Non-thermal emission from the interaction of magnetized exoplanets with the wind of their host star

Abstract

We study the non-thermal emission from the interaction between magnetized Jupiter-like exoplanets and the wind from their host star. The supersonic motion of planets through the wind forms a bow shock that accelerates electrons which produces non-thermal radiation across a broad wavelength range. We discuss three wind mass loss rates: $\dot{M}_{\rm w}\sim10^{-14}$, $10^{-9}$, $10^{-6}\,M_{\odot}\,\rm yr^{-1}$ corresponding to solar-type, T Tauri and massive O/B type stars, respectively. We find that the expected radio synchrotron emission from a Jupiter-like planet is detectable by the Jansky Very Large Array and the Square Kilometer Array at ~1-10 GHz out to a distance ~ 100 pc, whereas the infrared emission is detectable by the James Webb Space Telescope out to a similar distance. Inverse Compton scattering of the stellar radiation results in X-ray emission detectable by Chandra X-ray Observatory out to ~ 150 pc. Finally, we apply our model to the upper limit constraints on V380 Tau, the first star-hot Jupiter system observed in radio wavelength. Our bow shock model provides constraints on the magnetic field, the interplanetary medium and the non-thermal emission efficiency in V380 Tau.