Long-duration Coherent Radio Emission from the dMe Star Proxima Centauri

Abstract

The Australia Telescope and Anglo-Australian Telescope were used in May 2000 to record the radio and optical emissions from the dMe flare star Proxima Centauri. Eight bright optical flares over a two-day interval resulted in no detectable excess short-term radio emission at 1.38 and 2.50 GHz. However, a slowly declining 1.38 GHz emission over the two-day interval was nearly 100% right circular polarised and was restricted to a relatively narrow bandwidth with total intensity (I) and circular polarisation (V) varying significantly over the 104 MHz receiver bandwidth. These are the first observations to show that highly-polarised narrowband flare star emission can persist for several days. This signature is attributed to sources of coherent radio emission in the star's corona. Similarities with various solar radio emissions are discussed; however, it is not possible with the existing observations to distinguish between fundamental plasma emission and electron–cyclotron maser emission as the responsible mechanism.