Stellar superflares are energetic outbursts of electromagnetic radiation that are similar to solar flares but release more energy, up to 10 36 erg on main-sequence stars. It is unknown whether the Sun can generate superflares and, if so, how often they might occur. We used photometry from the Kepler space observatory to investigate superflares on other stars with Sun-like fundamental parameters. We identified 2889 superflares on 2527 Sun-like stars, out of 56,450 observed. This detection rate indicates that superflares with energies >10 34 erg occur roughly once per century on stars with Sun-like temperature and variability. The resulting stellar superflare frequency-energy distribution is consistent with an extrapolation of the Sun’s flare distribution to higher energies, so we suggest that both are generated by the same physical mechanism.

中文翻译：

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类太阳的恒星大约每世纪产生一次超级耀斑


恒星超级耀斑是电磁辐射的高能爆发，类似于太阳耀斑，但释放的能量更多，在主序星上高达 10 36 erg。目前尚不清楚太阳是否会产生超级耀斑，如果会产生，它们可能发生的频率如何。我们使用开普勒太空天文台的光度测量来研究其他具有类似太阳基本参数的恒星上的超级耀斑。在观测到的 56,450 颗类似太阳的恒星中，我们在 2527 颗类似太阳的恒星上发现了 2889 颗超级耀斑。这个探测率表明，能量为 >10 34 erg 的超级耀斑大约每世纪在具有类似太阳的温度和可变性的恒星上发生一次。由此产生的恒星超级耀斑频率-能量分布与太阳耀斑分布到更高能量的推断一致，因此我们认为两者都是由相同的物理机制产生的。