Institut für Physik und Astronomie
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Understanding stars, their magnetic activity phenomena and the underlying dynamo action is the foundation for understanding 'life, the universe and everything' - as stellar magnetic fields play a fundamental role for star and planet formation and for the terrestrial atmosphere and climate. Starspots are the fingerprints of magnetic field lines and thereby the most important sign of activity in a star's photosphere. However, they cannot be observed directly, as it is not (yet) possible to spacially resolve the surfaces of even the nearest neighbouring stars. Therefore, an indirect approach called 'Doppler imaging' is applied, which allows to reconstruct the surface spot distribution on rapidly rotating, active stars. In this work, data from 11 years of continuous spectroscopic observations of the active binary star EI Eridani are reduced and analysed. 34 Doppler maps are obtained and the problem of how to parameterise the information content of Doppler maps is discussed. Three approaches for parameter extraction are introduced and applied to all maps: average temperature, separated for several latitude bands; fractional spottedness; and, for the analysis of structural temperature distribution, longitudinal and latitudinal spot-occurrence functions. The resulting values do not show a distinct correlation with the proposed activity cycle as seen from photometric long-term observations, thereby suggesting that the photometric activity cycle is not accompanied by a spot cycle as seen on the Sun. The general morphology of the spot pattern on EI Eri remains persistent for the whole period of 11 years. In addition, a detailed parameter study is performed. Improved orbital parameters suggest that EI Eri might be complemented by a third star in a wide orbit of about 19 years. Preliminary differential rotation measurements are carried out, indicating an anti-solar orientation.