An Explanation of the Vaughan - Preston Gap

Abstract

A plot of the calcium emission versus color of late type stars exhibits a reduced population or gap at intermediate activity, somewhat higher than that of the Sun. We suggest that this gap, first noted by A. Vaughan and G. Preston in 1980 may result from a reduced area of plages relative to spots, as observed at the highest levels of solar activity. This reduced plage area weakens the calcium emission and depletes the number of stars of intermediate calcium emission index. We propose that, in the most active stars, the reduction in relative plage area is offset by the increased filling factor of photospheric magnetic fields. So the gap might simply be a consequence of a gradual shift with age of the stellar dynamo towards production of higher spatial frequencies.