Radio emission and mass loss rate limits of four young solar-type stars

Aims. Observations of free-free continuum radio emission of four young main-sequence solar-type stars (EK Dra, π1 UMa, χ1 Ori, and κ1 Cet) are studied to detect stellar winds or at least to place upper limits on their thermal radio emission, which is dominated by the ionized wind. The stars in our sample are members of The Sun in Time programme and cover ages of ~0.1–0.65 Gyr on the main-sequence. They are similar in magnetic activity to the Sun and thus are excellent proxies for representing the young Sun. Upper limits on mass loss rates for this sample of stars are calculated using their observational radio emission. Our aim is to re-examine the faint young Sun paradox by assuming that the young Sun was more massive in its past, and hence to find a possible solution for this famous problem.