Radio signatures of star–planet interactions, exoplanets and space weather

Abstract

Radio detections of stellar systems provide a window onto stellar magnetic activity and the space weather conditions of extrasolar planets — information that is difficult to obtain at other wavelengths. The maturation of low-frequency radio instruments and the plethora of wide-field radio surveys have driven recent advances in observing auroral emissions from radio-bright low-mass stars and exoplanets. To guide us in putting these recent results in context, we introduce the foremost local analogues for the field: solar bursts and the aurorae found on Jupiter. We detail how radio bursts associated with stellar flares are foundational to the study of stellar coronae, and time-resolved radio dynamic spectra offer one of the best prospects for detecting and characterizing coronal mass ejections from other stars. We highlight the possibility of directly detecting coherent radio emission from exoplanetary magnetospheres, as well as early tentative results. We bridge this discussion with the field of brown dwarf radio emission — the larger and stronger magnetospheres of these stars are amenable to detailed study with current instruments. Bright, coherent radio emission is also predicted from magnetic interactions between stars and close-in planets. We discuss the underlying physics of these interactions and the implications of recent provisional detections for exoplanet characterization. We conclude with an overview of outstanding questions in the theory of stellar, star–planet interaction and exoplanet radio emission and the potential of future facilities to answer them. The maturation of low-frequency radio astronomy instruments has further opened the magnetic environment of stars to investigation, yielding indications of star–planet interactions and coronal mass ejections in stellar systems other than our own.