Transients as Determinants of Habitability

Abstract

Stellar magnetic activity, manifested through spots (faculae and flares), fundamentally shapes the exoplanets' environments. For low-mass stars in particular, where most habitable-zone planets reside, the variable magnetic phenomena can dominate atmospheric chemistry, surface radiation levels, long-term atmospheric escape, and ultimately habitability. However, physical characteristics of these transients (e.g. energy and temperature) and their spectra remain ill-constrained due to limitations in cadence and magnitude access of current spectroscopic facilities. A next-generation 12-m class ground-based observatory equipped with integral-field spectroscopy (IFS) and multi-object spectroscopy (MOS) at R$\sim$4,000 and $\sim$40,000 offers a transformational opportunity to characterize stellar activity in the time domain across large samples of exoplanet host stars. Such a facility would enable simultaneous monitoring of continuum variability, chromospheric and coronal line diagnostics, and particle-accelerated flare signatures, resolving the physics driving space weather and quantifying its impact on planetary atmospheres.