Far Ultraviolet M-dwarf Evolution Survey: Rotation-Activity-Age Correlations Across the High-Energy Spectrum
Abstract
The prevalence of rocky planets around nearby M-dwarfs, makes understanding these stars and their evolution over time a crucial component of characterizing these potentially habitable exoplanetary systems. Of critical concern is their high-energy emissions from X-rays to the near ultraviolet, which play a key role in driving mass-loss and defining the prevalent photochemistry of exoplanetary atmospheres. The history of high-energy irradiation for these M-dwarf planets shapes their evolution and dictates their chemical composition. With the Far Ultraviolet M-dwarf Evolutions Survey (FUMES), we have been studying a small sample of active early-to-mid M-dwarf stars with known rotation periods to characterize how these high-energy emissions evolve over time. Combined with existing measurements from the MUSCLES Treasury Survey we report our results on the rotation-activity-age correlation of M-dwarf stars as seen in the FUV emission lines. These features probe the upper stellar atmosphere transition region between the chromosphere and the corona and provide a new diagnostic of low-mass star magnetic heating. We compare these results to other magnetic activity indicators probing different atmospheric layers. We also discuss our efforts to define consistent stellar properties using Bayesian statistical modeling for our sample and those objects in the literature, including a revised M-dwarf mass-radius relation for field stars and coupled spectral energy distribution and evolutionary model fitting for young stars.
- Publication:
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American Astronomical Society Meeting Abstracts #235
- Pub Date:
- January 2020
- Bibcode:
- 2020AAS...23527318P