Collaborative Research: Science with the OVRO-LWA -- Investigating Space Weather in Young Stellar Systems

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The proposed work constitutes one of the first systematic studies of space weather in other solar systems. The team seeks to understand space weather in young planetary systems, interactions with planetary magnetospheres, and the evolution of space weather over the first billion years of a planetary system’s lifetime. The team will make observations of approximately 2000 young (less than a billion years old) stellar systems with the Owens Valley Radio Observatory - Long Wavelength Array, a new, low-frequency radio observatory. The team will search for radio bursts associated with Coronal Mass Ejections and planetary emission arising from the electrodynamic interaction between stellar winds, planet magnetospheres, and moons, as in the case of the Jupiter-Io system. The team will conduct a two-pronged educational plan aimed at improving STEM education in elementary and middle schools in the Houston area, and developing a synergetic Radio Astronomy Laboratory for undergraduate and graduate students that exploits the collaboration between Rice University, Caltech, and the staff of the OVRO-LWA. The Rice University team will develop Astronomy modules for the annual Rice Elementary Model STEM Lab and the Rice Applied Mathematics Program, which target 3rd-8th grade Math/Science teachers. The larger collaboration will develop a Radio Astronomy Laboratory based on the constructions of small radio telescopes and including the participation of OVRO-LWA staff.Dynamic spectra from OVRO-LWA, characterized by short cadence (10s) and high resolution in frequency (24 kHz), will be used to constrain the physical processes responsible for the observed emission and measure the mass and kinetic energy of stellar CMEs, and well as the magnetic field of planets. With this large source sample, the team will measure the temporal variation of space weather during the first billion years of the stellar and planetary evolution, and study how these phenomena vary as a function of the stellar mass and age. The team will use these observations to obtain the first direct measurements of the mass and kinetic energy of Coronal Mass Ejections in stars other than the Sun, and the intensity of magnetic fields of young exoplanets. Another science objective will be the discovery of planets through their radio emission in the frequency range of 120-167 MHz. This represents a completely new way to search for and confirm the existence of exoplanets.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.