Do A-type stars flare?

TL;DR

This study rigorously investigates reported flares in A-type stars, finding that most are likely due to contamination or companions, and concludes there is no convincing evidence of intrinsic flaring in these stars.

Contribution

The paper provides a detailed re-analysis of previously reported flares in A-type stars, challenging the notion that such stars can intrinsically produce flares.

Findings

Most flares are due to contamination or companions.

Confirmed A-type stars do not show intrinsic flaring evidence.

Some stars exhibit Hα emission, but its origin is uncertain.

Abstract

For flares to be generated, stars have to have a sufficiently deep outer convection zone (F5 and later), strong large--scale magnetic fields (Ap/Bp-type stars) or strong, radiatively driven winds (B5 and earlier). Normal A-type stars possess none of these and therefore should not flare. Nevertheless, flares have previously been detected in the Kepler lightcurves of 33 A-type stars and interpreted to be intrinsic to the stars. Here we present new and detailed analyses of these 33 stars, imposing very strict criteria for the flare detection. We confirm the presence of flare-like features in 27 of the 33 A-type stars. A study of the pixel data and the surrounding field-of-view (FOV) reveals that 14 of these 27 flaring objects have overlapping neighbouring stars and 5 stars show clear contamination in the pixel data. We have obtained high-resolution spectra for 2/3 of the entire sample and confirm that our targets are indeed A-type stars. Detailed analyses revealed that 11 out of 19 stars with multiple epochs of observations are spectroscopic binaries. Furthermore, and contrary to previous studies, we find that the flares can originate from a cooler, unresolved companion. We note the presence of H$\alpha$ emission in eight stars. Whether this emission is circumstellar or magnetic in origin is unknown. In summary, we find possible alternative explanations for the observed flares for at least 19 of the 33 A-type stars, but find no truly convincing target to support the hypothesis of flaring A-type stars.