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Register a new userOrigin of electron cyclotron maser-induced radio emissions at ultra-cool dwarfs: magnetosphere-ionosphere coupling currents
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A number of ultra-cool dwarfs emit circularly polarised radio waves generated by the electron cyclotron maser instability. In the solar system such radio is emitted from regions of strong auroral magnetic field-aligned currents. We thus apply ideas developed for Jupiters magnetosphere, being a well-studied rotationally-dominated analogue in our solar system, to the case of fast-rotating UCDs. We explain the properties of the radio emission from UCDs by showing that it would arise from the electric currents resulting from an angular velocity shear in the fast-rotating magnetic field and plasma, i.e. by an extremely powerful analogue of the process which causes Jupiters auroras. Such a velocity gradient indicates that these bodies interact significantly with their space environment, resulting in intense auroral emissions. These results strongly suggest that auroras occur on bodies outside our solar system.
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In this paper we consider the magnetosphere-ionosphere (M-I) coupling at Jupiter-like exoplanets with internal plasma sources such as volcanic moons, and we have determined the best candidates for detection of these radio emissions by estimating the maximum spectral flux density expected from planets orbiting stars within 25 pc using data listed in the NASA/IPAC/NExScI Star and Exoplanet Database (NStED). In total we identify 91 potential targets, of which 40 already host planets and 51 have stellar X-ray luminosity 100 times the solar value. In general, we find that stronger planetary field strength, combined with faster rotation rate, higher stellar XUV luminosity, and lower stellar wind dynamic pressure results in higher radio power. The top two targets for each category are $epsilon$ Eri and HIP 85523, and CPD-28 332 and FF And.
Fast electron beams (FEBs) are common products of solar active phenomena. Solar radio bursts are an important diagnostic tool in the understanding of FEBs as well as the solar plasma environment in which they are propagating along solar magnetic fields. In particular, the evolutions of the energy spectrum and velocity distribution of FEBs due to the interaction with the ambient plasma and field when propagating can significantly influence the efficiency and property of their emissions. In this paper, we discuss some possible evolutions of the energy spectrum and velocity distribution of FEBs due to the energy loss processes and the pitch-angle effect caused by the magnetic field inhomogeneity, and analyze the effects of these evolutions on electron cyclotron maser (ECM) emission, which is one of the most important mechanisms of producing solar radio bursts by FEBs. The results show that the growth rates all decrease with the energy loss factor $Q$, but increase with the magnetic mirror ratio $sigma$ as well as with the steepness index $delta$. Moreover, the evolution of FEBs also can significantly influence the fastest growing mode and the fastest growing phase angle. This leads to the change of the polarization sense of ECM emission. In particular, our results also reveal that FEB that undergoes different evolution processes will generate different types of ECM emission. We believe the present results to be very helpful on more comprehensive understanding of dynamic spectra of solar radio bursts.
The 2001 discovery of radio emission from ultra-cool dwarfs (UCDs), the very low-mass stars and brown dwarfs with spectral types of ~M7 and later, revealed that these objects can generate and dissipate powerful magnetic fields. Radio observations provide unparalleled insight into UCD magnetism: detections extend to brown dwarfs with temperatures <1000 K, where no other observational probes are effective. The data reveal that UCDs can generate strong (kG) fields, sometimes with a stable dipolar structure; that they can produce and retain nonthermal plasmas with electron acceleration extending to MeV energies; and that they can drive auroral current systems resulting in significant atmospheric energy deposition and powerful, coherent radio bursts. Still to be understood are the underlying dynamo processes, the precise means by which particles are accelerated around these objects, the observed diversity of magnetic phenomenologies, and how all of these factors change as the mass of the central object approaches that of Jupiter. The answers to these questions are doubly important because UCDs are both potential exoplanet hosts, as in the TRAPPIST-1 system, and analogues of extrasolar giant planets themselves.
A number of radio-loud ultra cool dwarf stars (UCD) exhibit both continuous broadband and highly polarized pulsed radio emission. In order to determine the nature of the emission and the physical characteristics in the source region, we have made multi-epoch, wideband spectral observations of TVLM 0513-46 and 2M 0746+20. We combine these observations with archival radio data to fully characterize both the temporal and spectral properties of the radio emission. The continuum spectral energy distribution can be well modeled using gyrosynchrotron emission from mildly relativistic electrons in a dipolar field. The pulsed emission exhibits a variety of time-variable characteristics, including frequency drifts, frequency cutoffs, and multiple pulses per period. For 2M 0746+20 we determine a pulse period consistent with previously determined values. We modeled locations of pulsed emission using an oblique rotating magnetospheric model with beamed electron cyclotron maser (ECM) sources. The best-fit models have narrow ECM beaming angles aligned with the local source magnetic field direction, except for one isolated burst from 2M 0746+20. For TVLM 0513-46, the best-fit rotation axis inclination is nearly orthogonal to the line of sight. For 2M 0746+20 we found a good fit using a fixed inclination i=36 deg, determined from optical observations. For both stars the ECM sources are located near feet of magnetic loops with radial extents 1.2Rs-2.7 Rs and surface fields 2.2 - 2.5 kG. These results support recent suggestions that radio over-luminous UCDs have a global `weak field non-axisymmetric magnetic topologies.
The electron-cyclotron maser instability is widespread in the Universe, producing, e.g., radio emission of the magnetized planets and cool substellar objects. Diagnosing the parameters of astrophysical radio sources requires comprehensive nonlinear simulations of the radiation process. We simulate the electron-cyclotron maser instability in a very low-beta plasma. The model used takes into account the radiation escape from the source region and the particle flow through this region. We developed a kinetic code to simulate the time evolution of an electron distribution in a radio emission source. The model includes the terms describing the particle injection to and escape from the emission source region. The spatial escape of the emission from the source is taken into account by using a finite amplification time. The unstable electron distribution of the horseshoe type is considered. A number of simulations were performed for different parameter sets typical of the magnetospheres of planets and ultracool dwarfs. The generated emission (corresponding to the fundamental extraordinary mode) has a frequency close to the electron cyclotron frequency and propagates across the magnetic field. Shortly after the onset of a simulation, the electron distribution reaches a quasi-stationary state. If the emission source region is relatively small, the resulting electron distribution is similar to that of the injected electrons; the emission intensity is low. In larger sources, the electron distribution may become nearly flat due to the wave-particle interaction, while the conversion efficiency of the particle energy flux into waves reaches 10-20%. We found good agreement of our model with the in situ observations in the source regions of auroral radio emissions of the Earth and Saturn. The expected characteristics of the electron distributions in the magnetospheres of ultracool dwarfs were obtained.
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