Constraints on Stellar Flare Energy Ratios in the NUV and Optical from a Multiwavelength Study of GALEX and Kepler Flare Stars

Abstract

Abstract We present a multiwavelength study of stellar flares on primarily G-type stars using overlapping time domain surveys in the near-ultraviolet (NUV) and optical regimes. The NUV (the Galaxy Evolution Explorer; GALEX) and optical (Kepler) wavelength domains are important for understanding energy fractionations in stellar flares, and for constraining the associated incident radiation on a planetary atmosphere. We follow up on the NUV flare detections presented in Brasseur et al., using coincident Kepler long (1557 flares) and short (two flares) cadence light curves. We find no evidence of optical flares at these times, and place limits on the flare energy ratio between the two wave bands. We find that the energy ratio is correlated with GALEX band energy, and extends over a range of about 3 orders of magnitude in the ratio of the upper limit of Kepler band flare energy to NUV flare energy at the same time for each flare. The two flares with Kepler short-cadence data indicate that the true Kepler band energy may be much lower than the long-cadence-based upper limit. A similar trend appears for the bulk flare energy properties of nonsimultaneously observed flares on the same stars. We provide updated models to describe the flare spectral energy distribution from the NUV through the optical including continua and emission lines to improve upon blackbody-only models. The spread of observed energy ratios is much larger than encompassed by these models and suggests new physics is at work. These results call for a better understanding of NUV flare physics and provide a cautionary tale about using only optical flare measurements to infer the UV irradiation of close-in planets.