X-ray counterparts to stellar MeerKAT Galactic-plane compact radio sources

Context. Radio emission from magnetically active stars arises primarily from non-thermal processes and provides information complementary to their high-energy X-ray emission. Recent advances in sensitive, wide-field radio and X-ray surveys have enabled the identification of larger samples of active stars across the Galaxy. Aims. We aim to identify and characterise radio and X-ray-emitting stars in the Galactic plane by combining MeerKAT radio data with soft X-ray observations, and to assess their consistency with the canonical Güdel-Benz relation, which states that the thermal coronal emission observed in soft X-rays is correlated with the non-thermal gyrosynchrotron emission detected in the radio. Methods. We cross-matched compact radio sources from the SARAO MeerKAT Galactic Plane Survey with soft X-ray counterparts from the ROSAT All-Sky Survey and the first release of the SRG/eROSITA all-sky survey, the eRASS1. We investigated their radiobrightness temperatures and computed radio and X-ray luminosities to test for consistency with the Güdel-Benz relation. Results. We identify 137 stellar sources with both radio and X-ray detections. Their radio-brightness temperatures, TB, range from 107 to 1012 K, with the exception of two outliers: AXJ1600.9-5142 (TB = 4.8 ± 1.5 × 1012 K) and HD 124831 (TB = 8 ± 1 × 106 K). The remaining sources are consistent with emission from incoherent gyrosynchrotron processes. The sample generally lies below the canonical Güdel-Benz relation, with the offset predominantly driven by enhanced radio luminosities at 1.3 GHz relative to the canonical relation derived at 5 GHz. Conclusions. Our results suggest that the classical Güdel-Benz relation represents an upper envelope rather than a tight correlation for active stars detected at 1.3 GHz. In addition, the eROSITA detections show that early-type stars are systematically below the log(LX/Lbol)~ −3 relation, which is usually seen for stars of a later spectral type.