Constraining the Mass Loss and the Kinetic Energy of Stellar Coronal Mass Ejections with Solar Far-ultraviolet Flares

Abstract Stellar eruptive events, such as flares and coronal mass ejections (CMEs), can affect planetary habitability by disturbing the stability of their atmospheres. For instance, strong stellar flares and CMEs can trigger atmospheric escape and, in extreme cases, may strip away the atmosphere completely. While stellar flares have been observed and explored at a wide range of wavelengths, the physical properties of stellar CMEs remain unconstrained due to the difficulty in observing them. In this context, the Sun provides our only window on the potential characteristics of CMEs on Sun-like stars. A correlation between solar X-ray flare peak flux and the mass of flare-associated solar CMEs has been reported using solar data collected during Solar Cycle 23. Here, we build upon that work. We extend the correlation into the far-UV (FUV), where stellar flares are, and will continue to be, routinely detected with existing and future FUV observatories by incorporating data spanning two entire Solar Cycles (23 and 24; 1996–2019). Using three different space missions (CMEs from Large Angle Spectrometric Coronagraph/Solar and Heliospheric Observatory, X-ray flare events from X-ray Spectrometer/GOES, and FUV flares from Atmospheric Imaging Assembly/Solar Dynamics Observatory), we report a correlation between FUV flare peak flux and energy centered at 1600 Å and mass, kinetic energy, and linear speed of flare-associated CMEs. These empirical relations enable estimates of CME masses and kinetic energies from FUV flares on Sun-like stars. While direct stellar CME detections remain elusive, the correlations derived here are likely applicable to Sun-like stars and provide a working framework for evaluating exoplanet atmospheric erosion.