SMA detection of an extreme millimeter flare from the young class III star HD 283572

We present evidence of variable 1.3 millimeter emission from the 1-3 Myr, SpT G2-G5 class III YSO, HD 283572. HD 283572 was observed on 8 dates with the Submillimeter Array between 2021 December and 2023 May, a total on-source time of 10.2 hours, probing a range of timescales down to 5.2 seconds. Averaging all data obtained on 2022 Jan 17 shows a 4.4 mJy (8.8σ) point source detection with a negative spectral index (α=-2.7±1.2), with peak emission rising to 13.8 mJy in one 3 minute span, and 25 mJy in one 29.7 second integration (L_ν=4.7×10^17 erg s^-1 Hz^-1). Combining our data for the other 7 dates shows no detection, with an rms noise of 0.24 mJy beam^-1. The stochastic millimeter enhancements on time frames of seconds–minutes–hours with negative spectral indices are most plausibly explained by synchrotron or gyro-synchrotron radiation from stellar activity. HD 283572's 1.3 mm light-curve has similarities with variable binaries, suggesting HD 283572's activity may have been triggered by interactions with an as-yet undetected companion. We additionally identify variability of HD 283572 at 10 cm, from VLASS data. This study highlights the challenges of interpreting faint mm emission from evolved YSOs that may host tenuous disks, and suggests that a more detailed temporal analysis of spatially unresolved data is generally warranted. The variability of class III stars may open up new ground for understanding the physics of flares in the context of terrestrial planet formation.