Detailed cool star flare morphology with CHEOPS and TESS
Journal article, 2024
Context. White-light stellar flares are proxies for some of the most energetic types of flares, but their triggering mechanism is still poorly understood. As they are associated with strong X and ultraviolet emission, their study is particularly relevant to estimate the amount of high-energy irradiation onto the atmospheres of exoplanets, especially those in their stars’ habitable zone. Aims. We used the high-cadence, high-photometric capabilities of the CHEOPS and TESS space telescopes to study the detailed morphology of white-light flares occurring in a sample of 130 late-K and M stars, and compared our findings with results obtained at a lower cadence. Methods. We employed dedicated software for the reduction of 3 s cadence CHEOPS data, and adopted the 20 s cadence TESS data reduced by their official processing pipeline. We developed an algorithm to separate multi-peak flare profiles into their components, in order to contrast them to those of single-peak, classical flares. We also exploited this tool to estimate amplitudes and periodicities in a small sample of quasi-periodic pulsation (QPP) candidates. Results. Complex flares represent a significant percentage (≳30%) of the detected outburst events. Our findings suggest that high-impulse flares are more frequent than suspected from lower-cadence data, so that the most impactful flux levels that hit close-in exoplanets might be more time-limited than expected. We found significant differences in the duration distributions of single and complex flare components, but not in their peak luminosity. A statistical analysis of the flare parameter distributions provides marginal support for their description with a log-normal instead of a power-law function, leaving the door open to several flare formation scenarios. We tentatively confirmed previous results about QPPs in high-cadence photometry, report the possible detection of a pre-flare dip, and did not find hints of photometric variability due to an undetected flare background. Conclusions. The high-cadence study of stellar hosts might be crucial to evaluate the impact of their flares on close-in exoplanets, as their impulsive phase emission might otherwise be incorrectly estimated. Future telescopes such as PLATO and Ariel, thanks to their high-cadence capability, will help in this respect. As the details of flare profiles and of the shape of their parameter distributions are made more accessible by continuing to increase the instrument precision and time resolution, the models used to interpret them and their role in star-planet interactions might need to be updated constantly.
methods: data analysis
stars: activity
techniques: photometric
planetary systems
stars: flare
Author
G. Bruno
Istituto nazionale di astrofisica (INAF)
I. Pagano
Istituto nazionale di astrofisica (INAF)
Gaetano Scandariato
Istituto nazionale di astrofisica (INAF)
H.-G. Florén
Stockholm University
A. Brandeker
Stockholm University
G. Olofsson
Stockholm University
P. Maxted
Keele University
A. Fortier
University of Bern
S.G. Sousa
University of Porto
S. Sulis
Laboratoire d'Astrophysique de Marseille
V. Van Grootel
University of Liège
Z. Garai
Slovak Academy of Sciences
Eötvös Loránd University (ELTE)
Boldog
Research Centre For Astronomy and Earth Sciences
Hungarian Academy of Sciences
Eötvös Loránd University (ELTE)
L. Kriskovics
Research Centre For Astronomy and Earth Sciences
Hungarian Academy of Sciences
Gy M. Szabó
Eötvös Loránd University (ELTE)
D. Gandolfi
University of Turin
Y. Alibert
University of Bern
R. Alonso
University of La Laguna
Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias
T. Bárczy
Admatis
D. Barrado Navascues
European Space Astronomy Centre (ESAC)
S.C.C. Barros
University of Porto
W. Baumjohann
Institut fur Weltraumforschung
M. Beck
University of Geneva
T. Beck
University of Bern
W. Benz
University of Bern
N. Billot
University of Geneva
L. Borsato
Istituto nazionale di astrofisica (INAF)
C. Broeg
University of Bern
A. Collier Cameron
University of St Andrews
Szilard Csizmadia
German Aerospace Center (DLR)
P. E. Cubillos
Institut fur Weltraumforschung
Istituto nazionale di astrofisica (INAF)
M. B. Davies
Lund University
M. Deleuil
Laboratoire d'Astrophysique de Marseille
A. Deline
University of Geneva
L. Delrez
KU Leuven
University of Liège
O. Demangeon
University of Porto
B.O. Demory
University of Bern
D. Ehrenreich
University of Geneva
Anders Erikson
German Aerospace Center (DLR)
J. Farinato
Istituto nazionale di astrofisica (INAF)
L. Fossati
Institut fur Weltraumforschung
Malcolm Fridlund
Leiden University
Chalmers, Space, Earth and Environment, Astronomy and Plasmaphysics
Michaël Gillon
University of Liège
M. Gudel
University of Vienna
Maximilian N. Günther
European Space Research and Technology Centre (ESA ESTEC)
A. Heitzmann
University of Geneva
Ch. Helling
Institut fur Weltraumforschung
Technische Universität Graz
S. Hoyer
Laboratoire d'Astrophysique de Marseille
K. Isaak
European Space Research and Technology Centre (ESA ESTEC)
L. L. Kiss
Hungarian Academy of Sciences
Pázmány Péter sétány 1/A
K. W.F. Lam
German Aerospace Center (DLR)
J. Laskar
Paris Observatory
A. L. des Etangs
Institut d 'Astrophysique de Paris
M. Lendl
University of Geneva
D. Magrin
Istituto nazionale di astrofisica (INAF)
C. Mordasini
University of Bern
Valerio Nascimbeni
Istituto nazionale di astrofisica (INAF)
R. Ottensamer
University of Vienna
Enric Palle
University of La Laguna
Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias
G. Peter
German Aerospace Center (DLR)
Giampaolo P. Piotto
Istituto nazionale di astrofisica (INAF)
University of Padua
Don L. Pollacco
The University of Warwick
D. Queloz
University of Cambridge
Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zürich (ETH)
Roberto Ragazzoni
Istituto nazionale di astrofisica (INAF)
University of Padua
N. Rando
European Space Research and Technology Centre (ESA ESTEC)
F. Ratti
European Space Research and Technology Centre (ESA ESTEC)
H. Rauer
Freie Universität Berlin
German Aerospace Center (DLR)
I. Ribas
Institute of Space Sciences (ICE) - CSIC
Institute of Space Studies of Catalonia (IEEC)
N. C. Santos
University of Porto
M. Sarajlic
Keele University
D. Segransan
University of Geneva
A.E. Simon
University of Bern
V. Singh
Istituto nazionale di astrofisica (INAF)
A. M.S. Smith
German Aerospace Center (DLR)
M. Stalport
University of Liège
Nicolas Thomas
University of Bern
S. Udry
University of Geneva
B. Ulmer
German Aerospace Center (DLR)
J. Venturini
University of Geneva
E. Villaver
Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias
University of La Laguna
N. A. Walton
University of Cambridge
T.G. Wilson
The University of Warwick
Astronomy and Astrophysics
0004-6361 (ISSN) 1432-0746 (eISSN)
Vol. 686 A239Subject Categories (SSIF 2011)
Astronomy, Astrophysics and Cosmology
DOI
10.1051/0004-6361/202348951