Stellar Radio Astronomy. Probing Stellar Atmospheres from Protostars to Giants

Abstract

Radio astronomy has provided evidence for the presence of ionized atmospheres around almost all classes of non-degenerate stars. Magnetically confined coronae dominate in the cool half of the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram. Their radio emission is predominantly of non-thermal origin and has been identified as gyrosynchrotron radiation from mildly relativistic electrons, apart from some coherent emission mechanisms. Ionized winds are found in hot stars and in red giants. They are detected through their thermal, optically thick radiation, but synchrotron emission has been found in many systems as well. The latter is emitted presumably by shock-accelerated electrons in weak magnetic fields in the outer wind regions. Radio emission is also frequently detected in pre-main sequence stars and protostars, and has recently been discovered in brown dwarfs. This review summarizes the radio view of the atmospheres of non-degenerate stars, focusing on energy release physics in cool coronal stars, wind phenomenology in hot stars and cool giants, and emission observed from young and forming stars.