Paper detail

Far beyond the Sun: III. The magnetic cycle of $\boldsymbolι$ Horologii

We present a comprehensive investigation of the magnetic cycle of the young, active solar analogue $ι$ Horologii ($ι$ Hor) based on intensive spectropolarimetric monitoring using HARPSpol. Over a nearly three-year campaign, the technique of Zeeman-Doppler Imaging (ZDI) was used to reconstruct 18 maps of the large-scale surface magnetic field of the star. These maps trace the evolution of the magnetic field morphology over approximately 139 stellar rotations. Our analysis uncovers pronounced temporal evolution, including multiple polarity reversals and changes in field strength and geometry. We examine the evolution of the poloidal and toroidal field components, with the toroidal component showing strong modulation in concert with the chromospheric activity. Furthermore, for the first time, we reconstruct stellar magnetic butterfly diagrams which are used to trace the migration of large-scale magnetic features across the stellar surface, determining a magnetic polarity reversal timescale of roughly 100 rotations ($\sim773$ d). In addition, by tracking the field-weighted latitudinal positions, we obtain the first estimates of the large-scale flow properties on a star other than the Sun, identifying possible pole-ward and equator-ward drift speeds for different field polarities. These results provide critical insights into the dynamo processes operating in young solar-type stars and offer a direct comparison with the solar magnetic cycle.