Can the magnetic topology of AB Doradus be explained by a potential field distribution

Abstract

We present potential magnetic field maps of the surface of the active KO dwarf, AB Dor. Maps of the surface magnetic flux distributions of rapid rotators can be produced using the technique of Zeeman Doppler imaging (ZDI). Magnetic flux maps of active cool stars produced using ZDI show many features that have no solar counterpart. Currently, ZDI codes map only the simplest possible magnetic field distributions that will fit the observed data. It remains unclear how physically realistic these maps really are and this is what we are concerned with here.