Physics Graduate Student Seminar with Nathan Whitsett on Induced Flares: The search for planetary magnets (and how they work)

Exoplanetary magnetic fields are an important, but elusive, parameter in our understanding of planet formation and habitability. Magnetic star-planet interactions are a promising way to constrain these fields. One such interaction is through induced flaring, which predicts that a magnetized planet will cause its host star to flare preferentially at certain orbital phases (namely, periastron). This talk will broadly cover the physics, concepts, and current work being done to investigate induced flaring, as well as the many questions these investigations pose in terms of system dynamics, planet formation, and habitability.