[astro-ph.SR] M dwarfs are among the most promising host stars in the search for habitable exoplanets. However, their active atmospheres drive intense magnetic activity, including energetic flares and possibly coronal mass ejections (CMEs), which may pose serious threats to planetary habitability.
In this study, we perform three-dimensional magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) simulations of CMEs on a fully convective M dwarf with a rotation period of 30 days, corresponding to the moderate-rotation regime. The magnetic topology driving our simulations is adopted from an exploratory global dynamo simulation of a fully convective low-mass star exhibiting a single-hemisphere magnetic configuration, which is not yet observationally confirmed.
The large-scale magnetic field is mostly restricted to a single hemisphere and characterized by high-latitude polarity inversion lines (PILs), with the implication that most CMEs should originate from high latitudes.
We find that these high-latitude CMEs propagate radially and away from the equatorial plane, producing only weak and spatially limited disturbances along the equatorial orbits of exoplanets.
Moreover, low-latitude CMEs experience stronger drag within the dense and slow stellar wind near the equator, which significantly reduces both their propagation speeds and their overall impact on exoplanets. The resulting dynamic pressure enhancements on equatorial exoplanets caused by these CMEs are within two orders of magnitude above the quiescent conditions, much lower than those reported in previous M-dwarf CME simulations.
These results indicate that, if such magnetic topologies indeed exist on M dwarfs, they may produce a relatively benign CME environment, which could be favorable for planetary habitability at face value.
Steady-state stellar coronal models. Panels (a1) and (b1): Three-dimensional visualizations of Models A and B, generated using magnetic maps A and B shown in Figure 1, respectively. The gray surfaces and black curves indicate the Alfv´en surfaces and the hypothetical exoplanet orbit at a radius of 66 R⋆. Panels (a2) and (b2): Emission measure distributions of Models A and B. Panels (a3) and (b3): Mass flux distributions on the spherical surface at R = 66 R⋆. — [astro-ph.SR]
Zheng Sun, Julián D. Alvarado-Gómez, Hui Tian, Ofer Cohen, Jeremy J. Drake, Katja Poppenhäger, Yue-Hong Chen
Comments: 6 figures, 2 movies
Subjects: Solar and Stellar Astrophysics (astro-ph.SR); Earth and Planetary Astrophysics (astro-ph.EP)
Cite as: arXiv:2608.11087 [astro-ph.SR] (or arXiv:2608.11087v1 [astro-ph.SR] for this version)
https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2608.11087
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Submission history
From: Zheng Sun
[v1] Tue, 11 Aug 2026 15:57:04 UTC (25,405 KB)
https://arxiv.org/abs/2608.11087
Astrobiology, Space Weather,
