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Main Authors: Dsouza, Desmond, Poppenhaeger, Katja, Ilin, Ekaterina
Format: Preprint
Published: 2026
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Online Access:https://arxiv.org/abs/2602.09835
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author Dsouza, Desmond
Poppenhaeger, Katja
Ilin, Ekaterina
author_facet Dsouza, Desmond
Poppenhaeger, Katja
Ilin, Ekaterina
contents TIC 277539431, a fast rotating M7 dwarf, was detected to host the highest latitude flare to date at $81^\circ$. Magnetic activity like stellar flares occurring at high latitude indicate occurrence of coronal loops at these latitudes on fully-convective M dwarfs. In contrast, sunspots usually occur below $30^\circ$. In our study we look for modulation on the X-ray signal occurring due to occultation of coronal loops by the star due to stellar rotation. We report an updated rotation period for this star as $P_{\text{rot}}=273.593$ min based on TESS sectors 12, 37, 39, 64 and 65. We conducted $χ^2_{\textrm{red}}$ fits by varying the amplitude and the phase of a sinusoidally modulated signal derived from the new rotation period. We find no evidence of rotational modulation in the X-ray signal. This could be due to multiple scenarios, such as lack of a stable coronal loop during observation or the modulated signal being too weak, however given the dataset, individual scenarios cannot be distinguished.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2602_09835
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Searching for rotational X-ray modulation on TIC 277539431
Dsouza, Desmond
Poppenhaeger, Katja
Ilin, Ekaterina
Solar and Stellar Astrophysics
TIC 277539431, a fast rotating M7 dwarf, was detected to host the highest latitude flare to date at $81^\circ$. Magnetic activity like stellar flares occurring at high latitude indicate occurrence of coronal loops at these latitudes on fully-convective M dwarfs. In contrast, sunspots usually occur below $30^\circ$. In our study we look for modulation on the X-ray signal occurring due to occultation of coronal loops by the star due to stellar rotation. We report an updated rotation period for this star as $P_{\text{rot}}=273.593$ min based on TESS sectors 12, 37, 39, 64 and 65. We conducted $χ^2_{\textrm{red}}$ fits by varying the amplitude and the phase of a sinusoidally modulated signal derived from the new rotation period. We find no evidence of rotational modulation in the X-ray signal. This could be due to multiple scenarios, such as lack of a stable coronal loop during observation or the modulated signal being too weak, however given the dataset, individual scenarios cannot be distinguished.
title Searching for rotational X-ray modulation on TIC 277539431
topic Solar and Stellar Astrophysics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2602.09835