Context. In solar-type stars, the attenuation of convective blueshift by stellar magnetic activity dominates the RV (radial velocity) variations over the low amplitude signal induced by low mass planets. Models of stars that differ from the Sun will require a good knowledge of the attenuation of the convective blueshift to estimate its impact on the variations. Aims. It is therefore crucial to precisely determine not only the amplitude of the convective blueshift for different types of stars, but also the dependence of this convective blueshift on magnetic activity, as these are key factors in our model producing the RV. Methods. We studied a sample of main sequence stars with spectral types from G0 to K2 and focused on their temporally averaged properties: the activity level and a criterion allowing to characterise the amplitude of the convective blueshift. This criterion is derived from the dependence of the convective blueshift with the intensity at the bottom of a large set of selected spectral lines. Results. We find the differential velocity shifts of spectral lines due to convection to depend on the spectral type, the wavelength (this dependence is correlated with the Teff and activity level), and on the activity level. This allows us to quantify the dependence of granulation properties on magnetic activity for stars other than the Sun. We are indeed able to derive a significant dependence of the convective blueshift on activity level for all types of stars. The attenuation factor of the convective blueshift appears to be constant over the considered range of spectral types. We derive a convective blueshift which decreases towards lower temperatures, with a trend in close agreement with models for Teff lower than 5800 K, but with a significantly larger global amplitude. Differences also remain to be examined in detail for larger Teff. We finally compare the observed RV variation amplitudes with those that could be derived from our convective blueshift using a simple law and find a general agreement on the amplitude. We also show that inclination (viewing angle relative to the stellar equator) plays a major role in the dispersion in RV amplitudes. Conclusions. Our results are consistent with previous results and provide, for the first time, an estimation of the convective blueshift as a function of Teff, magnetic activity, and wavelength, over a large sample of G and K main sequence stars.

Context. Young nearby stars are good candidates in the search for planets with both radial velocity (RV) and direct imaging techniques. This, in turn, allows for the computation of the giant planet occurrence rates at all separations. The RV search around young stars is a challenge as they are generally faster rotators than older stars of similar spectral types and they exhibit signatures of magnetic activity (spots) or pulsation in their RV time series. Specific analyses are necessary to characterize, and possibly correct for, this activity. Aims. Our aim is to search for planets around young nearby stars and to estimate the giant planet (GP) occurrence rates for periods up to 1000 days. Methods. We used the HARPS spectrograph on the 3.6 m telescope at La Silla Observatory to observe 89 A − M young (< 600 Myr) stars. We used our SAFIR (Spectroscopic data via Analysis of the Fourier Interspectrum Radial velocities ) software to compute the RV and other spectroscopic observables. Then, we computed the companion occurrence rates on this sample. Results. We confirm the binary nature of HD177171, HD181321 and HD186704. We report the detection of a close low mass stellar companion for HIP36985. No planetary companion was detected. We obtain upper limits on the GP (< 13 MJup) and BD (∈ [13; 80] MJup) occurrence rates based on 83 young stars for periods less than 1000 days, which are set, 2 +3 −2 % and 1 +3 −1 %.

Context. The inhibition of small-scale convection in the Sun dominates the long-term radial velocity (RV) variability: it therefore has a critical effect on light exoplanet detectability using RV techniques. Aims. We here extend our previous analysis of stellar convective blueshift and its dependence on magnetic activity to a larger sample of stars in order to extend the T eff range, to study the impact of other stellar properties, and finally to improve the comparison between observed RV jitter and expected RV variations. Methods. We estimate a differential velocity shift for Fe and Ti lines of different depths and derive an absolute convective blueshift using the Sun as a reference for a sample of 360 F7-K4 stars with different properties (age, T eff , metallicity). Results. We confirm the strong variation in convective blueshift with T eff and its dependence on (as shown in the line list in Paper I) activity level. Although we do not observe a significant effect of age or cyclic activity, stars with a higher metallicity tend to have a lower convective blueshift, with a larger effect than expected from numerical simulations. Finally, we estimate that for 71% of the stars in our sample the RV and Log R HK variations are compatible with the effect of activity on convection, as observed in the solar case, while for the other stars, other sources (such as binarity or companions) must be invoked to explain the large RV variations. We also confirm a relationship between Log R HK and metallicity, which may affect discussions of the possible relationship between metallicity and exoplanets, as RV surveys are biased toward low Log R HK and possibly toward high-metallicity stars. Conclusions. We conclude that activity and metallicity strongly affect the small-scale convection levels in stars in the F7-K4 range, with a lower amplitude for the lower mass stars and a larger amplitude for low-metallicity stars.