A comprehensive statistical assessment of star-planet interaction

TL;DR

This study assesses whether magnetic interactions between close-in giant planets and stars cause observable increases in stellar activity, finding no significant correlation with X-ray luminosity but noting some effects driven by extreme hot-Jupiter systems.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive statistical analysis combining new and archival X-ray data to evaluate star-planet magnetic interactions, challenging previous claims of observable activity enhancements.

Findings

No significant correlation between star-planet interaction proxies and X-ray activity.

Extreme hot-Jupiter systems show higher X-ray luminosity, driven by a few outliers.

No significant link between planetary properties and UV or Ca II H and K emission.

Abstract

We investigate whether magnetic interaction between close-in giant planets and their host stars produce observable statistical enhancements in stellar coronal or chromospheric activity. New Chandra observations of 12 nearby (d<60 pc) planet-hosting solar analogs are combined with archival Chandra, XMM-Newton, and ROSAT coverage of 11 similar stars to construct a sample inoculated against inherent stellar class and planet-detection biases. Survival analysis and Bayesian regression methods (incorporating both measurements errors and X-ray upper limits; 13/23 stars have secure detections) are used to test whether "hot Jupiter" hosts are systematically more X-ray luminous than comparable stars with more distant or smaller planets. No significant correlations are present between common proxies for interaction strength (Mp/a^2 or 1/a) versus coronal activity (Lx or Lx/Lbol). In contrast, a sample of 198 FGK main-sequence stars does show a significant (~99% confidence) increase in X-ray luminosity with Mp/a^2. While selection biases are incontrovertibly present within the main-sequence sample, we demonstrate that the effect is primarily driven by a handful of extreme hot-Jupiter systems with Mp/a^2 >450 Mjup/AU^2, which here are all X-ray luminous but to a degree commensurate with their Ca II H and K activity, in contrast to presented magnetic star-planet interaction scenarios that predict enhancements relatively larger in Lx. We discuss these results in the context of cumulative tidal spin-up of stars hosting close-in gas giants (potentially followed by planetary infall and destruction). We also test our main-sequence sample for correlations between planetary properties and UV luminosity or Ca II H and K emission, and find no significant dependence.