Characterizing the Near-UV Environment of M Dwarfs

摘要

We report the results of our Hubble Space Telescope (HST) snapshot survey with the ACS HRC PR200L prism, designed to measure the near-UV emission in a sample of nearby M dwarfs. Thirty-three stars were observed, spanning the mass range from 0.1 to 0.6 solar masses (Teff ~ 2200-4000 K) where the UV energy distributions vary widely between active and inactive stars. These observations provide much needed constraints on models of the habitability zone and the atmospheres of possible terrestrial planets orbiting M dwarf hosts and will be useful in refining the target selection for future space missions such as Terrestrial Planet Finder (TPF). We compare our data with a new generation of M dwarf atmospheric models and discuss their implications for the chromospheric energy budget. These NUV data will also be valuable in conjunction with existing optical, FUV, and X-ray data to explore unanswered questions regarding the dynamo generation and magnetic heating in low-mass stars.