Multiwavelength observation of an active M-dwarf star EV Lac and its stellar flare accompanied by a delayed prominence eruption

TL;DR

This study presents multiwavelength observations of an active M-dwarf star EV Lac, capturing a stellar flare and a delayed prominence eruption, revealing detailed flare dynamics and implications for UV flux estimation methods.

Contribution

It provides the first simultaneous multiwavelength data of a stellar flare on EV Lac, highlighting the flare's timing, prominence eruption, and challenges in UV flux estimation from optical data.

Findings

Detected a stellar flare with energy of 3.4 x 10^{32} erg.

Observed a delayed prominence eruption approximately 1 hour after the flare peak.

Identified complexities in estimating UV flux from optical continuum data.

Abstract

We conducted 4-night multiwavelength observations of an active M-dwarf star EV Lac on 2022 October 24$-$27 with simultaneous coverage of soft X-rays (NICER; 0.2$-$12 $\mathrm{keV}$, Swift XRT; 0.2$-$10 $\mathrm{keV}$), near-ultraviolet (Swift UVOT/UVW2; 1600$-$3500 \r{A}), optical photometry (TESS; 6000$-$10000 \r{A}), and optical spectroscopy (Nayuta/MALLS; 6350$-$6800 \r{A}). During the campaign, we detected a flare starting at 12:28 UTC on October 25 with its white-light bolometric energy of $3.4 \times 10^{32}$ erg. At about 1 hour after this flare peak, our $\mathrm{H\alpha}$ spectrum showed a blue-shifted excess component at its corresponding velocity of $\sim 100 \: \mathrm{km \: s^{-1}}$. This may indicate that the prominence erupted with a 1-hour delay of the flare peak. Furthermore, the simultaneous 20-second cadence near-ultraviolet and white-light curves show gradual and rapid brightening behaviors during the rising phase at this flare. The ratio of flux in NUV to white light at the gradual brightening was $\sim 0.49$, which may suggest that the temperature of the blackbody is low ($< 9000 \: \mathrm{K}$) or the maximum energy flux of a nonthermal electron beam is less than $5\times10^{11} \: \mathrm{erg \: cm^{-2} \: s^{-1}}$. Our simultaneous observations of NUV and white-light flare raise the issue of a simple estimation of UV flux from optical continuum data by using a blackbody model.