Stellar flare study of nearby young moving group members with TESS Data

TL;DR

This study analyzes TESS data to characterize stellar flares and rotation in young stars within Nearby Young Moving Groups, revealing relationships between flare activity, age, and stellar type, with implications for exoplanet habitability.

Contribution

It introduces a systematic method for detecting and analyzing stellar flares in young stars using TESS data, including a new detrending scheme for fast rotators.

Findings

Flares are present in all NYMG members analyzed.

Higher flare detection rate in 10-minute cadence data.

Reduced flaring rate with age for high-energy flares.

Abstract

We analyze TESS data to explore stellar flares and rotational characteristics in members of Nearby Young Moving Groups (NYMGs). Our study focuses on 417 members of NYMGs aged 10-150 Myr. Using detrended light curves from the TESS Science Office Quick-Look Pipeline, coupled with our own additional detrending scheme for fast rotators, we systematically detect and characterize 6,288 stellar flares from 27,416 flare candidates. We analyzed light curves from Cycles 1-4 of the TESS mission, finding that for each NYMG member analyzed, at least one stellar flare was present. Flare candidates are initially detected using the AltaiPony flare package, followed by a recovery flare amplitudes, durations, and local continuum background levels. We examine the relationship between flare energy, age, and mass, finding a reduced flaring rate for late-type stars with age for high energy flares, as well as 5.5 times more flares detected in the 10-minute cadence TESS data compared to 30-minute cadence data. Additionally, flare events with extreme energies (E >= 10^{34} erg) on M-dwarf and solar-type stars, providing implications for further exploration into exoplanet habitability.