Extrasolar Magnetospheres
The magnetic fields of cool bodies beyond the Solar System.
Artist's representation of the Earth's magnetosphere. (Credit: NASA/CXC/M. Weiss)
Very small stars, and also “brown dwarfs”, the balls of gas that are between stars and planets in size, have magnetic fields that are quite similar to the ones we find planets around Earth and Jupiter — they’re just hundreds of times stronger! These magnetic fields drive a rich phenomenology of space plasma physics and tell us about the internal structure of these bodies.
Our Group's Related Work
- Williams et al. (2017) Variable and Polarized Radio Emission from the T6 Brown Dwarf WISEP J112254.73+255021.5, ApJ.
- Williams et al. (2015) The First Millimeter Detection of a Non-Accreting Ultracool Dwarf, ApJ.
- Williams et al. (2015) The Rotation Period and Magnetic Field of the T Dwarf 2MASSI J1047539+212423 Measured from Periodic Radio Bursts, ApJ.
- Williams et al. (2015) Simultaneous Multiwavelength Observations of Magnetic Activity in Ultracool Dwarfs. IV. The Active, Young Binary NLTT 33370 AB (= 2MASS J13142039+1320011), ApJ.
- Williams et al. (2014) Trends in Ultracool Dwarf Magnetism. I. X-Ray Suppression and Radio Enhancement, ApJ.