A search for auroral radio emission from β Pictoris b

Abstract

ABSTRACT Magnetized exoplanets can serve as the source of auroral radio emissions, allowing us to characterize the magnetospheric properties of these planets. Successful detections of auroral radio emissions from brown dwarfs, as well as from Jupiter, suggest that Jupiter-like planets in distant orbits may also generate radio emissions through a similar mechanism. In this study, we present our search for 250–500 MHz emissions from β Pictoris b, one of the most extensively studied young Jupiter-like planets. We conducted the search using the upgraded Giant Meterwave Radio Telescope. Despite the favourable orbital inclination, no signal was detected, putting 3σ upper limits on the radiation at 0.18 mJy. We translate this limit into constraints on the ionospheric and magnetospheric parameters, assuming that the emission is powered by the Hill current system. While the upper limit is larger by a factor of a few than the nominal estimate of radio intensity, we put constraints on the magnetospheric and ionospheric parameters.