FUMES IV: Optical and Far-ultraviolet Spectra of a Flare on the M Dwarf GJ 4334

TL;DR

This study presents multi-wavelength observations of a flare on the M dwarf GJ 4334, revealing detailed temporal and spectral evolution, plasma motions, and flare energy estimates, providing insights into stellar magnetic activity near a critical transition.

Contribution

First simultaneous optical and far-ultraviolet spectral observations of a flare on GJ 4334, offering new insights into flare dynamics and energy distribution in M dwarfs.

Findings

Detected significant line broadening and asymmetries indicating plasma motion.

Observed that higher-order Balmer lines rise earlier and decay faster.

GJ 4334 exhibits more large flares than expected from typical flare distributions.

Abstract

On 2017-09-20 we observed GJ 4334, an M5V dwarf rotating with a period of 23.5 days, simultaneously with both the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph aboard Hubble (1160 -- 1710 Angstroms) and the Dual Imaging Spectrograph mounted on the 3.5m telescope at Apache Point Observatory (3750 -- 5050; 5800 -- 6950 Angstroms) as part of a larger survey of intermediately active M dwarfs. GJ 4334 flared during the observation, starting with a rise in the flux of optical chromospheric emission lines, followed by the rapid rise and decay of multiple far-ultraviolet emission lines formed in the transition region, followed by the slow decay of the optical lines. We find significant broadening and asymmetries in the optical emission lines that are potentially from bulk plasma motion, a post-flare elevated flux in both the optical and far-ultraviolet, and trends in the rise and decay timescales of the Balmer series such that higher-order lines rise earlier and decay faster than lower-order lines. The equivalent durations of the flare in individual lines range from 800 -- 3e4 seconds, mapping to flare energies of 1e28 -- 3e29 erg for each line. To contextualize GJ 4334's flare behavior we measure and compare its optical flare frequency distribution with TESS to EV Lacertae, a similar mass but faster rotating M dwarf, and find that GJ 4334 has an excess of large flares relative to the power-law established by the majority of its smaller flares. This dataset is a rare opportunity to characterize flares near a critical transition in stellar magnetic activity.