Early optical follow-up of the nearby active star DG CVn during its 2014 superflare

TL;DR

This study presents a comprehensive multi-wavelength follow-up of a superflare from the nearby active star DG CVn, revealing large active regions responsible for extreme stellar flaring, similar to solar activity.

Contribution

It provides the first complete optical and X-ray observations of a superflare from DG CVn, linking stellar activity to solar flaring processes.

Findings

Superflare explained by large active regions on the star surface

Flaring activity similar to extreme solar flares

Supports extrapolation of solar flare mechanisms to active red-dwarf stars

Abstract

DG CVn is a binary system in which one of the components is an M type dwarf ultra fast rotator, only three of which are known in the solar neighborhood. Observations of DG CVn by the Swift satellite and several ground-based observatories during its super-flare event on 2014 allowed us to perform a complete hard X-ray - optical follow-up of a super-flare from the red-dwarf star. The observations support the fact that the super-flare can be explained by the presence of (a) large active region(s) on the surface of the star. Such activity is similar to the most extreme solar flaring events. This points towards a plausible extrapolation between the behaviour from the most active red-dwarf stars and the processes occurring in the Sun.