ADLeo

The Nov 2021 superflare & the corona of the benchmark flare star AD Leo

01.10.2022 bis 30.09.2025

In November 2021 the prototypical M dwarf star ADLeo was observed simultaneously with the X-ray satellite XMM-Newton and the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) which operates at optical wavelengths. These data offer the rare opportunity to study in a multi-wavelength perspective the frequency and plasma properties of stellar flares, which are stochastic events of magnetic field reconnection and energy release. This PhD project will comprise the detailed analysis of a superflare present in this dataset and a study of flare frequency energy distributions. Moreover, the data will be used to develop an algorithm that automatically detects X-ray flares based on experience gained from optical flare data. Finally, the corona of AD Leo will be modelled with magnetic structures observed on the Sun using the Sun-as-an-Xray-star approach.