Stellar Flares and Coronal Structure

Stellar Flares and Coronal Structure

Coronal structure and coronal heating are intimately related in magnetically active stars. Coronal structure is commonly inferred from radio interferometry and from eclipse and rotational modulation studies. We discuss to what extent flares may be responsible for coronal structure and global observable properties in magnetically active stars.

From Solar and Stellar Flares to Coronal Heating: Theory and Observations of How Magnetic Reconnection Regulates Coronal Conditions

There is currently no explanation of why the corona has the temperature and density it has. We present a model which explains how the dynamics of magnetic reconnection regulates the conditions in the corona. A bifurcation in magnetic reconnection at a critical state enforces an upper bound on the coronal temperature for a given density. We present observational evidence from 107 flares in 37 su...

Nucleosynthesis in stellar flares

Nuclear interactions of ions accelerated at the surface of flaring stars can produce fresh isotopes in stellar atmospheres. Although this nucleosynthesis is not significant for the chemical evolution of the Galaxy, it can be important for a number of measurements of “anomalously” high Li and Li abundances. We discuss the possible role of stellar flares to explain the recent report of high Li ab...

Modeling Solar and Stellar Flares

Scaling Laws of Solar and Stellar Flares

In this study we compile for the first time comprehensive data sets of solar and stellar flare parameters, including flare peak temperatures Tp, flare peak volume emission measures EMp, and flare durations τf from both solar and stellar data, as well as flare length scales L from solar data. Key results are that both the solar and stellar data are consistent with a common scaling law of EMp ∝ T...