Detection of fine-structured radio bursts during a superflare on EQ Peg
Abstract
Superflares are frequently observed on magnetically active stars, particularly on active M-dwarfs, thereby influencing the habitability of nearby exoplanets. However, the causes of superflares remain unclear. Here, combining FAST and TESS, we detected a finely structured decimetric radio burst appearing as groups of spikes during a white-light superflare (total bolometric energy ∼ 1033 erg) on the M-dwarf binary EQ Peg on September 8th, 2022. The most significant ones appeared near the peak time of the optical flare and lasted for about 100 s. The radio spikes present extremely high brightness temperatures (≳ 1013 K) and high degrees of circular polarization (∼ 0.84 ± 0.16), indicating the origin of a coherent emission process, most likely the electron cyclotron maser. Based on Zeeman-Doppler Imaging measurements of EQ Peg, we further locate the sources of the radio spikes, including their heights and latitudes, under the assumption of a large-scale dipolar magnetic field configuration. The results provide strong evidence for finely structured decimetric radio bursts generated by stellar flares and shed light on the origin of superflares.
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BibTeX
@misc{zhao2026detection,
title = {{Detection of fine-structured radio bursts during a superflare on EQ Peg}},
author = {Zhanhao Zhao and Xin Cheng and Yuankun Kou and Guoyin Chen and Hao Ning and Yao Chen and Baolin Tan and Keping Qiu and Mingde Ding},
howpublished = {arXiv},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2609.37909},
eprint = {2609.37909},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.37909},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Detection of fine-structured radio bursts during a superflare on EQ Peg
AU - Zhanhao Zhao
AU - Xin Cheng
AU - Yuankun Kou
AU - Guoyin Chen
AU - Hao Ning
AU - Yao Chen
AU - Baolin Tan
AU - Keping Qiu
AU - Mingde Ding
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/29
PB - arXiv
DO - 10.48550/arxiv.2609.37909
UR - https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.37909
AB - Superflares are frequently observed on magnetically active stars, particularly on active M-dwarfs, thereby influencing the habitability of nearby exoplanets. However, the causes of superflares remain unclear. Here, combining FAST and TESS, we detected a finely structured decimetric radio burst appearing as groups of spikes during a white-light superflare (total bolometric energy ∼ 10^33 erg) on the M-dwarf binary EQ Peg on September 8th, 2022. The most significant ones appeared near the peak time of the optical flare and lasted for about 100 s. The radio spikes present extremely high brightness temperatures (≳ 10^13 K) and high degrees of circular polarization (∼ 0.84 ± 0.16), indicating the origin of a coherent emission process, most likely the electron cyclotron maser. Based on Zeeman-Doppler Imaging measurements of EQ Peg, we further locate the sources of the radio spikes, including their heights and latitudes, under the assumption of a large-scale dipolar magnetic field configuration. The results provide strong evidence for finely structured decimetric radio bursts generated by stellar flares and shed light on the origin of superflares.
ER -