Title: An ultracool bridge to exoplanet magnetic fields
Place: Seminar del DAA. Jeroni Muñoz Research Building, fourth floor, in Burjassot.
Day: Wednesday, june 4, 2025. Time: 12.00.
Abastract:
Magnetic fields play a key role throughout the lives of planets, shaping their formation and atmospheric escape. At planetary scales, magnetism is driven by the motion of electrically conductive material in their interiors. Therefore, magnetic fields are a unique probe of a planet's interior structure. In our solar system, planetary magnetic fields are signposted by their bright radio emission, driven by electrons trapped within the magnetic field. Despite extensive searches, radio emission from an exoplanet has so far eluded detection. As a result, our understanding of magnetism on extrasolar planets is in its infancy. However, Jupiter-like objects known as ultracool dwarfs (UCDs) have been detected at radio wavelengths for over two decades. These objects, comprised of late M dwarfs and brown dwarfs, share many structural similarities to Jupiter, and are ideal targets for advancing our understanding of magnetic fields on Jupiter-like exoplanets. However, this potential has not been fully realised, primarily due to a lack of numerical models to interpret their radio emission. In this talk, I will present our recent progress on inferring the magnetic characteristics of UCDs via their radio emission from a numerical perspective. Ultimately, this work will enable robust estimates for the magnetic fields of extrasolar planets in anticipation of their direct detection with upcoming radio facilities such as LOFAR 2.0 and the SKA.
