Detecting Stellar Coronal Mass Ejections via Coronal Dimming in the Extreme Ultraviolet

Abstract

Stellar flares and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) can strip planetary atmospheres, reducing the potential habitability of terrestrial planets. While flares have been observed for decades, stellar CMEs remain elusive. Extreme-ultraviolet (EUV) emissions are sensitive to both flares and CME-induced coronal dimming. We assess the detectability of stellar CME-induced EUV dimming events by adapting a known “Sun-as-a-star” dimming technique—validated by the Solar Dynamics Observatory’s EUV Variability Experiment (EVE)—to stellar conditions. We adapt the solar data to reflect a range of stellar intensities, accounting for intrinsic brightness, distance, and interstellar medium (ISM) attenuation. We generate synthetic light curves for two different missions: the legacy EUV Explorer (EUVE) and the proposed ESCAPE mission. Our results indicate that dimming detections are well within reach. EUVE’s broadband imager was capable of detecting stellar CMEs—albeit with limited spectral (temperature) resolution—but that was not part of the observing plan. EUVE’s spectroscopic survey lacked sufficient sensitivity for CME detections. Optimizing modern instrument design for this task would make the observation fully feasible. In this work, we present a tool to explore the stellar-CME detection parameter space. Our tool shows that with an instrument with performance similar to ESCAPE, setting a 600 s integration period, and integrating the spectra into bands, any star with a X-ray flux ≥2.51 × 10 ^−12 erg s ^−1 cm ^−2 should have a ≥3 σ detection even for a modest few-percent dimming profile, regardless of ISM attenuation. Such measurements would be crucial for understanding the space weather environments of exoplanet host stars and, ultimately, for evaluating planetary habitability.

Keywords

• Stellar coronal mass ejections
• Astronomy image processing
• Extreme ultraviolet astronomy
• Astronomical instrumentation