energy to power flares) is possibly present (Hussain et al., 2002). Larger filling factors are possible if the loops are significantly shorter than the stellar radius.

A more refined model of the size, strength and orientation of the magnetic regions is however required to constrain better the possible sizes and locations of the X-ray emitting regions in the corona of AB Dor, as suggested by the simulations performed by Jardine et al. (2002). These authors have modeled the AB Dor coronal X-ray emission by extrapolating the magnetic field from the stellar surface to the corona using as a basis Zeeman-Doppler maps and assuming the field to be potential and the trapped plasma in hydrostatic equilibrium. However, their results rely on the further assumption of an isothermal plasma, which is clearly recognized as a too simplistic approximation. Based on the above model, Jardine et al. conclude that in most of the cases they have explored, the coronal emission of AB Dor should exhibit little rotational modulation: in fact, assuming low plasma densities, the corona turns out to be very extended (in order to account for the observed total volume emission measure) and hence the X-ray emission is little affected by the stellar rotation, while in the high-density case the emitting corona is more compact, but the X-ray brightest regions are at high latitudes and always visible as the star rotates. Exception to this behavior is predicted by models having high-temperature ($`T=10^7`$ K) plasma with densities in excess of $`10^{12}`$ cm-3, i.e. with exactly the characteristics of the plasma near the peak of the emission measure distribution, as derived in this work. The occurrence and amplitude of the rotational modulation of the X-ray emission from this hot plasma is an issue that we intend to explore in the next step of our ongoing investigation.

The corona of AB Dor, even outside strong isolated flares, appears quite variable on time scales shorter than the rotation period. The only possible analogy with the case of the solar corona if a behavior where small-scale flares are continuously occurring in what can be defined a non-steady quiescent X-ray emission state. However, the stability found in the peak of the EMD at log $`T`$(K)$``$6.9 suggests coronal structures in stationary condition, and a simple increase in the number of loops having maximum temperatures in the range spanned by the EMD plateau may explain the variations of the EMD observed at the times of the lowest and highest emission level observed up to now by XMM.

In conclusion, we summarize the main results of the present work as follows:

– The Emission Measure Distribution (EMD) has been calculated for the plasma of AB Dor by measuring the line fluxes in XMM/RGS and Chandra/HETG spectra, showing consistent results. The EMD is described by a quite stable structure, with a steep increase ($`EM[T]T^\alpha `$, with $`\alpha =`$ 4–5) up to the peak at log(T)=6.9, followed by a plateau in the range log(T)=6.9–7.3. The EMD during the highest and lowest X-ray emission levels shows an increment in the amount of material that is rather uniform at all temperatures.

– Element abundances in the corona of AB Dor follow an intermediate behavior between the solar-like FIP (First Ionization Potential) effect, and the so called “inverse FIP effect” observed in other active stars.

– High electron densities were measured using He-like triplets and Fe xxi and Fe xxii line ratios. Together with the volume emission measure they allow to put constrains on the surface filling factor of the emitting regions and on the strength of magnetic fields required for plasma confinement.

– The available data are consistent with a scenario of a corona composed by several families of loops, shorter than but comparable to the stellar radius and in isobaric conditions, having plasma pressures increasing with the maximum plasma temperature; the surface filling factors of these structures is small. These structures can be easily accommodated in the stellar polar cap, where strong magnetic fields possibly in a non-potential state have been proposed. Larger filling factors are possible if the loops are significantly shorter than the stellar radius.

###### Acknowledgements.

We would like to thank D. P. Huenemoerder and J. Houck (MIT/CXC) for their help in the use of ISIS, and its application to the analysis of XMM data, and to N. Brickhouse for her help in the interpretation of atomic data and line identifications. We acknowledge support by the Marie Curie Fellowships Contract No. HPMD-CT-2000-00013. We have made use of data obtained through the XMM-Newton Science Data Archive, operated by ESA at VILSPA, and the Chandra Data Archive, operated by the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory for NASA. This research has also made use of NASA’s Astrophysics Data System Abstract Service.