- Lectures
- Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics
- Location
R1203 of the Astronomy-Mathematics Building, National Taiwan University
- Speaker Name
Harish Vedantham
- State
Definitive
- Url
Colloquium
Radio flashes from plasma storms around exoplanets
Abstract
Low frequency (< few hundred MHz) radio observations uniquely probe several processes that determine the habitability of exoplanets such as coronal mass ejections and exoplanet magnetic fields. Radio observations of such phenomena in the solar system are commonplace. I will argue that the extrasolar frontier is now also within reach thanks to powerful new low-frequency telescopes such as LOFAR. I will describe an observational program using LOFAR to systematically survey the low-frequency radio sky for stellar, brown dwarf and exoplanetary emissions with unprecedented sensitivities. I will present some early successes of this campaign including (a) the discovery of evidence for magnetic interaction between a star and its planet (b) the discovery of a cold brown dwarf directly in the radio band using its magnetospheric emissions and (c) solar-type radio bursts on nearby stars possibly associated with coronal mass ejections. I will end with an outlook for harnessing radio astronomy’s unique diagnostic capabilities to advance stellar and exoplanet science.