Expanding The Frontiers: From The Solar Corona and The Wind to Evolving Space Weather of Planet Hosting Stars

Files

31692974057519 (2).pdf (6.35 MB)

Links to Files

https://baas.aas.org/pub/2023n3i005/release/1

Permanent Link

http://hdl.handle.net/11603/30964

Collections

UMBC Center for Space Sciences and Technology (CSST) / Center for Research and Exploration in Space Sciences & Technology II (CRSST II)
UMBC Faculty Collection

Author/Creator

Author/Creator ORCID

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8090-3570

Date

2023-07-31

Type of Work

journal articles
white papers
Text

Department

Program

Citation of Original Publication

Airapetian, Vladimir, Meng Jin, Junxiang Hu, Benjamin Lynch, James Green, Kevin France, Rishi Paudel, William Danchi, Thomas Chen, and Gioia Rau. “Expanding The Frontiers: From The Solar Corona and The Wind to Evolving Space Weather of Planet Hosting Stars.” Bulletin of the AAS 55, no. 3 (July 31, 2023). https://doi.org/10.3847/25c2cfeb.41e10693.

Rights

This work was written as part of one of the author's official duties as an Employee of the United States Government and is therefore a work of the United States Government. In accordance with 17 U.S.C. 105, no copyright protection is available for such works under U.S. Law.
Public Domain

Subjects

Abstract

Magnetically driven space weather (SW) from the Sun in the form of the solar wind, flares, coronal mass ejections (CMEs) and associated solar energetic particles (SEPs) interact with the Earth’s upper atmosphere and can cause dramatic impacts on space- and ground-based technological systems. Detection of over 5000 exoplanets suggests that close-in, rocky exoplanets around magnetically active F-M dwarfs should be exposed to more extreme SW. The Kepler and TESS missions have revealed frequent superflares on cool G–M planet-hosting dwarf stars, providing a mechanism by which host stars could directly influence the physical and chemical evolution of exoplanetary atmospheres. While stellar superflares can be directly detected and characterized in X-rays, FUV-UV, optical, and radio wavelengths, the signatures of Extreme UV emission and stellar winds, CMEs and associated SEP events are poorly understood and require detailed theoretical modeling. This paper describes the knowledge gaps in understanding stellar quiescent and eruptive outputs in the space between host stars and their exoplanets referred to as astrospheres as a crucial component of habitability in the universe. The major open science questions are: (1) How can we use the data-driven Sun-as-a-Star models to characterize the atmospheric and wind environments of other G, K and M dwarf stars? The knowledge of these space weather factors is critical in characterization of exoplanetary atmospheric dynamics, chemistry and escape, the critical factor of habitability; (2) How does the time-dependent evolution of surface magnetic fields trigger solar and stellar (super)flares and associated coronal mass ejections (CMEs) and solar/stellar energetic particles (SEPs)? Here, we provide recommendations for the development of heliophysics models and their extension to describe stellar quiescent and eruptive environments over the next one decade to provide the predictive capabilities for the current and upcoming great observatories including the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) and the UltraViolet/Optical/InfraRed (UV/O/IR) large mission concept, as well as ground-based facilities.