The Flares of Proxima Cen

Flares on Proxima Cen are ubiquitous. As on the Sun, they are expected to be distributed as power-laws of the form N(E)∝E−α. We track the variations of α over the stellar cycle, using data from multiple observatories using ASCA, Swift, Chandra, and XMM. After correcting for coronal temperature variations, we find a remarkable consistency in the shape of the flare distributions across the epochs, with α>2. If flare onset is attributable to self-organized critical proccesses, this suggests that the characteristics of the magnetic field structure like the filling factor and the plasma heating mechanism on Proxima Cen remain stable throughout the cycle.