Poster Abstracts

Name/Affiliation:  Dylan P. Morgan (Boston University)

Title:  Examining Flare Rates in Close M dwarf + White Dwarf Binary Pairs

Abstract:
We present a preliminary study to examine the statistical flare rates for M dwarfs with a close white dwarf companion (WD+dM; typical separations < 1 AU). Previous studies show a strong correlation between M dwarfs that are active (showing Ha in emission) and their stellar flare rates. Our previous analysis of M dwarfs with close WD companions demonstrated that the M dwarfs are more active than their field counterparts. One implication of having a close binary companion is presumed to be increased stellar rotation through disk-disruption, tidal effects, and/or angular momentum exchange; increased stellar rotation has long been attributed to an increase in stellar activity for stars. We examine the difference between the flare rates observed in close WD+dM binary systems and field M dwarfs. Our sample consists of a subset of 202 (70 of which are magnetically active) close WD+dM pairs from Morgan et al. that were observed in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Stripe 82, a transient observing mode where multi-epoch observations in the Sloan ugriz bands were obtained.