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We conducted the time-resolved simultaneous optical spectroscopic and photometric observations of mid-M-dwarf flare stars YZ CMi, EV Lac, and AD Leo. Spectroscopic observations were obtained using Apache Point Observatory 3.5 m and Small and Moderate Aperture Research Telescope System 1.5 m telescopes during 31 nights. Among the 41 detected flares, seven flares showed clear blue wing asymmetries in the H α line, with various correspondences in flare properties. The duration of the blue wing asymmetries range from 20 minutes to 2.5 hr, including a flare showing the shift from blue to red wing asymmetry. Blue wing asymmetries can be observed during both white-light and candidate non-white-light flares. All of the seven flares showed blue wing asymmetries also in the H β line, but there are large varieties on which other chromospheric lines showed blue wing asymmetries. One among the 7 flares was also observed with soft X-ray spectroscopy, which enabled us to estimate the flare magnetic field and length of the flare loop. The line-of-sight velocities of the blueshifted components range from –73 to –122 km s ^−1 . Assuming that the blueshifts were caused by prominence eruptions, the mass of upward-moving plasma was estimated to be 10 ^15 –10 ^19 g, which are roughly on the relation between flare energy and erupting mass expected from solar coronal mass ejections (CMEs). Although further investigations are necessary for understanding the observed various properties, these possible prominence eruptions on M-dwarfs could evolve into CMEs, assuming the similar acceleration mechanism with solar eruptions.

Young solar-type stars frequently produce superflares, serving as a unique window into the young Sun-Earth environments. Large solar flares are closely linked to coronal mass ejections (CMEs) associated with filament/prominence eruptions, but observational evidence for stellar superflares remains scarce. Here, we present a 12-day, multiwavelength campaign observation of young solar-type star EK Draconis (G1.5V, 50–120 Myr age) utilizing the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite, the Neutron star Interior Composition ExploreR, and the Seimei telescope. The star has previously exhibited blueshifted H α absorptions as evidence for a filament eruption associated with a superflare. Our simultaneous optical and X-ray observations identified three superflares of 1.5 × 10 ^33 –1.2 × 10 ^34 erg. We report the first discovery of two prominence eruptions on a solar-type star, observed as blueshifted H α emissions at speeds of 690 and 430 km s ^−1 and masses of 1.1 × 10 ^19 and 3.2 × 10 ^17 g, respectively. The faster, massive event shows a candidate of post-flare X-ray dimming with the amplitude of up to ∼10%. Several observational aspects consistently point to the occurrence of a fast CME associated with this event. The comparative analysis of the estimated length scales of flare loops, prominences, possible dimming region, and starspots provides the overall picture of the eruptive phenomena. Furthermore, the energy partition of the observed superflares in the optical and X-ray bands is consistent with flares from the Sun, M-dwarfs, and close binaries, yielding the unified empirical relations. These discoveries provide profound implications of the impact of these eruptive events on early Venus, Earth, and Mars and young exoplanets.

The Carrington flare in 1859 September is a benchmark, as the earliest reported solar flare and as an event with one of the greatest terrestrial impacts. To date, no rigorous estimate of the energy of this flare has been made on the basis of the only direct observation available, its white-light emission. Here, we exploit the historical observations to obtain a magnitude estimate and express it in terms of its GOES soft X-ray class. From Carrington’s original drawings, we estimated the area of the white-light flaring region to be 116 ± 25 msh. Carrington’s account allows us to estimate the flare blackbody brightness temperature as ≈8800–10,900 K, given the most plausible interpretation of the reported flare brightness. This leads to an unprecedented class estimate of ≈X80 (X46–X126), on the modern revised GOES scale (a factor 1.43 higher than the traditional one). This substantially exceeds earlier estimates but is based on an explicit interpretation of Carrington’s description. We also describe an alternative but less plausible estimation of the flare brightness, as adopted previously, to obtain a class estimate of ≈X14 (X9–X19). This now-deprecated scenario gives an estimate similar to that of with those of directly observed modern great flares. Approximations with “equivalent area,” based on the Hinode observations, lead to comparable magnitudes and approve our estimates, though with a larger uncertainty range. We note that our preferred estimate is higher than the currently used value of X64.4 ± 7.2 (revised) based on indirect geomagnetic measurements.

The lowest possible mass of ONeMg white dwarfs (WDs) has not been clarified despite its importance in the formation and evolution of WDs. We tackle this issue by studying the properties of V1405 Cas (Nova Cassiopeiae 2021), which is an outlier given a combination of its very slow light-curve evolution and the recently reported neon-nova identification. We report its rapid spectral evolution in the initial phase, covering 9.88, 23.77, 33.94, 53.53, 71.79, and 81.90 hr after the discovery. The first spectrum is characterized by lines from highly ionized species, most noticeably He ii and N iii . These lines are quickly replaced by lower-ionization lines, e.g., N ii , Si ii , and O i . In addition, Al ii (6237 Å) starts emerging as an emission line at the second epoch. We perform emission-line strength diagnostics, showing that the density and temperature quickly decrease toward later epochs. This behavior, together with the decreasing velocity seen in H α , H β , and He i , indicates that the initial nova dynamics is reasonably well described by an expanding fireball on top of an expanding photosphere. Interestingly, the strengths of the N iii and Al ii indicate large enhancement in abundance, pointing to a ONeMg WD progenitor as is consistent with its neon-nova classification. Given its low-mass nature inferred by the slow light-curve evolution and relatively narrow emission lines, it provides a challenge to the stellar evolution theory that predicts the lower limit of the ONeMg WD mass being ∼1.1 M _⊙ .

Starspots and stellar flares are indicators of stellar magnetic activity. The magnetic energy stored around spots is thought to be the origin of flares, but the connection is not completely understood. To investigate the relation between spot locations deduced from light curves and the occurrence of flares therein, we perform starspot modeling for the TESS light curves of three M-dwarf flare stars, AU Mic, YZ CMi, and EV Lac, using the code implemented in Paper I. The code enables us to deduce multiple stellar/spot parameters by the adaptive parallel tempering algorithm efficiently. We find that flare occurrence frequency is not necessarily correlated with the rotation phases of the light curve for each star. The result of starspot modeling shows that any spot is always visible to the line of sight in all phases, and we suggest that this can be one of the reasons why there is no or low correlation between rotation phases and flare frequency. In addition, the amplitude and shape of the light curve for AU Mic and YZ CMi have varied in two years between different TESS cycles. The result of starspot modeling suggests that this can be explained by the variations of spot size and latitude.

Stellar coronal mass ejections (CMEs) have recently received much attention for their impacts on exoplanets and stellar evolution. Detecting prominence eruptions, the initial phase of CMEs, as the blueshifted excess component of Balmer lines is a technique to capture stellar CMEs. However, most of prominence eruptions identified thus far have been slow and less than the surface escape velocity. Therefore, whether these eruptions were developing into CMEs remained unknown. In this study, we conducted simultaneous optical photometric observations with Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite and optical spectroscopic observations with the 3.8 m Seimei Telescope for the RS CVn-type star V1355 Orionis that frequently produces large-scale superflares. We detected a superflare releasing 7.0 × 10 ^35 erg. In the early stage of this flare, a blueshifted excess component of H α extending its velocity up to 760–1690 km s ^−1 was observed and thought to originate from prominence eruptions. The velocity greatly exceeds the escape velocity (i.e., ∼350 km s ^−1 ), which provides important evidence that stellar prominence eruptions can develop into CMEs. Furthermore, we found that the prominence is very massive (9.5 × 10 ^18 g < M < 1.4 × 10 ^21 g). These data will clarify whether such events follow existing theories and scaling laws on solar flares and CMEs even when the energy scale far exceeds solar cases.

Active M-type stars are known to often produce superflares on the surface. Radiation from stellar (super)flares is important for exoplanet habitability, but the mechanisms are not well understood. In this paper, we report simultaneous optical spectroscopic and photometric observations of a stellar superflare on an active M dwarf, YZ Canis Minoris, with the 3.8 m Seimei telescope and the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite. The flare bolometric energy is ${1.3}_{-0.6}^{+1.6}\times {10}^{34}\,\mathrm{erg}$ and the H α energy is ${3.0}_{-0.1}^{+0.1}\times {10}^{32}\,\mathrm{erg}$ . The H α emission line profile shows red asymmetry throughout the flare, with a duration of 4.6–5.1 hr. The velocity of the red asymmetry is ∼200–500 km s ^–1 and the line width of H α broadens up to 34 ± 14 Å. The redshifted velocity and line width of H α line decay more rapidly than the equivalent width, and their time evolutions are correlated with that of the white-light emission. This indicates the possibility of the white light, the H α red asymmetry, and the H α line broadening originating from nearly the same site, i.e., the dense chromospheric condensation region, heated by nonthermal electrons. On the other hand, the flux ratio of the redshifted excess components to the central components is enhanced one hr after the flare’s onset. This may be due to the main source of the red asymmetry changing to post-flare loops in the later phase of the flare.

We performed simple spot-model calculations for quasi-periodic brightness variations of solar-type stars showing superflares using Kepler photometric data. Most of the superflare stars show quasi-periodic brightness modulations with a typical period of one to a fewtens of days.Our results indicate that these brightness variations can be explained by the rotation of a star with fairly large starspots. Using the results of the period analysis, we investigated the relation between the energy and frequency of superflares and the rotation period. Starswith relatively slower rotation rates can still produce flares that are as energetic as those of more rapidly rotating stars although the average flare frequency is lower for more slowly rotating stars. We found that the energy of superflares is related to the total coverage of the starspot. The correlation between the spot coverage and the flare energy in superflares is similar to that in solar flares. These results suggest that the energy of superflares can be explained by the magnetic energy stored around the starspots. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Star spot evolution is visible evidence of the emergence/decay of the magnetic field on a stellar surface, and it is therefore important for the understanding of the underlying stellar dynamo and consequential stellar flares. In this paper, we report the temporal evolution of individual star spot areas on the hot-Jupiter-hosting, active solar-type star Kepler-17, whose transits occur every 1.5 days. The spot longitude and area evolution are estimated (1) from the stellar rotational modulations of Kepler data and (2) from the brightness enhancements during the exoplanet transits caused by existence of large star spots. As a result of the comparison, the number of spots, spot locations, and the temporal evolution derived from the rotational modulations are largely different from those of in-transit spots. We confirm that, although only two light-curve minima appear per rotation, there are clearly many spots present on the star. We find that the observed differential intensity changes are sometimes consistent with the spot pattern detected by transits, but at other times they do not match with each other. Although the temporal evolution derived from the rotational modulation differs from those of in-transit spots to a certain degree, the emergence/decay rates of in-transit spots are within an order of magnitude of those derived for sunspots as well as our previous research based only on rotational modulations. This supports the hypothesis that the emergence/decay of sunspots and extremely large star spots on solar-type stars occur through the same underlying processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

High-energy radiation caused by exoplanetary space weather events from planet-hosting stars can play a crucial role in conditions promoting or destroying habitability in addition to the conventional factors. In this paper, we present the first quantitative impact evaluation system of stellar flares on the habitability factors with an emphasis on the impact of stellar proton events. We derive the maximum flare energy from stellar star spot sizes and examine the impacts of flare-associated ionizing radiation on CO2, H2, and N2+ O2-rich atmospheres of a number of well-characterized terrestrial type exoplanets. Our simulations based on the Particle and Heavy Ion Transport code System suggest that the estimated ground-level dose for each planet in the case of terrestrial-level atmospheric pressure (1 bar) for each exoplanet does not exceed the critical dose for complex (multicellular) life to persist, even for the planetary surface of Proxima Centauri b, Ross-128 b, and TRAPPIST-1 e. However, when we take into account the effects of the possible maximum flares from those host stars, the estimated dose reaches fatal levels at the terrestrial lowest atmospheric depth on TRAPPIST-1 e and Ross-128 b. Large fluxes of coronal X-ray and ultraviolet radiation from active stars induce high atmospheric escape rates from close-in exoplanets, suggesting that the atmospheric depth can be substantially smaller than that on Earth. In a scenario with the atmospheric thickness of one-tenth of Earth’s, the radiation dose from close-in planets including Proxima Centauri b and TRAPPIST-1 e reaches near fatal levels with annual frequency of flare occurrence from their host stars. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We report the latest view of Kepler solar-type (G-type main-sequence) superflare stars, including recent updates with Apache Point Observatory (APO) 3.5 m telescope spectroscopic observations and Gaia-DR2 data. First, we newly conducted APO 3.5 m spectroscopic observations of 18 superflare stars found from Kepler 1-minute time-cadence data. More than half (43 stars) are confirmed to be “single” stars, among 64 superflare stars in total that have been spectroscopically investigated so far in this APO 3.5 m and our previous Subaru/HDS observations. The measurements of v sin i (projected rotational velocity) and chromospheric lines (Ca ii H and K and Ca ii λ8542) support that the brightness variation of superflare stars is caused by the rotation of a star with large starspots. We then investigated the statistical properties of Kepler solar-type superflare stars by incorporating Gaia-DR2 stellar radius estimates. As a result, the maximum superflare energy continuously decreases as the rotation period Prot increases. Superflares with energies ≲5 × 1034 erg occur on old, slowly rotating Sun-like stars (Prot ∼ 25 days) approximately once every 2000–3000 yr, while young, rapidly rotating stars with Prot ∼ a few days have superflares up to 1036 erg. The maximum starspot area does not depend on the rotation period when the star is young, but as the rotation slows down, it starts to steeply decrease at Prot ≳ 12 days for Sun-like stars. These two decreasing trends are consistent since the magnetic energy stored around starspots explains the flare energy, but other factors like spot magnetic structure should also be considered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Active solar-type stars show large quasi-periodic brightness variations caused by stellar rotation with star spots, and the amplitude changes as the spots emerge and decay. The Kepler data are suitable for investigations of the emergence and decay processes of star spots, which are important to understand the underlying stellar dynamo and stellar flares. In this study, we measured the temporal evolution of the star-spot area with Kepler data by tracing the local minima of the light curves. In this analysis, we extracted the temporal evolution of star spots showing clear emergence and decay without being disturbed by stellar differential rotation. We applied this method to 5356 active solar-type stars observed by Kepler and obtained temporal evolution of 56 individual star spots. We calculated the lifetimes and emergence/decay rates of the star spots from the obtained temporal evolution of the spot area. As a result, we found that the lifetimes (T) of star spots range from 10 to 350 days when the spot areas (A) are 0.1%–2.3% of the solar hemisphere. We also compared them with sunspot lifetimes and found that the lifetimes of star spots are much shorter than those extrapolated from an empirical relation of sunspots (T ∝ A), while being consistent with other research on star-spot lifetimes. The emergence and decay rates of star spots are typically 5 × 1020 Mx hr−1 (8 MSH hr−1) with an area of 0.1%–2.3% of the solar hemisphere and mostly consistent with those expected from sunspots, which may indicate the same underlying processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recently, many superflares on solar-type stars have been discovered as white-light flares (WLFs). The statistical study found a correlation between their energies (E) and durations (τ): , similar to those of solar hard/soft X-ray flares, . This indicates a universal mechanism of energy release on solar and stellar flares, i.e., magnetic reconnection. We here carried out statistical research on 50 solar WLFs observed with Solar Dynamics Observatory/HMI and examined the correlation between the energies and durations. As a result, the E–τ relation on solar WLFs () is quite similar to that on stellar superflares (). However, the durations of stellar superflares are one order of magnitude shorter than those expected from solar WLFs. We present the following two interpretations for the discrepancy: (1) in solar flares, the cooling timescale of WLFs may be longer than the reconnection one, and the decay time of solar WLFs can be elongated by the cooling effect; (2) the distribution can be understood by applying a scaling law () derived from the magnetic reconnection theory. In the latter case, the observed superflares are expected to have 2–4 times stronger magnetic field strength than solar flares. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article reports a new optical observation of 17P/Holmes one orbital period after the historical outburst event in 2007. We detected not only a common dust tail near the nucleus but also a long narrow structure that extended along the position angle 274.°6 ± 0.°1 beyond the field of view (FOV) of the Kiso Wide Field Camera, i.e., >0.°2 eastward and >2.°0 westward from the nuclear position. The width of the structure decreased westward with increasing distance from the nucleus. We obtained the total cross section of the long extended structure in the FOV, CFOV = (2.3 ± 0.5) × 1010 m2. From the position angle, morphology, and mass, we concluded that the long narrow structure consists of materials ejected during the 2007 outburst. On the basis of the dynamical behavior of dust grains in the solar radiation field, we estimated that the long narrow structure would be composed of 1 mm–1 cm grains having an ejection velocity of >50 m s−1. The velocity was more than one order of magnitude faster than that of millimeter–centimeter grains from typical comets around a heliocentric distance rh of 2.5 AU. We considered that sudden sublimation of a large amount of water-ice (≈1030 mol s−1) would be responsible for the high ejection velocity. We finally estimated a total mass of MTOT = (4–8) × 1011 kg and a total kinetic energy of ETOT = (1–6) × 1015 J for the 2007 outburst ejecta, which are consistent with those of previous studies that were conducted soon after the outburst. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The recurrent nova U Scorpii most recently erupted in 2010. Our collaboration observed the eruption in bands ranging from the Swift XRT and UVOT w2 (193 nm) to K-band (2200 nm), with a few serendipitous observations stretching down to WISE W2 (4600 nm). Considering the time and wavelength coverage, this is the most comprehensively observed nova eruption to date. We present here the resulting multi-wavelength light curve covering the two months of the eruption as well as a few months into quiescence. For the first time, a U Sco eruption has been followed all the way back to quiescence, leading to the discovery of new features in the light curve, including a second, as-yet-unexplained, plateau in the optical and near-infrared. Using this light curve we show that U Sco nearly fits the broken power law decline predicted by Hachisu & Kato, with decline indices of −1.71 ± 0.02 and −3.36 ± 0.14. With our unprecedented multi-wavelength coverage, we construct daily spectral energy distributions and then calculate the total radiated energy of the eruption, . From that, we estimate the total amount of mass ejected by the eruption to be . We compare this to the total amount of mass accreted by U Sco before the eruption, to determine whether the white dwarf undergoes a net mass loss or gain, but find that the values for the amount of mass accreted are not precise enough to make a useful comparison. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]