A Review and Preview of Magnetic Star-Planet Interactions
Abstract
Planets interact with their host stars through gravity, radiation and magnetic fields, and for those giant planets that orbit their stars within 20 stellar radii (=0.1 AU for a sun-like star), star-planet interactions (SPI) are observable with a wide variety of photometric, spectroscopic and spectropolarimetric studies. At such close distances, the planet orbits within the sub-alfvénic radius of the star in which the transfer of energy and angular momentum between the two bodies is particularly efficient. The nature of magnetic SPI is modeled to be strongly affected by both the stellar and planetary magnetic fields, possibly influencing the magnetic activity of both, as well as affecting the irradiation and even the migration of the planet. As we refine our observational techniques for hot Jupiter systems, we can begin to extend them to other tightly orbiting stellar systems, such as smaller planets close to M dwarfs where the region near tens of stellar radii begins to coincide with the classical habitable zone. Future studies of SPI with space-based telescopes and the next generation of ground-based telescopes will be informative pursuits for the study of the internal dynamics and atmospheric evolution of exoplanets.
- Publication:
-
Radio Exploration of Planetary Habitability (AASTCS5)
- Pub Date:
- May 2017
- Bibcode:
- 2017reph.conf20001S