A census of NUV M-dwarf flares from GALEX & XMM-OM Virtual Observatory Resource

Authors
  1. Rekhi P.
  2. Ben-Ami S.
  3. Perdelwitz V.
  4. Shvartzvald Y.
  5. Published by
    CDS
Abstract

M-dwarfs are common stellar hosts of habitable-zone exoplanets. Near-UV (NUV) radiation can severely impact the atmospheric and surface conditions of such planets, making the characterization of NUV flaring activity a key aspect in determining habitability. We use archival data from the Galaxy Evolution Explorer (GALEX) and XMM-Newton telescopes to study the flaring activity of M-dwarfs in the NUV. The GALEX observations form the most extensive data set of M-dwarfs in the NUV to date, with the exploitation of this data possible due to the new gphoton2 pipeline. We run a dedicated algorithm to detect flares in the pipeline-produced lightcurves and find some of the most energetic flares observed to date within the NUV bandpass, with energies of ~10^34^erg. Using GALEX data, we constrain flare frequency distributions for stars from M0-M6 in the NUV up to 10^5^s in equivalent duration and 10^34^erg in energy, orders of magnitude above any previous study in the UV. We estimate the combined effect of NUV luminosities and flare rates of stars later than M2 to be sufficient for abiogenesis on habitable-zone exoplanets orbiting them. As a counterpoint, we speculate the high frequencies of energetic UV flares and associated coronal mass ejections would inhibit the formation of an ozone layer, possibly preventing the genesis of complex Earth-like life-forms due to sterilizing levels of surface UV radiation. We also provide a framework for future observations of M-dwarfs with ULTRASAT, a wide field-of-view NUV telescope to be launched in 2026.

Keywords
  1. m-stars
  2. dwarf-stars
  3. stellar-flares
  4. ultraviolet-photometry
  5. stellar-distance
  6. visible-astronomy
Bibliographic source Bibcode
2023ApJ...955...24R
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ivo://CDS.VizieR/J/ApJ/955/24

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History

2026-01-07T08:06:23Z
Resource record created
2026-01-07T08:06:23Z
Created
2026-06-10T09:45:57Z
Updated

Contact

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CDS support team
Postal Address
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