Would lightning be possible on brown dwarfs?

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Discussion Overview

The discussion centers on the possibility of lightning occurring on brown dwarfs and other types of stars, exploring the conditions necessary for such phenomena, including atmospheric composition and temperature. The scope includes theoretical considerations and comparisons with known planetary lightning.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory, Technical explanation, Conceptual clarification, Debate/contested

Main Points Raised

  • Some participants suggest that lightning is known from planets and question whether it could also occur on brown dwarfs and red dwarfs.
  • One participant defines lightning as a spark discharge through an insulating gas and questions which brown dwarfs might be too conductive due to high temperatures to allow for sparks.
  • Another participant notes that lightning requires an atmosphere and clouds, indicating that stars in general may be too hot for this to occur.
  • A participant raises the point that while cool stars have clouds of soot and silicates, these may still be too hot to be insulating, prompting a question about the temperature or spectral class needed for a brown dwarf to support sparks.
  • It is mentioned that the general view seems to lean towards the likelihood of lightning in brown dwarfs, citing research that draws parallels between lightning in brown dwarfs and terrestrial volcanic lightning.
  • One participant reiterates the initial question about the possibility of lightning on brown dwarfs and notes that the coolest brown dwarfs may have temperatures close to room temperature at their photospheres, suggesting that lightning could be possible.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants express a range of views on the conditions necessary for lightning on brown dwarfs, with no consensus reached on whether it is definitively possible or under what specific conditions it might occur.

Contextual Notes

Participants highlight uncertainties regarding the temperature thresholds and atmospheric conditions required for lightning to occur, as well as the definitions of conductivity and insulation in the context of brown dwarfs.

mollwollfumble
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Lightning is well known from planets, and to some extent the bigger the planet, the more powerful the lightning.

Would it also be possible on brown dwarfs (Y, T, L, M)?
What about red dwarfs (M)? Other stars?
 
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Lightning is a spark discharge through an insulating gas.
Which brown dwarfs are too conductive, because too hot, to allow sparks?
 
For lightning you need an atmosphere and clouds. Starts in general would be too hot.
 
Cool stars have clouds of soot and/or silicates, but those are still too hot to be insulating. From which temperature/spectral class is a brown dwarf cool enough to be insulating and support sparks?
 
The general view appears to be that lightning in brown dwarfs is likely. For example Helling & Rimmer comment in Lightning and charge processes in brown dwarf and exoplanet atmospheres Royal Society Philosophical Transactions A:
"Possible analogs for exoplanet lightning or lightning in brown dwarfs are terrestrial volcanoes that produce lightning during an eruption in their plumes. <snip> Other astronomical objects, brown dwarfs and planet-forming disks, are also expected to have lightning discharges (Desch & Cuzzi 2000; Helling et al. 2016c) because the underlying physical regimes are similar (Helling et al. 2016a). "
 
  • Informative
Likes   Reactions: Klystron
mollwollfumble said:
Lightning is well known from planets, and to some extent the bigger the planet, the more powerful the lightning.

Would it also be possible on brown dwarfs (Y, T, L, M)?
What about red dwarfs (M)? Other stars?
The coolest brown dwarfs are not much more than room temperature at there photospheres so it is possible.
 

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