2021/04/22 by Bin Yu, A. A. Zijlstra, Albert Zijlstra +1
Physics and Astronomy · #Astronomy #Astrophysics #Galactic plane #Galaxies: Formation, Evolution, Phenomena #Milky Way #Physics #Radio Astronomy Observations and Technology #Stars #Stellar, planetary, and galactic studies #astro-ph.GA #astro-ph.IM #astro-ph.SR
paper · pdf · doi:10.3390/universe7050119
published as Universe, vol. 7, Issue 5, pp. 119, 2021 · 23 pages, 13 figures
openalex publication_date 2021/04/22 · arxiv created 2021/04/26 · arxiv updated 2021/04/27 · openalex created_date 2021/05/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
Radio emission from stars can be used, for example, to study ionized winds or stellar flares. The radio emission is faint and studies have been limited to few objects. The Square Kilometer Array (SKA) brings a survey ability to the topic of radio stars. In this paper we investigate what the SKA can detect, and what sensitivity will be required for deep surveys of the stellar Milky Way. We focus on the radio emission from OB stars, Be stars, flares from M dwarfs, and Ultra Compact HII regions. The stellar distribution in the Milky Way is simulated using the Besançon model, and various relations are used to predict their radio flux. We find that the full SKA will easily detect all UltraCompact HII regions. At the limit of 10 nJy at 5 GHz, the SKA can detect 1500 Be stars and 50 OB stars per square degree, out to several kpc. It can also detect flares from 4500 M dwarfs per square degree. At 100 nJy, the numbers become about 8 times smaller. SKA surveys of the Galactic plane should be designed for high sensitivity. Deep imaging should consider the significant number of faint flares in the field, even outside the plane of the Milky Way.