Quantifying flare-type fractions and impulsive flares with unexpectedly large Balmer jumps

Ascertain the fraction of stellar flares in the impulsive (IF), hybrid (HF), and gradual (GF) classes and quantify how many impulsive-type flares exhibit Balmer jump ratios larger than predicted by the IF/HF/GF classification scheme, using coordinated spectroscopy and photometry to mitigate classification biases.

Background

Flare classification based on light-curve morphology (IF/HF/GF) is widely used, but the true distribution of flare types and their spectral properties remains uncertain due to observational biases.

In particular, some impulsive flares show larger Balmer jumps than expected for IF-type events, challenging current classification-physics links and motivating comprehensive surveys combining high-cadence photometry with spectroscopy.