On stellar hotspots due to star-planet magnetic interactions: How much power can actually be transmitted to the chromosphere?

TL;DR

This study uses magnetohydrodynamic simulations to analyze how effectively Alfvén waves transmit energy from star-planet magnetic interactions to stellar chromospheres, revealing a maximum efficiency of about 10% due to wave reflection and decay.

Contribution

It provides a detailed frequency-dependent analysis of wave transmission efficiency in star-planet magnetic interactions, incorporating realistic stellar wind profiles and wave decay effects.

Findings

Low-frequency waves are more reflected, reducing energy transfer.

High-frequency waves are diminished by parametric decay instability.

Overall transmission efficiency to the chromosphere is around 10%.

Abstract

Star-Planet Magnetic Interactions (SPMI) have been proposed as a mechanism for generating stellar hot-spots with energy outputs on the order of $10^{19-21}$ watts. This interaction is primarily believed to be mediated by Alfv\'en waves propagating towards the star. The stellar atmosphere dictates where and how much of this incoming energy can actually be deposited as heat. The stellar transition region separating the chromosphere from the corona of cool stars gives rise to a significant variation of the Alfv\'en speed over a short distance, and therefore a reflection of the Alfv\'en waves at the transition region is naturally expected. We aim to characterize the efficiency of energy transfer due to SPMI by quantifying a frequency dependent reflection of the wave energy at the stellar transition region and its transmission to the stellar chromosphere. Magnetohydrodynamic simulations are employed to model the frequency-dependent propagation of Alfv\'en waves through a realistic background stellar wind profile. The transmission efficiency as a function of the wave frequency is quantified, and further analysis is conducted to characterize the overall energy transfer efficiency of SPMI in several candidate systems where chromospheric hotspots have been tentatively detected. Low-frequency waves experience greater reflection compared to high-frequency waves, resulting in reduced energy transfer efficiency for lower frequencies. Conversely, the parametric decay instability of Alfv\'en waves substantially diminishes the energy transfer efficiency at higher frequencies. As a result, there exists a frequency range where energy transfer is most efficient. A significant fraction of the Alfv\'en wave energy is reflected at the stellar transition region, and in most realistic scenarios, the transmission efficiency to the chromosphere is found to be approximately 10 percent.