The magnetic activity levels of planet host stars may differ from that of stars not known to host planets in several ways. Hot Jupiters may induce activity in their hosts through magnetic interactions, or through tidal interactions by affecting their host's rotation or convection. Measurements of photospheric, chromospheric, or coronal activity might then be abnormally high or low compared to control stars that do not host hot Jupiters, or might be modulated at the planet's orbital period. Such detections are complicated by the small amplitude of the expected signal, by the fact that the signals may be transient, and by the difficulty of constructing control samples due to exoplanet detection biases and the uncertainty of field star ages. We review these issues, and discuss avenues for future progress in the field.

We present and discuss the Hα (λ = 6563Å) observations of the contact (W UMa type) binaries AE Phoenicis and YY Eridani, obtained in 1989, 1990 and 1995 with the CAT/CES telescope of the Southern European Observatory (ESO). In particular, we compare the intrinsic equivalent widths of both components with the NextGen theoretical models and the saturation limit. We find that the average Hα equivalent widths are close to the saturation border and that the primary components have excess Hα-emission, indicating enhanced chromospheric activity. This is compatible with both theoretical and observational suggestions that the primary is the more magnetically active component and is filled with (mostly unresolvable) dark spots and associated chromospheric plages.