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SUMMARY:Freckled and Flaring: Statistical Starspot Mapping on M Dwarfs via
  Stellar Flares
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20261028T172500Z
DTEND;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20261028T173500Z
DTSTAMP;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20261029T010249Z
UID:indico-contribution-3644@nyx.physics.mcgill.ca
DESCRIPTION:Speakers: Rohan Kumar ()\nThe spatial distribution of starspot
 s on red dwarf stars remains an open question in stellar astrophysics. Und
 erstanding whether red dwarfs’ starspots are preferentially equatorial
 —akin to the Sun—or are preferentially polar can give us insight into 
 how these generate their magnetic dynamos and help to better characterize 
 the atmospheres of the planets that orbit them as atmospheric observations
  are heavily contaminated by starspots. Most tested surface mapping techni
 ques are either observationally expensive or highly degenerate\, making it
  difficult to obtain a population-level understanding of starspot distribu
 tions. Fortunately\, stellar flares\, which result from magnetic reconnect
 ion events that are spatially correlated with starspot locations on the Su
 n\, make flare observations a powerful diagnostic of starspots on distant 
 stars. I have developed and rigorously tested a framework to detect stella
 r rotation and energetic flares in light curves from NASA’s Transiting E
 xoplanet Survey Satellite\, which I am using to correlate flare times with
  stellar rotational phase as a proxy for the distribution of starspots. My
  early analysis of over 6\,500 red dwarfs suggests that\, regardless of th
 e interior stellar dynamo\, these stars are dominated by equatorial starsp
 ots.\n\nhttps://nyx.physics.mcgill.ca/event/587/contributions/3644/
LOCATION:Online 
URL:https://nyx.physics.mcgill.ca/event/587/contributions/3644/
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