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Recent Science from NICER on the ISS

The origin of iron line emission in stellar flares

The iron K-alpha line, a key feature in X-ray spectra used to study stars and solar flares, is produced when iron atoms in a star's photosphere are ionized, but the exact mechanism behind this process has long been a mystery: whether it is caused by X-ray photons (photoionization) or high-energy electrons (collisional ionization).

Using coordinated simultaneous observations with NICER and JAXA's Hisaki ultraviolet space telescope, a team led by Kyoto University graduate student S. Inoue examined data for a superflare from the triple star system UX Arietis. They found that the iron K-alpha line is created by photoionization, as X-ray photons from hot plasma in the flare illuminate iron atoms on the star's cooler "surface." With the ultraviolet emission peaking earlier than the X-ray emission, the key finding was that appearance of the iron K-alpha line coincided with the peak in X-rays. This discovery enables use of the iron line to pinpoint where stellar flares arise on stars and to probe their geometries, with implications for the impact of the radiation on any exoplanets hosted by the star.

The study will be published in The Astrophysical Journal on April 27, 2026, accompanied by a Japanese media release.


UV (top panel, from Hisaki) and X-ray lightcurves (NICER) of a superflare from UX Ari in Nov 2018; the middle panel is the continuum X-ray brightness, while the bottom panel shows the intensity of the spectral line from highly ionized iron atoms. The coincidence of the continuum and iron X-ray peaks is convincing evidence for the photoionization hypothesis of the origin of the iron line emission.

UV (top panel, from Hisaki) and X-ray lightcurves (NICER) of a superflare from UX Ari in Nov 2018; the middle panel is the continuum X-ray brightness, while the bottom panel shows the intensity of the spectral line from highly ionized iron atoms. The coincidence of the continuum and iron X-ray peaks is convincing evidence for the photoionization hypothesis of the origin of the iron line emission.



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