TY - JOUR
T1 - White-light flares on cool stars in the kepler quarter 1 data
AU - Walkowicz, Lucianne M.
AU - Basri, Gibor
AU - Batalha, Natalie
AU - Gilliland, Ronald L.
AU - Jenkins, Jon
AU - Borucki, William J.
AU - Koch, David
AU - Caldwell, Doug
AU - Dupree, Andrea K.
AU - Latham, David W.
AU - Meibom, Soeren
AU - Howell, Steve
AU - Brown, Timothy M.
AU - Bryson, Steve
PY - 2011/2
Y1 - 2011/2
N2 - We present the results of a search for white-light flares on ∼ 23,000 cool dwarfs in the Kepler Quarter 1 long cadence data. We have identified 373 flaring stars, some of which flare multiple times during the observation period. We calculate relative flare energies, flare rates, and durations and compare these with the quiescent photometric variability of our sample. We find that M dwarfs tend to flare more frequently but for shorter durations than K dwarfs and that they emit more energy relative to their quiescent luminosity in a given flare than K dwarfs. Stars that are more photometrically variable in quiescence tend to emit relatively more energy during flares, but variability is only weakly correlated with flare frequency. We estimate distances for our sample of flare stars and find that the flaring fraction agrees well with other observations of flare statistics for stars within 300 pc above the Galactic plane. These observations provide a more rounded view of stellar flares by sampling stars that have not been pre-selected by their activity, and are informative for understanding the influence of these flares on planetary habitability.
AB - We present the results of a search for white-light flares on ∼ 23,000 cool dwarfs in the Kepler Quarter 1 long cadence data. We have identified 373 flaring stars, some of which flare multiple times during the observation period. We calculate relative flare energies, flare rates, and durations and compare these with the quiescent photometric variability of our sample. We find that M dwarfs tend to flare more frequently but for shorter durations than K dwarfs and that they emit more energy relative to their quiescent luminosity in a given flare than K dwarfs. Stars that are more photometrically variable in quiescence tend to emit relatively more energy during flares, but variability is only weakly correlated with flare frequency. We estimate distances for our sample of flare stars and find that the flaring fraction agrees well with other observations of flare statistics for stars within 300 pc above the Galactic plane. These observations provide a more rounded view of stellar flares by sampling stars that have not been pre-selected by their activity, and are informative for understanding the influence of these flares on planetary habitability.
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U2 - 10.1088/0004-6256/141/2/50
DO - 10.1088/0004-6256/141/2/50
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:79551557184
SN - 0004-6256
VL - 141
JO - Astronomical Journal
JF - Astronomical Journal
IS - 2
ER -