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Long-duration Coherent Radio Emission from the dMe Star Proxima Centauri

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 March 2013

O. B. Slee ,
A. J. Willes  and
R. D. Robinson
O. B. Slee
Affiliation:
Australia Telescope National Facility, CSIRO, P.O. Box 76, Epping, NSW 2121, Australia. bslee@atnf.csiro.au
A. J. Willes
Affiliation:
School of Physics, University of Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia. willes@physics.usyd.edu.au
R. D. Robinson
Affiliation:
Computer Sciences Corporation, 770 Hubble Drive, Lanham Seabrook, MD 20706, USA. Catholic University of America, Washington DC 20064, USA. Department of Physics and Astronomy, Johns Hopkins University, 3400 North Charles Street, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA. robinson@violet.pha.jhu.edu
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Abstract

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The Australia Telescope and Anglo-Australian Telescope were used in May 2000 to record the radio and optical emissions from the dMe flare star Proxima Centauri. Eight bright optical flares over a two-day interval resulted in no detectable excess short-term radio emission at 1.38 and 2.50 GHz. However, a slowly declining 1.38 GHz emission over the two-day interval was nearly 100% right circular polarised and was restricted to a relatively narrow bandwidth with total intensity (I) and circular polarisation (V) varying significantly over the 104 MHz receiver bandwidth. These are the first observations to show that highly-polarised narrowband flare star emission can persist for several days. This signature is attributed to sources of coherent radio emission in the star's corona. Similarities with various solar radio emissions are discussed; however, it is not possible with the existing observations to distinguish between fundamental plasma emission and electron–cyclotron maser emission as the responsible mechanism.

Keywords

Stars: activitystars: individual: Proxima Censtars: flareradio continuum: starsradiation mechanisms
Type
Research Article
Information
Publications of the Astronomical Society of Australia , Volume 20 , Issue 3 , 2003 , pp. 257 - 262
Copyright
Copyright © Astronomical Society of Australia 2003

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