Is there a Role for High-Resolution EUV Spectroscopy in Research on Cool Stars?
Raymond Cruddace (Naval Research Laboratory, Washington D.C.)
Michael Kowalski (Naval Research Laboratory)
Kent Wood (Naval Research Laboratory)
High-resolution EUV spectroscopy has matured to where an orbiting instrument is feasible. For example, using multilayer-coated, ion-etched gratings, we could now build an EUV spectrometer array (≈100-300A) having high effective area (10-50 cm2) and spectral resolving power (≈10000). We summarise results which led to the flight demonstration of a prototype instrument. However, in proposals to NASA for an orbiting mission the scientific case has not reached the stage of taking on a major astrophysical issue. Instead it has pursued important but largely unrelated problems raised by past EUV observations. How EUV astronomy might take on major issues deserves debate, and in regard to cool stars we suggest two possibilities:
1) What coronae are telling us about magnetic dynamos, and their role in stellar evolution.
2) How coronae determine the interplanetary environment, and so may influence the development of life.
The technology of high-resolution EUV spectroscopy is progressing rapidly, and we argue that the cool star community might review its significance as a research tool.