LAM seminar

Speaker: Dr. Julien Morin

Title: Spectropolarimetric observations of M dwarfs: from dynamos to exoplanets

Abstract:

Magnetic fields, their generation by dynamo effect and the activity phenomena they induce are central to the physics of cool stars and their planetary systems throughout their evolution. Among cool stars, the least massive ones largely dominate the stellar population in the solar neighborhood, with most planets in the Milky Way likely orbiting an M dwarf.

After briefly reminding the main theoretical puzzles we want to address by studying the magnetic fields of low-mass stars, I will discuss the issues posed by their magnetic activity in the context of exoplanet search. For both aspects, the contribution of spectropolarimetric observations will be highlighted, especially those carried out in the framework of the SPIRou Legacy Survey (SLS) and its extension SPICE started in 2019. These programs rely on SPIRou, a near-infrared high-resolution spectropolarimeter and velocimeter optimized for the study of M dwarf stars and mounted on the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope (CFHT).