An Empirically-derived non-LTE XUV-Visible Spectral Synthesis Model of the M1 V Exoplanet Host Star GJ832
Paper presented at the American Astronomical Society Meeting #227, held in Kissimmee, FL, USA, 5 January 2016.
Co-authored with Jeff Linsky, Juan Fontenla, and Kevin France.
Abstract:
GJ832 (HD 204961) is a nearby M1 V host star with two exoplanets: a Jovian mass planet and a super-Earth. We have obtained near-UV and far-UV spectra of GJ832 with the STIS and COS instruments on HST as part of the Cycle 19 MUSCLES pilot program (France et al. 2013). Our objective is to obtain the first accurate physical model for a representative M-dwarf host star in order to understand the stellar radiative emission at all wavelengths and to infer the radiation environment of their exoplanets that drives their atmospheric photochemistry. We have calculated a full non-LTE model for GJ 832 including the photosphere, chromosphere, transition region, and corona to fit the observed emission lines formed over a wide range of temperatures and the X-ray flux. Our one-dimensional semi-empirical model uses the Solar-Stellar Physical Modelling tools that are an offspring of the tools used by Fontenla and collaborators for computing solar models. For this model of GJ832, we calculate the populations of 52 atoms and ions and 20 molecules with 2 million spectral lines. We find excellent agreement with the observed H-alpha, CaII, MgII, CII, SiIV, CIV, and NV lines. Our model for GJ832 has a temperature minimum in the lower chromosphere much cooler than the Sun and then a steep temperature rise different from the Sun. The different thermal structure of GJ832 compared to the Sun results in the formation regions of the emission lines being different for the two stars. We also compute the radiative cooling rates as a function of height and temperature in the atmosphere of GJ832.This work is supported by grants from STScI to the University of Colorado.
GJ832 (HD 204961) is a nearby M1 V host star with two exoplanets: a Jovian mass planet and a super-Earth. We have obtained near-UV and far-UV spectra of GJ832 with the STIS and COS instruments on HST as part of the Cycle 19 MUSCLES pilot program (France et al. 2013). Our objective is to obtain the first accurate physical model for a representative M-dwarf host star in order to understand the stellar radiative emission at all wavelengths and to infer the radiation environment of their exoplanets that drives their atmospheric photochemistry. We have calculated a full non-LTE model for GJ 832 including the photosphere, chromosphere, transition region, and corona to fit the observed emission lines formed over a wide range of temperatures and the X-ray flux. Our one-dimensional semi-empirical model uses the Solar-Stellar Physical Modelling tools that are an offspring of the tools used by Fontenla and collaborators for computing solar models. For this model of GJ832, we calculate the populations of 52 atoms and ions and 20 molecules with 2 million spectral lines. We find excellent agreement with the observed H-alpha, CaII, MgII, CII, SiIV, CIV, and NV lines. Our model for GJ832 has a temperature minimum in the lower chromosphere much cooler than the Sun and then a steep temperature rise different from the Sun. The different thermal structure of GJ832 compared to the Sun results in the formation regions of the emission lines being different for the two stars. We also compute the radiative cooling rates as a function of height and temperature in the atmosphere of GJ832.This work is supported by grants from STScI to the University of Colorado.