NGTS clusters survey - II. White-light flares from the youngest stars in Orion
Jackman, James A. G.; Wheatley, Peter J.; Moyano, Maximiliano; Eigmüller, Philipp; Casewell, Sarah L.; Gill, Samuel; Goad, Michael R.; Anderson, David R.; Burleigh, Matthew R.; Gillen, Edward; Jenkins, James S.; McCormac, James; West, Richard G.; Queloz, Didier; Watson, Christopher A.; Grange, Andrew; Hodgkin, Simon T.; Raynard, Liam; Acton, Jack S.; Tilbrook, Rosanna H.; Belardi, Claudia
United Kingdom, Germany, Chile
Abstract
We present the detection of high-energy white-light flares from pre-main-sequence stars associated with the Orion Complex, observed as part of the Next Generation Transit Survey (NGTS). With energies up to 5.2 × 1035 erg these flares are some of the most energetic white-light flare events seen to date. We have used the NGTS observations of flaring and non-flaring stars to measure the average flare occurrence rate for 4 Myr M0-M3 stars. We have also combined our results with those from previous studies to predict average rates for flares above 1 × 1035 erg for early M stars in nearby young associations.