- ID:
- ivo://CDS.VizieR/J/ApJ/849/36
- Title:
- Flaring activity of M dwarfs in the Kepler field
- Short Name:
- J/ApJ/849/36
- Date:
- 21 Oct 2021
- Publisher:
- CDS
- Description:
- Flare events are mainly due to magnetic reconnection and thus are indicative of stellar activity. The Kepler Space Observatory records numerous stellar activities with unprecedented high photometric precision in flux measurements. It is perfectly suitable for carrying out a statistical study of flares. Here we present 540 M dwarfs with flare events discovered using Kepler long-cadence data. The normalized flare energy, as defined by the ratio to bolometric stellar luminosity, L_flare_/L_bol_, is used to indicate the flare activity. We find that, similar to the X-ray luminosity relation, the L_flare_/L_bol_ versus P_rot_ relation can also be described with three phases, supersaturation, saturation, and exponential decay, corresponding to an ultra- short period, a short period, and a long period. The flare activity and the number fraction of flaring stars in M dwarfs rise steeply near M4, which is consistent with the prediction of a turbulent dynamo. The size of starspots are positively correlated with flare activity. The L_flare_/L_bol_ ratio has a power-law dependence on L_H{alpha}_/L_bol_, a parameter indicative of stellar chromosphere activity. According to this relation, a small enhancement in chromosphere activity may cause a huge rise in flare energy, which suggests that superflares or hyperflares may not need an extra excitation mechanism. Through a comparison study, we suggest that flare activity is a more suitable indicator for stellar activity, especially in the boundary region. However, contrary to what is expected, some M dwarfs with strong flares do not show any light variation caused by starspots. Follow-up observations are needed to investigate this problem.
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- ID:
- ivo://CDS.VizieR/J/ApJ/788/30
- Title:
- Gamma-ray burst flares: X-ray flaring
- Short Name:
- J/ApJ/788/30
- Date:
- 21 Oct 2021
- Publisher:
- CDS
- Description:
- We present a catalog of 498 flaring periods found in gamma-ray burst (GRB) light curves taken from the online Swift X-Ray Telescope GRB Catalogue (Evans et al. 2007A&A...469..379E, 2009, J/MNRAS/397/1177). We analyzed 680 individual light curves using a flare detection method developed and used on our UV/optical GRB Flare Catalog. This method makes use of the Bayesian Information Criterion to analyze the residuals of fitted GRB light curves and statistically determines the optimal fit to the light curve residuals in an attempt to identify any additional features. These features, which we classify as flares, are identified by iteratively adding additional "breaks" to the light curve. We find evidence of flaring in 326 of the analyzed light curves. For those light curves with flares, we find an average number of ~1.5 flares per GRB. As with the UV/optical, flaring in our sample is generally confined to the first 1000 s of the afterglow, but can be detected to beyond 10^5^ s. Only ~50% of the detected flares follow the "classical" definition of {Delta}t/t<=0.5, with many of the largest flares exceeding this value.
- ID:
- ivo://CDS.VizieR/II/55
- Title:
- Gershberg Flare Star Catalogue
- Short Name:
- II/55
- Date:
- 21 Oct 2021
- Publisher:
- CDS
- Description:
- This catalog groups the flare stars as presented in the IAU Colloquium 15 (combined Colloquium of Commisions 27 and 42) held at Bamberg 31-Aug to 03-Sep 1971 entitled "New Directions and New Frontiers in Variable Star Research" The following definition of the UV Cet-type variables was given in Kukarkin's General Catalogue of Variable Stars (1969): "dMe stars, sometimes subject to flares with the amplitude from 1 to 6mag. Maximum brightness is attained in seconds or dozens of seconds after the commencement of the flare; the star returns to its normal brightness after several minutes, or dozens of minutes. A typical representative is UV Ceti." Now it is impossible to consider this definition as a quite right because: 1) There are a number of M-dwarf stars affected by the flares similar to the UV Ceti flares, but in their quiet state spectra, no emission lines are observed. For example, BD+43 44A, BD+43 44 B, and SZ UMa, the flare activity of these stars were detected in Crimea; and probably BD-04 4048B is suspected as a flare star by HERBIG. 2) The lower limit of flare amplitude cited in Kukarkin's corresponds to visual observations, but the modern photoelectric observations register flares with amplitudes to 0.02-0.05mag. Therefore we suppose, that UV Cet-type variables are K-M dwarfs, which show quick flares with amplitudes exceeding the observational errors, and duration of the flares are from a few seconds up to a few hundred minutes. The "catalog" file includes only such variable K-M dwarf stars, for which existing observations allow to construct flare light curves. All stars in "catalog", except V371 Ori, have photoelectric flare light curves. The strong flare of V371 Ori was observed in radio region, but simultaneous optical observations were carried out photographically and visually only.
- ID:
- ivo://CDS.VizieR/J/ApJ/802/53
- Title:
- Global energetics of solar flares. II.
- Short Name:
- J/ApJ/802/53
- Date:
- 21 Oct 2021
- Publisher:
- CDS
- Description:
- We present the second part of a project on the global energetics of solar flares and coronal mass ejections that includes about 400 M- and X-class flares observed with the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly (AIA) onboard the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) during the first 3.5yr of its mission. In this Paper II we compute the differential emission measure (DEM) distribution functions and associated multithermal energies, using a spatially-synthesized Gaussian DEM forward-fitting method. The multithermal DEM function yields a significantly higher (by an average factor of ~14), but more comprehensive (multi-) thermal energy than an isothermal energy estimate from the same AIA data. We find a statistical energy ratio of E_th_/E_diss_~2-40% between the multithermal energy E_th_ and the magnetically dissipated energy E_diss_, which is an order of magnitude higher than the estimates of Emslie et al. (2012ApJ...759...71E). For the analyzed set of M- and X-class flares we find the following physical parameter ranges: L=10^8.2^-10^9.7^cm for the length scale of the flare areas, T_p_=10^5.7^-10^7.4^K for the DEM peak temperature, T_w_=10^6.8^-10^7.6^K for the emission measure-weighted temperature, n_p_=10^10.3^-10^11.8^/cm3 for the average electron density, EM_p_=10^47.3^-10^50.3^/cm3 for the DEM peak emission measure, and E_th_=10^26.8^-10^32.0^erg for the multithermal energies. The deduced multithermal energies are consistent with the RTV scaling law E_th,RTV_=73x10^-10^T_p_^3^L_p_^2^, which predicts extremal values of E_th,max_~1.5x10^33^erg for the largest flare and E_th,min_~1x10^24^erg for the smallest coronal nanoflare. The size distributions of the spatial parameters exhibit powerlaw tails that are consistent with the predictions of the fractal-diffusive self-organized criticality model combined with the RTV scaling law.
- ID:
- ivo://CDS.VizieR/J/ApJ/832/27
- Title:
- Global energetics of solar flares. III.
- Short Name:
- J/ApJ/832/27
- Date:
- 21 Oct 2021
- Publisher:
- CDS
- Description:
- This study entails the third part of a global flare energetics project, in which Ramaty High-Energy Solar Spectroscopic Imager (RHESSI) data of 191 M and X-class flare events from the first 3.5yrs of the Solar Dynamics Observatory mission are analyzed. We fit a thermal and a nonthermal component to RHESSI spectra, yielding the temperature of the differential emission measure (DEM) tail, the nonthermal power-law slope and flux, and the thermal/nonthermal cross-over energy e_co_. From these parameters, we calculate the total nonthermal energy E_nt_ in electrons with two different methods: (1) using the observed cross-over energy e_co_ as low-energy cutoff, and (2) using the low-energy cutoff e_wt_ predicted by the warm thick-target bremsstrahlung model of Kontar et al. Based on a mean temperature of T_e_=8.6MK in active regions, we find low-energy cutoff energies of e_wt_=6.2+/-1.6keV for the warm-target model, which is significantly lower than the cross-over energies e_co_=21+/-6keV. Comparing with the statistics of magnetically dissipated energies E_mag_ and thermal energies E_th_ from the two previous studies, we find the following mean (logarithmic) energy ratios with the warm-target model: E_nt_=0.41E_mag_, E_th_=0.08E_mag_, and E_th_=0.15E_nt_. The total dissipated magnetic energy exceeds the thermal energy in 95% and the nonthermal energy in 71% of the flare events, which confirms that magnetic reconnection processes are sufficient to explain flare energies. The nonthermal energy exceeds the thermal energy in 85% of the events, which largely confirms the warm thick-target model.
- ID:
- ivo://CDS.VizieR/J/ApJ/831/105
- Title:
- Global energetics of solar flares. IV. CME
- Short Name:
- J/ApJ/831/105
- Date:
- 21 Oct 2021
- Publisher:
- CDS
- Description:
- This study entails the fourth part of a global flare energetics project, in which the mass m_cme_, kinetic energy E_kin_, and the gravitational potential energy E_grav_ of coronal mass ejections (CMEs) is measured in 399 M and X-class flare events observed during the first 3.5 years of the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) mission, using a new method based on the extreme ultraviolet (EUV) dimming effect. EUV dimming is modeled in terms of a radial adiabatic expansion process, which is fitted to the observed evolution of the total emission measure of the CME source region. The model derives the evolution of the mean electron density, the emission measure, the bulk plasma expansion velocity, the mass, and the energy in the CME source region. The EUV dimming method is truly complementary to the Thomson scattering method in white light, which probes the CME evolution in the heliosphere at r>~2R_{sun}_, while the EUV dimming method tracks the CME launch in the corona. We compare the CME parameters obtained in white light with the LASCO/C2 coronagraph with those obtained from EUV dimming with the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly onboard the SDO for all identical events in both data sets. We investigate correlations between CME parameters, the relative timing with flare parameters, frequency occurrence distributions, and the energy partition between magnetic, thermal, nonthermal, and CME energies. CME energies are found to be systematically lower than the dissipated magnetic energies, which is consistent with a magnetic origin of CMEs.
- ID:
- ivo://CDS.VizieR/J/ApJ/885/49
- Title:
- Global energetics of solar flares. IX.
- Short Name:
- J/ApJ/885/49
- Date:
- 08 Dec 2021
- Publisher:
- CDS
- Description:
- A more accurate analytical solution of the vertical-current approximation nonlinear force-free field (VCA3-NLFFF) model is presented that includes, besides the radial (Br) and azimuthal (B{phi}) magnetic field components, a poloidal component (B_{theta}_/=0) as well. This new analytical solution is of second-order accuracy in the divergence-freeness condition and of third-order accuracy in the force-freeness condition. We reanalyze the sample of 173 GOES M- and X-class flares observed with the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly and Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager on board the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO). The new code reproduces helically twisted loops with a low winding number below the kink instability consistently, avoiding unstable, highly twisted structures of the Gold-Hoyle flux rope type. The magnetic energies agree within E_VCA3_/E_W_=0.99{+/-}0.21 with the Wiegelmann (W-NLFFF) code. The time evolution of the magnetic field reveals multiple, intermittent energy buildup and releases in most flares, contradicting both the Rosner-Vaiana model (with gradual energy storage in the corona) and the principle of timescale separation ({tau}flare<<{tau}storage) postulated in self-organized criticality models. The mean dissipated flare energy is found to amount to 7%{+/-}3% of the potential energy, or 60%{+/-}26% of the free energy, a result that can be used for predicting flare magnitudes based on the potential field of active regions.
- ID:
- ivo://CDS.VizieR/J/ApJ/881/1
- Title:
- Global energetics of solar flares. VIII.
- Short Name:
- J/ApJ/881/1
- Date:
- 10 Dec 2021
- Publisher:
- CDS
- Description:
- One of the key problems in solar flare physics is the determination of the low-energy cut-off: the value that determines the energy of nonthermal electrons and hence flare energetics. We discuss different approaches to determine the low-energy cut-off in the spectrum of accelerated electrons: (I) the total electron number model, (II) the time-of-flight model (based on the equivalence of the time-of-flight and the collisional deflection time), (III) the warm target model of Kontar et al., and (IV) the model of the spectral cross-over between thermal and nonthermal components. We find that the first three models are consistent with a low-energy cutoff with a mean value of ~10keV, while the cross-over model provides an upper limit for the low-energy cutoff with a mean value of ~21keV. Combining the first three models we find that the ratio of the nonthermal energy to the dissipated magnetic energy in solar flares has a mean value of qE=0.57{+/-}0.08, which is consistent with an earlier study based on the simplified approximation of the warm target model alone (qE=0.51{+/-}0.17). This study corroborates the self-consistency between three different low-energy cutoff models in the calculation of nonthermal flare energies.
- ID:
- ivo://CDS.VizieR/J/AJ/141/166
- Title:
- HATNet variability survey of K and M dwarfs
- Short Name:
- J/AJ/141/166
- Date:
- 21 Oct 2021
- Publisher:
- CDS
- Description:
- Using light curves from the HATNet survey for transiting extrasolar planets we investigate the optical broad-band photometric variability of a sample of 27, 560 field K and M dwarfs selected by color and proper-motion (V-K>~3.0, mu>30mas/yr, plus additional cuts in J-H vs. H-Ks and on the reduced proper motion). We apply a variety of variability selection algorithms on the light curves to search for periodic and quasi-periodic variations, and for large-amplitude, long-duration flare events. To set the selection thresholds we conduct Monte Carlo simulations of light curves with realistic noise properties.
- ID:
- ivo://CDS.VizieR/J/ApJ/754/4
- Title:
- HST monitoring of flaring stars in the Galactic bulge
- Short Name:
- J/ApJ/754/4
- Date:
- 21 Oct 2021
- Publisher:
- CDS
- Description:
- We utilize the Sagittarius Window Eclipsing Extrasolar Planet Search Hubble Space Telescope/Advanced Camera for Surveys data set for a Deep Rapid Archival Flare Transient Search (DRAFTS) to constrain the flare rate toward the older stellar population in the Galactic bulge. During seven days of monitoring 229293 stars brighter than V=29.5, we find evidence for flaring activity in 105 stars between V=20 and V=28. We divided the sample into non-variable stars and variable stars whose light curves contain large-scale variability. The flare rate on variable stars is ~700 times that of non-variable stars, with a significant correlation between the amount of underlying stellar variability and peak flare amplitude. The flare energy loss rates are generally higher than those of nearby well-studied single dMe flare stars.
