TRAPPIST-1 flares follow a single power law over four energy orders

Star system: TRAPPIST-1 | Distance from the Sun: 40.7 light years

TRAPPIST-1, an ultra-cool dwarf star, is known for frequent stellar flares that impact its planets' atmospheres and can interfere with observations. Researchers combined data from JWST and Kepler/K2 to analyze the flare-frequency distribution (FFD) across four orders of magnitude in energy. By converting all flare energies to the TESS bandpass and correcting for detection sensitivities, they found that the cumulative FFD follows a single power law with a slope of 0.753 over energies from 10^29 to 10^33 erg.

This means that rare, high-energy flares contribute most to the total flare energy, rather than the more common, low-energy events. The unified FFD helps astronomers plan JWST transit observations and model how flares affect the TRAPPIST-1 planets' atmospheres and irradiation histories.

Key findings
- TRAPPIST-1's flares follow a single power law over four orders of magnitude in energy
- High-energy, rare flares dominate the total energy budget
- Results are based on combined JWST and Kepler/K2 data, converted to the TESS bandpass
- The unified FFD aids in planning JWST observations and modeling planetary environments

Scientific study

A single power law for the TRAPPIST-1 flare distribution across four orders of magnitude in energy (external link)