CONNECTING FLARES AND TRANSIENT MASS-LOSS EVENTS IN MAGNETICALLY ACTIVE STARS

Abstract

We explore the ramification of associating the energetics of extreme mag-\nnetic reconnection events with transient mass loss in a stellar analogy with\nsolar eruptive events. We establish energy partitions relative to the total\nbolometric radiated flare energy for different observed components of stellar\nflares, and show that there is rough agreement for these values with solar\nflares. We apply an equipartition between the bolometric radiated flare energy\nand kinetic energy in an accompanying mass ejection, seen in solar eruptive\nevents and expected from reconnection. This allows an integrated flare rate in\na particular waveband to be used to estimate the amount of associated transient\nmass loss. This approach is supported by a good correspondence between\nobservational flare signatures on high flaring rate stars and the Sun, which\nsuggests a common physical origin. If the frequent and extreme flares that\nyoung solar-like stars and low-mass stars experience are accompanied by\ntransient mass loss in the form of coronal mass ejections, then the cumulative\neffect of this mass loss could be large. We find that for young solar-like\nstars and active M dwarfs, the total mass lost due to transient magnetic\neruptions could have significant impacts on disk evolution, and thus planet\nformation, and also exoplanet habitability.\n