Coronal density diagnostics with Si X: CHANDRA/LETGS observations of Procyon, $α$ Cen A$&$B, Capella and $ε$ Eri

Abstract

Electron density diagnostics based on a line intensity ratio of Si X are applied to the X-ray spectra of Procyon, $α$ Cen A$&$B, Capella and $ε$ Eri measured with the Low Energy Transmission Grating Spectrometer (LETGS) combined with High-resolution Camera (HRC) on board the {\it Chandra X-ray Observatory}. The ratio $R_1$ of the intensities of the Si X lines at 50.524 Åand 50.691 Åis adopted. A certain of the temperature effect in $R_1$ appears near the low-density limit region, which is due to the contamination of Si X line at 50.703 Å. Using the emission measure distribution (EMD) model derived by Audard et al. (2001) for Capella and emissivities calculated with APEC model by Smith et al. (2001), we successfully estimate contributions of Fe XVI lines at 50.367 Åand 50.576 Å(73% and 62%, respectively). A comparison between observed ratios and theoretical predictions constrains the electron densities (in logarithmic) for Procyon to be 8.61$^{+0.24}_{-0.20}$ cm$^{-3}$, while for $α$ Cen A$&$B, Capella and $ε$ Eri to be 8.81$^{+0.27}_{-0.23}$ cm$^{-3}$, 8.60$^{+0.39}_{0.32}$ cm$^{-3}$, 9.30$_{-0.48}$ cm$^{-3}$ and 9.11$^{+1.40}_{-0.38}$ cm$^{-3}$, respectively. The comparison of our results with those constrained by the triplet of He-like carbon shows a good agreement. For normal stars, our results display a narrow uncertainty, while for active stars, a relatively larger uncertainty, due to the contamination from Fe XVI lines, is found. Another possible reason may be that the determination of the continuum level, since the emission lines of Si X become weak for the active stars. For $ε$ Eri, an electron density in the C V forming region was estimated firstly through Si X emissions.