Optical Spectroscopy of a Flare on Barnard's Star

Abstract

We present optical spectra of a flare on Barnard's star. Several photospheric as well as chromospheric species were enhanced by the flare heating. An analysis of the Balmer lines shows that their shapes are best explained by Stark broadening rather than chromospheric mass motions. We estimate the temperature of the flaring region in the lower atmosphere to be >8000 K and the electron density to be ~10^14 cm^{-3}, similar to values observed in other dM flares. Because Barnard's star is considered to be one of our oldest neighbors, a flare of this magnitude is probably quite rare.

arXiv commentAccepted for publication in PASP

References in corpus (6)

• Radiative Hydrodynamic Models of the Optical and Ultraviolet Emission from Solar Flares
• Interferometric Astrometry of Proxima Centauri and Barnard's Star Using Hubble Space Telescope Fine Guidance Sensor 3: Detection Limits for sub-Stellar Companions
• The low-level radial velocity variability in Barnard's star (=GJ 699). Secular acceleration, indications for convective redshift, and planet mass limits
• Detection and high-resolution spectroscopy of a huge flare on the old M9 dwarf DENIS 104814.7-395606.1
• Optical and UV observations of a strong flare in the young, single K2-dwarf LQ Hya
• Observations and modelling of a large optical flare on AT Microscopii

Cited by in corpus (33)

• Kepler Flares I. Active and Inactive M dwarfs
• Time-Resolved Properties and Global Trends in dMe Flares from Simultaneous Photometry and Spectra
• A Unified Computational Model for Solar and Stellar Flares
• Characterizing the Cool KOIs III. KOI-961: A Small Star with Large Proper Motion and Three Small Planets
• Kepler-445, Kepler-446 and the Occurrence of Compact Multiples Orbiting Mid-M Dwarf Stars
• New Insights into White-Light Flare Emission from Radiative-Hydrodynamic Modeling of a Chromospheric Condensation
• The High-Energy Radiation Environment Around a 10 Gyr M Dwarf: Habitable at Last?
• Multiwavelength observations of a giant flare on CN Leonis I. The chromosphere as seen in the optical spectra
• Hydrogen Balmer Line Broadening in Solar and Stellar Flares
• Optical and X-ray observations of stellar flares on an active M dwarf AD Leonis with Seimei Telescope, SCAT, NICER and OISTER
• Reconstructing the Extreme Ultraviolet Emission of Cool Dwarfs Using Differential Emission Measure Polynomials
• Short Duration Stellar Flares in GALEX Data
• Properties of flares and CMEs on EV Lac: Possible erupting filament
• The red dwarf pair GJ65AB: inflated, spinning twins of Proxima
• A Search for Planets Transiting the M Dwarf Debris Disk Host, AU Microscopii
• The Atmospheric Response to High Nonthermal Electron Beam Fluxes in Solar Flares. II. Hydrogen Broadening Predictions for Solar Flare Observations with the Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope
• CRIRES-POP: A library of high resolution spectra in the near-infrared
• A multi-wavelength view of AB Dor's outer atmosphere - Simultaneous X-ray and optical spectroscopy at high cadence
• Precise Doppler Monitoring of Barnard's Star
• Optical and Near-Infrared Radial Velocity Content of M Dwarfs: Testing Models with Barnard's Star
• Activity on the M star of QS Vir
• High resolution near-infrared spectroscopy of a flare around the ultracool dwarf vB 10
• Flaring-associated Complex Dynamics in Two M-dwarfs Revealed by Fast, Time-resolved Spectroscopy
• Astrophysics in 2006
• Temporal changes of the flare activity of Proxima Cen
• The CARMENES search for exoplanets around M dwarfs. Behaviour of the Paschen lines during flares and quiescence
• The Hubble PanCET program: Long-term chromospheric evolution and flaring activity of the M dwarf host GJ 3470
• Magnetic Inflation and Stellar Mass. V. Intensification and saturation of M dwarf absorption lines with Rossby number
• Spectroscopic observations of flares and superflares on AU Mic
• The CARMENES search for exoplanets around M dwarfs. The He I infrared triplet lines in PHOENIX models of M2-3 V stars
• Astrophysics in 2005
• Astrometric radial velocities for nearby stars
• Dual-Backend Multibeam Position Switching Targeted SETI Observations toward Nearby Active Planet-Hosting Systems with FAST