Winds and magnetospheres of stars and planets: similarities and differences

Both stars and planets can lose mass through an expansive wind outflow, often constrained or channeled by magnetic fields that form a surrounding magnetosphere. The very strong winds of massive stars are understood to be driven by line-scattering of the star's radiative momentum, while in the S...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:arXiv.org 2022-10
Main Author: Owocki, Stan
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Ablation
Extrasolar planets
Low mass stars
Massive stars
Outbursts
Outflow
Planetary magnetospheres
Similarity
Stellar magnetospheres
Thermal expansion
Wind
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Summary:Both stars and planets can lose mass through an expansive wind outflow, often constrained or channeled by magnetic fields that form a surrounding magnetosphere. The very strong winds of massive stars are understood to be driven by line-scattering of the star's radiative momentum, while in the Sun and even lower-mass stars a much weaker mass loss arises from the thermal expansion of a mechanically heated corona. In exoplanets around such low-mass stars, the radiative heating and wind interaction can lead to thermal expansion or mechanical ablation of their atmospheres. Stellar magnetospheres result from the internal trapping of the wind outflow, while planetary magnetospheres are typically shaped by the external impact from the star's wind. But in both cases the stressing can drive magnetic reconnection that results in observable signatures such as X-ray flares and radio outbursts. This review will aim to give an overview of the underlying physics of these processes with emphasis on their similarities and distinctions for stars vs. planets.
ISSN:2331-8422