Determine flare-temperature occurrence rates

Determine the population-level occurrence rates of stellar flares as a function of flare effective temperature across the observed 4,000–40,000 K temperature range, so that temperature-dependent flare populations can be incorporated into exoplanet photochemical models.

Background

The paper models repeated flaring using two representative flare temperatures, 9,000 K and 19,000 K, because stellar flare temperatures span a substantially broader range. The relative frequency of flares at different temperatures determines the time-dependent ultraviolet radiation received by an orbiting planet and therefore affects ozone production, ozone destruction, and the interpretation of atmospheric biosignatures.

The authors emphasize that existing observations provide measurements of individual flare temperatures but do not establish population statistics. They identify simultaneous, multiwavelength monitoring—particularly with the proposed Early eVolution Explorer—as necessary for measuring flare temperatures and energies for sufficiently large samples of young FGKM stars. These measurements would provide the empirical inputs needed to replace the paper’s bounding-temperature scenarios with observationally constrained flare distributions.