Coronal X-ray emission and planetary irradiation in HD 209458

TL;DR

This study confirms HD 209458 as an X-ray source, measuring its coronal properties and assessing the high-energy irradiation's role in driving atmospheric evaporation of its hot Jupiter planet.

Contribution

First X-ray detection and detailed coronal characterization of HD 209458, linking stellar activity to planetary atmospheric mass loss.

Findings

HD 209458 has an X-ray luminosity of 1.6e27 erg/s.

The star's corona is similar to the inactive Sun but with a larger emission measure.

High-energy emission supports planetary mass-loss rates of a few times 1e10 g/s.

Abstract

HD 209458 is one of the benchmark objects in the study of hot Jupiter atmospheres and their evaporation through planetary winds. The expansion of the planetary atmosphere is thought to be driven by high-energy EUV and X-ray irradiation. We obtained new Chandra HRC-I data, which unequivocally show that HD 209458 is an X-ray source. Combining these data with archival XMM-Newton observations, we find that the corona of HD 209458 is characterized by a temperature of about 1 MK and an emission measure of 7e49 cm^-3, yielding an X-ray luminosity of 1.6e27 erg/s in the 0.124-2.48 keV band. HD 209458 is an inactive star with a coronal temperature comparable to that of the inactive Sun but a larger emission measure. At this level of activity, the planetary high-energy emission is sufficient to support mass-loss at a rate of a few times 1e10 g/s.