A Pilot Radio Search for Magnetic Activity in Directly Imaged Exoplanets

Abstract

We present the first systematic search for GHz frequency radio emission from directly imaged exoplanets using Very Large Array (VLA) observations of sufficient angular resolution to separate the planets from their host stars. We obtained results for five systems and eight exoplanets located at $\lesssim 50$ pc, through new observations (Ross 458, GU Psc, and 51 Eri) and archival data (GJ 504 and HR 8799). We do not detect radio emission from any of the exoplanets, with $3\sigma$ luminosity upper limits of $(0.9-23)\times 10^{21}$ erg s${}^{-1}$. These limits are comparable to the level of radio emission detected in several ultracool dwarfs, including T dwarfs, whose masses are only a factor of two times higher than those of the directly-imaged exoplanets. Despite the lack of detections in this pilot study, we highlight the need for continued GHz frequency radio observations of nearby exoplanets at $\mu$Jy-level sensitivity.

Submitted to ApJ 7 pages, 4 figures

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Cited by in corpus (4)

• Emission line variability of young 10-30 Mjup companions : I. The case of GQ Lup b and GSC 06214-00210 b
• Follow-up LOFAR observations of the $\tau$ Boötis exoplanetary system
• Deciphering Faint Gyrosynchrotron Emission from Coronal Mass Ejection using Spectro-polarimetric Radio Imaging
• ROME IV. The Arecibo Search for Substellar Magnetospheric Radio Emissions in Purported Exoplanet-Hosting Systems at 5 GHz