Overview

Flares that are far more energetic than typical solar flares have been observed on solar-like stars (e.g. Maehara et al., 2012), leading to predictions that the average occurrence rate of these so-called “superflares” on “stars with similar rotation periods to the Sun is about once in 500 to 600 years” (Maehara et al., 2015). However, given that these flares are far more energetic than typical solar flares, and that the data upon which these predictions are made consist of unresolved white light observations of the star in question’s brightness, it is reasonable to ask whether these predictions are justified. The largest Earth-directed solar flare on record was the 1859 “Carrington flare”, which brought a halt to the telegraph network across much of Europe and North America. Even this flare was orders of magnitude less energetic than stellar superflares. Our current reliance on technology makes us ever more susceptible to the impact of extreme space weather, associated with energetic events such as flares. Studying stellar flares is vital for understanding the mechanisms responsible for magnetic fields in stars, and the physical processes responsible for flares and space weather on our own Sun. However, to truly understand the link between stellar superflares and solar flares one must first create a solid link between the physical processes occurring in each case. The aim of this ISSI team is to create such a link through quasi-periodic pulsations.