The Volatility of Far-Ultraviolet Radiation from Low-Mass Stars and Planetary Implications

Loyd, Robert Oliver Parke

Graduate Thesis Or Dissertation

The Volatility of Far-Ultraviolet Radiation from Low-Mass Stars and Planetary Implications Public Deposited

Analytics

Citations

Citeable URL: https://scholar.colorado.edu/concern/graduate_thesis_or_dissertations/vd66vz937

Abstract

A low-mass star emits only 0.001-0.01% of its electromagnetic energy in the ultraviolet (100 – 1700 Å), yet the implications for planets are profound. Radiation at the short-wavelength end of this range, the extreme ultraviolet (100 – 912 Å), powers planetary atmospheric escape that can be observed through transit spectroscopy in the far ultraviolet (FUV; 912 – 1700 Å). In addition, FUV light that penetrates further into a planet’s atmosphere photolyzes molecules, driving nonthermal chemistry capable of producing O₂ and O₃ abiotically. I present results from extensive Hubble Space Telescope (HST) observations of the FUV emission from low-mass stars, focusing on its variability in time. Using all available archival data, I determined an astrophysical noise floor on detectable absorption in the C II, Si III, and Si IV FUV lines due to a transiting evaporating planet. I analyzed such a transit of the evaporating hot-Neptune GJ 436b, finding no detectable absorption in C II or Si III despite a large (>50%) transit in Lyα, but placing upper limits that agree with a photochemical-hydrodynamical model of the planetary outflow. These observations of GJ 436 were part of the MUSCLES Treasury Survey, a much larger dataset covering 7 M and 4 K dwarf stars. A time series analysis of all of these data constrained FUV flares on the surveyed M dwarfs, which I augmented with archival data on well-studied flare stars. The analysis confirmed that M dwarf flares are ubiquitous. In relative units, the FUV flares of the "inactive’’ MUSCLES M dwarfs are equally as energetic and frequent as those of the M dwarf flare stars. Both flare ~3 orders of magnitude more frequently than the sun. Indeed, flares possibly (if not probably) dominate the energy budget of FUV emission from M dwarf stars. Highly energetic flares occurring roughly yearly could annihilate most of the ozone from an Earth-like atmosphere. However, the effect is short-lived, unless additional reactions not accounted for or particle events play a dominant role.

Creator