Detecting Stellar Coronal Mass Ejections via Coronal Dimming in the Extreme Ultraviolet

Abstract

Stellar flares and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) can strip planetary atmospheres, reducing the potential habitability of terrestrial planets. While flares have been observed for decades, stellar CMEs remain elusive. Extreme ultraviolet (EUV) emissions are sensitive to both flares and CME-induced coronal dimming. We assess the detectability of stellar CME-induced EUV dimming events by adapting a known "Sun-as-a-star" dimming technique -- validated by the Solar Dynamics Observatory's EUV Variability Experiment (EVE) -- to stellar conditions. We adapt the solar data to reflect a range of stellar intensities, accounting for intrinsic brightness, distance, and interstellar medium (ISM) attenuation. We generate synthetic light curves for two different missions: the legacy EUV Explorer (EUVE) and the proposed ESCAPE mission. Our results indicate that dimming detections are well within reach. EUVE's broadband imager was capable of detecting stellar CMEs -- albeit with limited spectral (temperature) resolution -- but that was not part of the observing plan. EUVE's spectroscopic survey lacked sufficient sensitivity for CME detections. Optimizing modern instrument design for this task would make the observation fully feasible. In this work, we present a tool to explore the stellar-CME detection parameter space. Our tool shows that an instrument with performance similar to ESCAPE, setting a 600-second integration period, and integrating the spectra into bands, any star with an X-ray flux $\ge 2.51\times 10^{-12}$ergs${}^{-1}$~cm${}^{-2}$ should have a $\ge 3\sigma$ detection even for a modest few-percent dimming profile, regardless of ISM attenuation. Such measurements would be crucial for understanding the space weather environments of exoplanet host stars and, ultimately, for evaluating planetary habitability.

14 pages, 10 figures, published

References in corpus (13)

• The Extreme Ultraviolet and X-Ray Sun in Time: High-Energy Evolutionary Tracks of a Solar-Like Star
• Driving major solar flares and eruptions: a review
• Is Proxima Centauri b habitable? -- A study of atmospheric loss
• Indications of stellar coronal mass ejections through coronal dimmings
• Relationship of EUV Irradiance Coronal Dimming Slope and Depth to Coronal Mass Ejection Speed and Mass
• A search for flares and mass ejections on young late-type stars in the open cluster Blanco-1
• Mechanisms and Observations of Coronal Dimming for the 2010 August 7 Event
• A Monster CME Obscuring A Demon Star Flare
• JWST Thermal Emission of the Terrestrial Exoplanet GJ 1132b
• Solar XUV and ENA-driven water loss from early Venus' steam atmosphere
• Discovery of a Long-Duration Superflare on a Young Solar-Type Star EK Draconis with Nearly Similar Time Evolution for H$\alpha$ and White-Light Emissions
• Coronal Mass Ejections and Dimmings: A Comparative Study using MHD Simulations and SDO Observations
• Universal Scaling Laws for Solar and Stellar Atmospheric Heating: Catalog of Power-law Index between Solar Activity Proxies and Various Spectral Irradiances