Superflares on Ordinary Solar‐Type Stars
Citations Over TimeTop 10% of 2000 papers
Abstract
Short duration flares are well known to occur on cool main-sequence stars as well as on many types of `exotic' stars. Ordinary main-sequence stars are usually pictured as being static on time scales of millions or billions of years. Our sun has occasional flares involving up to $\sim 10^{31}$ ergs which produce optical brightenings too small in amplitude to be detected in disk-integrated brightness. However, we identify nine cases of superflares involving $10^{33}$ to $10^{38}$ ergs on normal solar-type stars. That is, these stars are on or near the main-sequence, are of spectral class from F8 to G8, are single (or in very wide binaries), are not rapid rotators, and are not exceedingly young in age. This class of stars includes many those recently discovered to have planets as well as our own Sun, and the consequences for any life on surrounding planets could be profound. For the case of the Sun, historical records suggest that no superflares have occurred in the last two millennia.
Related Papers
- → Observations of Double-Periodic X-Ray Emission in Interacting Systems of Solar Flare Loops(2010)34 cited
- → Magnetic Field Evolution Leading to Solar Flares II. Cases with High Magnetic Shear and Flare-Related Shear Change(2000)32 cited
- → Wolf 424: A Neglected Flare Star(1973)18 cited
- → Flare star activity in the open cluster Alpha Persei(2000)1 cited
- → Flare star activity in the open cluster Alpha Persei(2000)