Kepler Orrery IV

Prevalence of Earth-size Planets Orbiting Sun-like Stars

Prevalence of Earth-size Planets Orbiting Sun-like Stars

Author:

Petigura

Abstract:

In this thesis, I explore two topics in exoplanet science. The first is the prevalence of Earth-size planets in the Milky Way Galaxy. To determine the occurrence of planets having different sizes, orbital periods, and other properties, I conducted a survey of extrasolar planets using data collected by NASA's Kepler Space Telescope. This project involved writing new algorithms to analyze Kepler data, finding planets, and conducting follow-up work using ground-based telescopes. I found that most stars have at least one planet at or within Earth's orbit and that 26% of Sun-like stars have an Earth-size planet with an orbital period of 100 days or less.

The second topic is the connection between the properties of planets and their host stars. The precise characterization of exoplanet hosts helps to bring planet properties like mass, size, and equilibrium temperature into sharper focus and probes the physical processes that form planets. I studied the abundance of carbon and oxygen in over 1000 nearby stars using optical spectra taken by the California Planet Search. I found a large range in the relative abundance of carbon and oxygen in this sample, including a handful of carbon-rich stars. I also developed a new technique called SpecMatch for extracting fundamental stellar parameters from optical spectra. SpecMatch is particularly applicable to the relatively faint planet-hosting stars discovered by Kepler.

Water Loss in Moist Greenhouse Atmospheres of Terrestrial Exoplanets

Stratospheric Temperatures and Water Loss from Moist Greenhouse Atmospheres of Earth-like Planets

Authors:

Kasting et al

Abstract:

A radiative-convective climate model is used to calculate stratospheric temperatures and water vapor concentrations for ozone-free atmospheres warmer than that of modern Earth. Cold, dry stratospheres are predicted at low surface temperatures, in agreement with recent 3-D calculations. However, at surface temperatures above 350 K, the stratosphere warms and water vapor becomes a major upper atmospheric constituent, allowing water to be lost by photodissociation and hydrogen escape. Hence, a 'moist greenhouse' explanation for loss of water from Venus, or some exoplanet receiving a comparable amount of stellar radiation, remains a viable hypothesis. Temperatures in the upper parts of such atmospheres are well below those estimated for a gray atmosphere, and this factor should be taken into account when performing 'inverse' climate calculations to determine habitable zone boundaries using 1-D models.

Can M Dwarf Terrestrial Exoplanets Support Oxygenic Photosynthesis and Complex Life?

The Potential of Planets Orbiting Red Dwarf Stars to Support Oxygenic Photosynthesis and Complex Life

Authors:

Gale et al

Abstract:

We review the latest findings on extra-solar planets and their potential to support Earth-like life. Focusing on planets orbiting Red Dwarf (RD) stars, the most abundant stellar type, we show that including RDs as potential host stars could increase the probability of finding biotic planets by a factor of up to a thousand, and reduce the estimate of the distance to our nearest biotic neighbor by up to 10. We argue that binary and multiple star systems need to be taken into account when discussing exoplanet habitability. Early considerations indicated that conditions on RD planets would be inimical to life, as their Habitable Zones (where liquid water could exist) would be so close as to make planets tidally locked to their star. This was thought to cause an erratic climate and expose life forms to flares of ionizing radiation. Recent calculations show that these negative factors are less severe than originally thought. It has been argued that the lesser photon energy of the radiation of the relatively cool RDs would not suffice for Oxygenic Photosynthesis (OP) and other related energy expending reactions. Numerous authors suggest that OP on RD planets may evolve to utilize photons in the infrared. We however argue, by analogy to the evolution of OP and the environmental physiology and distribution of land-based vegetation on Earth, that the evolutionary pressure to utilize infrared radiation would be small. This is because vegetation on RD planets could enjoy continuous illumination of moderate intensity, containing a significant component of photosynthetic 400-700 nm radiation. We conclude that conditions for OP could exist on RD planets and consequently the evolution of complex life might be possible. Furthermore, the huge number and the long lifetime of RDs make it more likely to find planets with photosynthesis and life around RDs than around solar type stars.

Microlensing Events can be Misinterpreted

The first radial velocity measurements of a microlensing event: no evidence for the predicted binary

Authors:

Boisse et al

Abstract:

The gravitational microlensing technique allows the discovery of exoplanets around stars distributed in the disk of the galaxy towards the bulge. The alignment of two stars that led to the discovery is unique over the timescale of a human life, however, and cannot be re-observed. Moreover, the target host is often very faint and located in a crowded region. These difficulties hamper and often make impossible the follow up of the target and study of its possible companions. A radial-velocity curve was predicted for the binary system, OGLE-2011-BLG-0417, discovered and characterised from a microlensing event. We used the UVES spectrograph mounted at the VLT, ESO to derive precise radial-velocity measurements of OGLE-2011-BLG-0417. To gather high-precision radial velocities on faint targets of microlensing events, we proposed to use the source star as a reference to measure the lens radial velocities. We obtained ten radial velocities on the putative V = 18 lens with a dispersion of ~100 m s-1, spread over one year. Our measurements do not confirm the microlensing prediction for this binary system. The most likely scenario is that the putative V = 18 mag lens is actually a blend and not the primary lens which is 2 mag fainter. Further observations and analyses are needed to understand the microlensing observation and infer on the nature and characteristics of the lens itself.

The Vertical Profile of a Radially Magnetized Protoplanetary Disk

Radially Magnetized Protoplanetary Disk: Vertical Profile

Authors:

Russo et al

Abstract:

This paper studies the response of a thin accretion disk to an external radial magnetic field. Our focus is on protoplanetary disks (PPDs), which are exposed during their later evolution to an intense, magnetized wind from the central star. A radial magnetic field is mixed into a thin surface layer, is wound up by the disk shear, and is pushed downward by a combination of turbulent mixing and ambipolar and Ohmic drift. The toroidal field reaches much greater strengths than the seed vertical field that is usually invoked in PPD models, even becoming superthermal. Linear stability analysis indicates that the disk experiences the magnetorotational instability (MRI) at a higher magnetization than a vertically magnetized disk when both the effects of ambipolar and Hall drift are taken into account. Steady vertical profiles of density and magnetic field are obtained at several radii between 0.06 and 1 AU in response to a wind magnetic field Br∼(10−4-10−2)(r/AU)−2 G. Careful attention is given to the radial and vertical ionization structure resulting from irradiation by stellar X-rays. The disk is more strongly magnetized closer to the star, where it can support a higher rate of mass transfer. As a result, the inner ∼1 AU of a PPD is found to evolve toward lower surface density. Mass transfer rates around 10−8M⊙ yr−1 are obtained under conservative assumptions about the MRI-generated stress. The evolution of the disk, and the implications for planet migration, are investigated in the accompanying paper.

Detection of Infall in the Protostar B335

Detection of Infall in the Protostar B335 with ALMA

Authors:

Evans et al

Abstract:

Observations of the isolated globule B335 with ALMA have yielded absorption features against the continuum that are redshifted from the systemic velocity in both HCN and HCO+ lines. These features provide unambiguous evidence for infall toward a central luminosity source. Previously developed models of inside-out collapse can match the observed line profiles of HCN and HCO+ averaged over the central 50 AU. At the new distance of 100 pc, the inferred infall radius is 0.012 pc, the mass infall rate is 3×10−6 solar masses per year, the age is 50,000 years, and the accumulated mass in the central zone is 0.15 solar masses, most of which must be in the star or in parts of a disk that are opaque at 0.8 mm. The continuum detection indicates an optically thin mass (gas and dust) of only 7.5×10−4 solar masses in the central region, consistent with only a very small disk mass.

Sintering-induced Dust Ring Formation in HL Tauri's Protoplanetary Disk

Sintering-induced Dust Ring Formation in Protoplanetary Disks: Application to the HL Tau Disk

Authors:

Okuzumi et al

Abstract:

The latest observation of HL Tau by ALMA revealed spectacular concentric dust rings in its circumstellar disk. We attempt to explain the multiple ring structure as a consequence of aggregate sintering. Sintering is a process that reduces the sticking efficiency of dust aggregates, and takes place where the temperature is slightly below the sublimation point of some constituent material. We here present a dust growth model that incorporates sintering, and use it to simulate global dust evolution in a modeled HL Tau disk taking into account coagulation, fragmentation, and radial inward drift. We show that the aggregates collisionally disrupt and pile up at multiple locations where different volatiles cause sintering. At wavelengths of 0.87--1.3 mm, these "sintering zones" appear as bright, optically thick rings with spectral slope ≈ 2, whereas the non-sintering zones as darker, optically thinner rings of spectral slope ≈ 2.3--2.5, consistent with major bright and dark rings found in the HL Tau disk, respectively. Radial pileup and vertical settling occur simultaneously if disk turbulence is weak and if the monomers constituting the aggregates are ∼1 μm in radius. For the radial gas temperature profile of T=310(r/1 AU)−0.57 K, our model perfectly reproduces the brightness temperatures of the optically thick bright rings, and reproduces their orbital distances to an accuracy of ≲ 30%. The ring patterns diminish with time as dust is depleted from the disk, consistent with the idea that HL Tau is a young object.

Photophoresis in a Dilute, Optically Thick Medium and Dust Motion in Protoplanetary Disks

Photophoresis in a Dilute, Optically Thick Medium and Dust Motion in Protoplanetary Disks

Authors:

McNally et al

Abstract:

We derive expressions for the photophoretic force on opaque spherical particles in a dilute gas in the optically thick regime where the radiation field is in local thermal equilibrium. Under those conditions, the radiation field has a simple form, leading to well defined analytical approximations for the photophoretic force that also consider both the internal thermal conduction within the particle, and the effects of heat conduction and radiation to the surrounding gas. We derive these results for homogeneous spherical particles; and for the double layered spheres appropriate for modeling solid grains with porous aggregate mantles. Then, as a specific astrophysical application of these general physical results, we explore the parameter space relevant to the photophoresis driven drift of dust in protoplanetary disks. We show that highly porous silicate grains have sufficiently low thermal conductivities that photophoretic effects, such as significant relative velocities between particles with differing porosity or levitation above the midplane, are expected to occur.

Gas Detected in HD 131835's Debris Disk

Discovery of molecular gas around HD 131835 in an APEX molecular line survey of bright debris disks

Authors:

Moór et al

Abstract:

Debris disks are considered to be gas-poor, but recent observations revealed molecular or atomic gas in several 10-40 Myr old systems. We used the APEX and IRAM 30m radiotelescopes to search for CO gas in 20 bright debris disks. In one case, around the 16 Myr old A-type star HD 131835, we discovered a new gas-bearing debris disk, where the CO 3-2 transition was successfully detected. No other individual system exhibited a measurable CO signal. Our Herschel Space Observatory far-infrared images of HD 131835 marginally resolved the disk both at 70 and 100μm, with a characteristic radius of ~170 au. While in stellar properties HD 131835 resembles β Pic, its dust disk properties are similar to those of the most massive young debris disks. With the detection of gas in HD 131835 the number of known debris disks with CO content has increased to four, all of them encircling young (≤40 Myr) A-type stars. Based on statistics within 125 pc, we suggest that the presence of detectable amount of gas in the most massive debris disks around young A-type stars is a common phenomenon. Our current data cannot conclude on the origin of gas in HD 131835. If the gas is secondary, arising from the disruption of planetesimals, then HD 131835 is a comparably young and in terms of its disk more massive analogue of the β Pic system. However, it is also possible that this system similarly to HD 21997 possesses a hybrid disk, where the gas material is predominantly primordial, while the dust grains are mostly derived from planetesimals.

A low Earth Orbit Satellite Could Detect Earth Mass Free Floating Exoplanets

Microlensing planet detection via geosynchronous and low Earth orbit satellites

Authors:

Mogavero et al

Abstract:

Planet detection through microlensing is usually limited by a well-known degeneracy in the Einstein timescale tE, which prevents mass and distance of the lens to be univocally determined. Gould (2013) has shown that a satellite in geosynchronous orbit could provide masses and distances for most standard planetary events (tE≈20 days) via a microlens parallax measurement. This paper extends the analysis to shorter Einstein timescales, tE≈1 day, dealing with the case of Jupiter-mass lenses. We then study the capabilities of a low Earth orbit satellite at even shorter timescales, tE≈0.1 days. A Fisher matrix analysis is employed to predict how the 1-sigma error on parallax depends on tE and the peak magnification of the microlensing event. It is shown that a geosynchronous satellite could detect parallaxes for Jupiter-mass free-floaters and discover planetary systems around very low-mass brown dwarfs. Moreover, a low Earth orbit satellite could lead to the discovery of Earth-mass free-floating planets. Limitations to these results can be the strong requirements on the photometry, the effects of blending and, in case of the low orbit, the Earth umbra.

HD 142527's Protoplanetary Disk is Undergoing gas Depletion

Significant Gas-to-Dust Ratio Asymmetry and Variation in the Disk of HD 142527 and the Indication of Gas Depletion

Authors:

Muto et al

Abstract:

We investigate the dust and gas distribution in the disk around HD 142527 based on ALMA observations of dust continuum, 13CO(3-2), and C18O(3-2) emission. The disk shows strong azimuthal asymmetry in the dust continuum emission, while gas emission is more symmetric. In this paper, we investigate how gas and dust are distributed in the dust-bright northern part of the disk and in the dust-faint southern part. We construct two axisymmetric disk models. One reproduces the radial profiles of the continuum and the velocity moments 0 and 1 of CO lines in the north and the other reproduces those in the south. We have found that the dust is concentrated in a narrow ring having ~50AU width (in FWHM; w_d=30AU in our parameter definition) located at ~170-200AU from the central star. The dust particles are strongly concentrated in the north. We have found that the dust surface density contrast between the north and south amounts to ~70. Compared to the dust, the gas distribution is more extended in the radial direction. We find that the gas component extends at least from ~100AU to ~250AU from the central star, and there should also be tenuous gas remaining inside and outside of these radii. The azimuthal asymmetry of gas distribution is much smaller than dust. The gas surface density differs only by a factor of ~3-10 between the north and south. Hence, gas-to-dust ratio strongly depends on the location of the disk: ~30 at the location of the peak of dust distribution in the south and ~3 at the location of the peak of dust distribution in the north. Despite large uncertainties, the overall gas-to-dust ratio is inferred to be ~10-30, indicating that the gas depletion may have already been under way.

K Giant HD 155233 has a Gas Giant Exoplanet and HD 104358B is a Brown Dwarf

The Pan-Pacific Planet Search III: Five companions orbiting giant stars

Authors:

Wittenmyer et al

Abstract:

We report a new giant planet orbiting the K giant HD 155233, as well as four stellar-mass companions from the Pan-Pacific Planet Search, a southern hemisphere radial velocity survey for planets orbiting nearby giants and subgiants. We also present updated velocities and a refined orbit for HD 47205b (7 CMa b), the first planet discovered by this survey. HD 155233b has a period of 885±63 days, eccentricity e=0.03±0.20, and m sin i=2.0±0.5 M_jup. The stellar-mass companions range in m sin i from 0.066 M_sun to 0.33 M_sun. Whilst HD 104358B falls slightly below the traditional 0.08 M_sun hydrogen-burning mass limit, and is hence a brown dwarf candidate, we estimate only a 50% a priori probability of a truly substellar mass.

James Webb Space Telescope Begins Mirror Installation

NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) – the successor to the Hubble Space Telescope – has hit the final assembly phase milestone via the installation of the first of 18 mirrors on the spacecraft’s backbone structure. All 18 segments are expected to be installed by early next year as JWST prepares for launch in 2018 via an Ariane 5 rocket.

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The Correlation of Host Star Classification and the PhotoEvaporation of hot Jupiters

A bimodal correlation between host star chromospheric emission and the surface gravity of hot Jupiters

Authors:

Fossati et al

Abstract:

The chromospheric activity index logR'HK of stars hosting transiting hot Jupiters appears to be correlated with the planets' surface gravity. One of the possible explanations is based on the presence of condensations of planetary evaporated material located in a circumstellar cloud that absorbs the CaII H&K and MgII h&k resonance line emission flux, used to measure chromospheric activity. A larger column density in the condensations, or equivalently a stronger absorption in the chromospheric lines, is obtained when the evaporation rate of the planet is larger, which occurs for a lower gravity of the planet. We analyze here a sample of stars hosting transiting hot Jupiters tuned in order to minimize systematic effects (e.g., interstellar medium absorption). Using a mixture model, we find that the data are best fit by a two-linear-regression model. We interpret this result in terms of the Vaughan-Preston gap. We use a Monte Carlo approach to best take into account the uncertainties, finding that the two intercepts fit the observed peaks of the distribution of logR'HK for main-sequence solar-like stars. We also find that the intercepts are correlated with the slopes, as predicted by the model based on the condensations of planetary evaporated material. Our findings bring further support to this model, although we cannot firmly exclude different explanations. A precise determination of the slopes of the two linear components would allow one to estimate the average effective stellar flux powering planetary evaporation, which can then be used for theoretical population and evolution studies of close-in planets.

Hot Jupiters can Form in situ

The In Situ Formation of Giant Planets at Short Orbital Periods

Authors:

Boley et al

Abstract:

We propose that two of the most surprising results so far among exoplanet discoveries are related: the existences of both hot Jupiters and the high frequency of systems of tightly-packed inner planets (STIPs) with periods P less than 200 days. In this paradigm, the vast majority of stars rapidly form along with multiple close-in planets in the mass range of Mars to super-Earths/mini-Neptunes. Such systems are metastable, with the time scale of the dynamical instability having a major influence on final planet types. In most cases, the planets consolidate into a system of fewer, more massive planets, but long after the circumstellar gas disk has dissipated. This can yield planets with masses above the traditional critical core of ∼10M⊕, yielding short-period giants that lack abundant gas. A rich variety of physical states are also possible given the range of collisional outcomes and formation time of the close-in planets. However, when dynamical consolidation occurs before gas dispersal, a critical core can form that then grows via gas capture into a short-period gas giant. In this picture the majority of Hot and Warm Jupiters formed locally, rather than migrating down from larger distances.

KIC 8462852: Just a Bunch of Comets

KIC 8462852 - The Infrared Flux

Authors:

Marengo et al

Abstract:

We analyzed the warm Spitzer/IRAC data of KIC 8462852. We found no evidence of infrared excess at 3.6 micron and a small excess of 0.43 +/- 0.18 mJy at 4.5 micron, below the 3 sigma threshold necessary to claim a detection. The lack of strong infrared excess 2 years after the events responsible for the unusual light curve observed by Kepler, further disfavors the scenarios involving a catastrophic collision in a KIC 8462852 asteroid belt, a giant impact disrupting a planet in the system or a population of a dust-enshrouded planetesimals. The scenario invoking the fragmentation of a family of comets on a highly elliptical orbit is instead consistent with the lack of strong infrared excess found by our analysis.

KIC 8462852: Its "Only" Comets, not Megastructures. Move Along, Alien Hunters

Was it a catastrophic collision in the star's asteroid belt? A giant impact that disrupted a nearby planet? A dusty cloud of rock and debris? A family of comets breaking apart? Or was it alien megastructures built to harvest the star's energy?

Just what caused the mysterious dimming of star KIC 8462852?

Massimo Marengo, an Iowa State University associate professor of physics and astronomy, wondered when he saw all the buzz about the mysterious star found by citizen scientists on the Planet Hunters website.

Those citizen scientists were highlighting measurements of star brightness recorded by NASA's Kepler spacecraft. Tiny dips in a star's brightness can indicate a planet is passing in front of the star. That's how Kepler astronomers - and citizen scientists using the internet to help analyze the light curves of stars - are looking for planets.

But this star had deep dips in brightness - up to 22 percent. The star's brightness also changed irregularly, sometimes for days and even months at a time. A search of the 150,000-plus stars in Kepler's database found nothing like this.

So Marengo and two other astronomers decided to take a close look at the star using data taken with the Infrared Array Camera of NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope. They report their findings in a paper recently published online by The Astrophysical Journal Letters.

Their conclusion?

"The scenario in which the dimming in the KIC 8462852 light curve were caused by the destruction of a family of comets remains the preferred explanation ...," wrote the three - Marengo; Alan Hulsebus, an Iowa State doctoral student; and Sarah Willis, a former Iowa State graduate student now with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Lincoln Laboratory.

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HD 139614b: a Three Jupiter Mass Orbiting in a Protoplanetary Disk at 4.5 AU

Inner disk clearing around the Herbig Ae star HD 139614: Evidence for a planet-induced gap ?

Authors:

Matter et al

Abstract:

Spatially resolving the inner dust cavity of the transitional disks is a key to understanding the connection between planetary formation and disk dispersal. The disk around the Herbig star HD 139614 is of particular interest since it presents a pretransitional nature with an au-sized gap, in the dust, that was spatially resolved by mid-IR interferometry. Using new NIR interferometric observations, we aim to characterize the 0.1-10~au region of the HD~139614 disk further and identify viable mechanisms for the inner disk clearing. We report the first multiwavelength radiative transfer modeling of the interferometric data acquired on HD~139614 with PIONIER, AMBER, and MIDI, complemented by Herschel/PACS photometries. We confirm a gap structure in the um-sized dust, extending from about 2.5 au to 6 au, and constrained the properties of the inner dust component: e.g., a radially increasing surface density profile, and a depletion of 10^3 relative to the outer disk. Since self-shadowing and photoevaporation appears unlikely to be responsible for the au-sized gap of HD~139614, we thus tested if dynamical clearing could be a viable mechanism using hydrodynamical simulations to predict the gaseous disk structure. Indeed, a narrow au-sized gap is expected when a single giant planet interacts with the disk. Assuming that small dust grains are well coupled to the gas, we found that a ~ 3~Mjup planet located at 4.5 au from the star could, in less than 1 Myr, reproduce most of the aspects of the dust surface density profile, while no significant depletion in gas occurred in the inner disk, in contrast to the dust. However, the dust-depleted inner disk could be explained by the expected dust filtration by the gap and the efficient dust growth/fragmentation in the inner disk regions. Our results support the hypothesis of a giant planet opening a gap and shaping the inner region of the HD~139614 disk.

HD 106906 has a Ring-like Disk Observed at 65 AU

A narrow, edge-on disk resolved around HD 106906 with SPHERE

Authors:

Langrange et al

Abstract:

HD~106906AB is so far the only young binary system around which a planet has been imaged and a debris disk evidenced thanks to a strong IR excess. As such, it represents a unique opportunity to study the dynamics of young planetary systems. We aim at further investigating the close (tens of au scales) environment of the HD~106906AB system. We used the extreme AO fed, high contrast imager SPHERE recently installed on the VLT to observe HD~106906. Both the IRDIS imager and the Integral Field Spectrometer were used. We discovered a very inclined, ring-like disk at a distance of 65~au from the star. The disk shows a strong brightness asymmetry with respect to its semi-major axis. It shows a smooth outer edge, compatible with ejection of small grains by the stellar radiation pressure. We show furthermore that the planet's projected position is significantly above the disk's PA. Given the determined disk inclination, it is not excluded though that the planet could still orbit within the disk plane if at a large separation (2000--3000 au). We identified several additional point sources in the SPHERE/IRDIS field-of-view, that appear to be background objects. We compare this system with other debris disks sharing similarities, and we briefly discuss the present results in the framework of dynamical evolution.

234 Planetary Candidates Around 208 Host Stars Fromt he First Year of the K2 Mission

Planetary Candidates from the First Year of the K2 Mission

Authors:

Vanderburg et al

Abstract:

The Kepler Space Telescope is currently searching for planets transiting stars along the ecliptic plane as part of its extended K2 mission. We processed the publicly released data from the first year of K2 observations (Campaigns 0, 1, 2, and 3) and searched for periodic eclipse signals consistent with planetary transits. Out of 59,174 targets we searched, we detect 234 planetary candidates around 208 stars. These candidates range in size from gas giants to smaller than the Earth, and range in orbital periods from hours to over a month. We conducted initial reconnaissance spectroscopy of 68 of the brighter candidate host stars, and present high resolution optical spectra for these stars. We make all of our data products, including light curves, spectra, and vetting diagnostics available to users online.

An Enigmatic Dark Spot on White Dwarf J1529+2928

A Dark Spot on a Massive White Dwarf

Authors:

Kilic et al

Abstract:

We present the serendipitous discovery of eclipse-like events around the massive white dwarf SDSS J152934.98+292801.9 (hereafter J1529+2928). We selected J1529+2928 for time-series photometry based on its spectroscopic temperature and surface gravity, which place it near the ZZ Ceti instability strip. Instead of pulsations, we detect photometric dips from this white dwarf every 38 minutes. Follow-up optical spectroscopy observations with Gemini reveal no significant radial velocity variations, ruling out stellar and brown dwarf companions. A disintegrating planet around this white dwarf cannot explain the observed light curves in different filters. Given the short period, the source of the photometric dips must be a dark spot that comes into view every 38 min due to the rotation of the white dwarf. Our optical spectroscopy does not show any evidence of Zeeman splitting of the Balmer lines, limiting the magnetic field strength to B less than 70 kG. Since up to 15% of white dwarfs display kG magnetic fields, such eclipse-like events should be common around white dwarfs. We discuss the potential implications of this discovery on transient surveys targeting white dwarfs, like the K2 mission and the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope.

Is There a Correlation Between Planetary Radius and Orbital Periods for Small Exoplanets?

A possible correlation between planetary radius and orbital period for small planets

Authors:

Helled et al

Abstract:

We suggest the existence of a correlation between the planetary radius and orbital period for planets with radii smaller than 4 REarth. Using the Kepler data, we find a correlation coefficient of 0.5120, and suggest that the correlation is not caused solely by survey incompleteness. While the correlation coefficient could change depending on the statistical analysis, the statistical significance of the correlation is robust. Further analysis shows that the correlation originates from two contributing factors. One seems to be a power-law dependence between the two quantities for intermediate periods (3-100 days), and the other is a dearth of planets with radii larger than 2 REarth in short periods. This correlation may provide important constraints for small-planet formation theories and for understanding the dynamical evolution of planetary systems.

The Implications of a Radially Magnetized Protoplanetary Disk for Planetary Migration

Constrained Evolution of a Radially Magnetized Protoplanetary Disk: Implications for Planetary Migration

Authors:

Russo et al

Abstract:

We consider the inner ∼ AU of a protoplanetary disk (PPD), at a stage where angular momentum transport is driven by the mixing of a radial magnetic field into the disk from a T-Tauri wind. Because the radial profile of the imposed magnetic field is well constrained, a deterministic calculation of the disk mass flow becomes possible. The vertical disk profiles obtained in Paper I imply a stronger magnetization in the inner disk, faster accretion, and a secular depletion of the disk material. Inward transport of solids allows the disk to maintain a broad optical absorption layer even when the grain abundance becomes too small to suppress its ionization. Thus a PPD may show a strong middle-to-near infrared spectral excess even while its mass profile departs radically from the minimum-mass solar nebula. The disk surface density is buffered at ∼30 g cm−2: below this, X-rays trigger strong enough magnetorotational turbulence at the midplane to loft mm-cm sized particles high in the disk, followed by catastrophic fragmentation. A sharp density gradient bounds the inner depleted disk, and propagates outward to ∼1-2 AU over a few Myr. Earth-mass planets migrate through the inner disk over a similar timescale, whereas the migration of Jupiters is limited by the supply of gas. Gas-mediated migration must stall outside 0.04 AU, where silicates are sublimated and the disk shifts to a much lower column. A transition disk emerges when the dust/gas ratio in the MRI-active layer falls below Xd∼10−6(ad/μm), where ad is the grain size.

M Dwarfs Have Less Massive Protoplanetary Disks, but More Mass in Their Exoplanets

An Increase in the Mass of Planetary Systems around Lower-Mass Stars

Authors:

Mulders et al

Abstract:

Trends in the planet population with host star mass provide an avenue to constrain planet formation theories. We derive the planet radius distribution function for Kepler stars of different spectral types, sampling a range in host star masses. We find that M dwarf stars have 3.5 times more small planets (1.0-2.8 R_Earth) than main-sequence FGK stars, but two times fewer Neptune-sized and larger planets (>2.8 R_Earth). We find no systematic trend in the planet size distribution between spectral types F, G, and K to explain the increasing occurrence rates. Taking into account the mass-radius relationship and heavy-element mass of observed exoplanets, and assuming those are independent of spectral type, we derive the inventory of the heavy-element mass locked up in exoplanets at short orbits. The overall higher planet occurrence rates around M stars are not consistent with the redistribution of the same mass into more, smaller planets. At the orbital periods and planet radii where Kepler observations are complete for all spectral types, the average heavy-element mass locked up in exoplanets increases roughly inversely with stellar mass from 4 M_Earth in F stars to 5 M_Earth in G and K stars to 7 M_Earth in M stars. This trend stands in stark contrast with observed protoplanetary disk masses that decrease towards lower mass stars, and provides a challenge for current planet formation models. Neither models of in situ formation nor migration of fully-formed planets are consistent with these results. Instead, these results are indicative of large-scale inward migration of planetary building blocks --- either through type-I migration or radial drift of dust grains --- that is more efficient for lower mass stars, but does not result in significantly larger or smaller planets.

A Method to Directly Image Exoplanets in Multi-stellar Systems

A method to directly image exoplanets in multi-star systems such as Alpha-Centauri

Authors:

Thomas et al

Abstract:

Direct imaging of extra-solar planets is now a reality, especially with the deployment and commissioning of the first generation of specialized ground-based instruments such as the Gemini Planet Imager and SPHERE. These systems will allow detection of Jupiter-like planets 107 times fainter than their host star. Obtaining this contrast level and beyond requires the combination of a coronagraph to suppress light coming from the host star and a wavefront control system including a deformable mirror (DM) to remove residual starlight (speckles) created by the imperfections of telescope. However, all these current and future systems focus on detecting faint planets around single host stars, while several targets or planet candidates are located around nearby binary stars such as our neighboring star Alpha Centauri. Here, we present a method to simultaneously correct aberrations and diffraction of light coming from the target star as well as its companion star in order to reveal planets orbiting the target star. This method works even if the companion star is outside the control region of the DM (beyond its half-Nyquist frequency), by taking advantage of aliasing effects.

Designing a Space Telescope to Directly Image a World in Alpha Centauri's Habitable Zone

Space telescope design to directly image the habitable zone of Alpha Centauri

Authors:

Bendek et al

Abstract:

The scientific interest in directly image and identifying Earth-like planets within the Habitable Zone (HZ) around nearby stars is driving the design of specialized direct imaging mission such as ACESAT, EXO-C, EXO-S and AFTA-C. The inner edge of Alpha Cen A and B Habitable Zone is found at exceptionally large angular separations of 0.7 and 0.4 arcseconds respectively. This enables direct imaging of the system with a 0.3m class telescope. Contrast ratios in the order of 1e-10 are needed to image Earth-brightness planets. Low-resolution (5-band) spectra of all planets, will allow establishing the presence and amount of an atmosphere. This star system configuration is optimal for a specialized small, and stable space telescope, that can achieve high-contrast but has limited resolution. This paper describes an innovative instrument design and a mission concept based on a full Silicon Carbide off-axis telescope, which has a Phase Induce Amplitude Apodization coronagraph embedded in the telescope. This architecture maximizes stability and throughput. A Multi-Star Wave Front algorithm is implemented to drive a deformable mirror controlling simultaneously diffracted light from the on-axis and binary companion star. The instrument has a Focal Plane Occulter to reject starlight into a high-precision pointing control camera. Finally we utilize a Orbital Differential Imaging (ODI) post-processing method that takes advantage of a highly stable environment (Earth-trailing orbit) and a continuous sequence of images spanning 2 years, to reduce the final noise floor in post processing to 2e-11 levels, enabling high confidence and at least 90 percent completeness detections of Earth-like planets.

Directly Imaging a World in Alpha Centauri's Habitable Zone Through Orbital Difference Imaging

How to Directly Image a Habitable Planet Around Alpha Centauri with a ~30-45cm Space Telescope

Authors:

Belikov et al

Abstract:

Several mission concepts are being studied to directly image planets around nearby stars. It is commonly thought that directly imaging a potentially habitable exoplanet around a Sun-like star requires space telescopes with apertures of at least 1m. A notable exception to this is Alpha Centauri (A and B), which is an extreme outlier among FGKM stars in terms of apparent habitable zone size: the habitable zones are ~3x wider in apparent size than around any other FGKM star. This enables a ~30-45cm visible light space telescope equipped with a modern high performance coronagraph or starshade to resolve the habitable zone at high contrast and directly image any potentially habitable planet that may exist in the system. We presents a brief analysis of the astrophysical and technical challenges involved with direct imaging of Alpha Centauri with a small telescope and describe two new technologies that address some of the key technical challenges. In particular, the raw contrast requirements for such an instrument can be relaxed to 1e-8 if the mission spends 2 years collecting tens of thousands of images on the same target, enabling a factor of 500-1000 speckle suppression in post processing using a new technique called Orbital Difference Imaging (ODI). The raw light leak from both stars is controllable with a special wavefront control algorithm known as Multi-Star Wavefront Control (MSWC), which independently suppresses diffraction and aberrations from both stars using independent modes on the deformable mirror. We also show an example of a small coronagraphic mission concept to take advantage of this opportunity.

Modeling Transit Timing Variations

Numerical and Analytical Modelling of Transit Time Variations

Authors:

Hadden et al

Abstract:

We develop and apply methods to extract planet masses and eccentricities from observed transit time variations (TTVs). First, we derive simple analytic expressions for the TTV that include the effects of both first- and second-order resonances. Second, we use N-body Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) simulations, as well as the analytic formulae, to measure the masses and eccentricities of ten planets discovered by Kepler that have not previously been analyzed. Most of the ten planets have low densities. Using the analytic expressions to partially circumvent degeneracies, we measure small eccentricities of a few percent or less.

Global Architecture of Planetary Systems Project

Global Architecture of Planetary Systems (GAPS), a project for the whole Italian Community

Authors:

Poretti et al

Abstract:

The GAPS project is running since 2012 with the goal to optimize the science return of the HARPS-N instrument mounted at Telescopio Nazionale Galileo. A large number of astronomers is working together to allow the Italian community to gain an international position adequate to the HARPS-N capabilities in the exoplanetary researches. Relevant scientific results are being obtained on both the main guidelines of the collaboration, i.e., the discovery surveys and the characterization studies. The planetary system discovered around the southern component of the binary XO-2 and its characterization together with that of the system orbiting the northern component are a good example of the completeness of the topics matched by the GAPS project. The dynamics of some planetary systems are investigated by studying the Rossiter-McLaughlin effect, while host stars are characterized by means of asteroseismology and star-planet interaction.

ExoData: A python package to handle large exoplanet catalogue data

ExoData: A python package to handle large exoplanet catalogue data

Author:

Varley

Abstract:

Exoplanet science often involves using the system parameters of real exoplanets for tasks such as simulations, fitting routines, and target selection for proposals. Software that bridges the barrier between the catalogues and code enables users to improve the specific repeatability of results by facilitating the retrieval of exact system parameters used in an articles results along with unifying the equations and software used. As exoplanet science moves towards large data, gone are the days where researchers can recall the current population from memory. An interface able to query the population now becomes invaluable for target selection and population analysis.

ExoData is a python interface and exploratory analysis tool for the Open Exoplanet Catalogue. It allows the loading of exoplanet systems into python as objects (Planet, Star, Binary etc) from which common orbital and system equations can be calculated and measured parameters retrieved. This allows researchers to use tested code of the common equations they require (with units) and provides a large science input catalogue of planets for easy plotting and use in research. Advanced querying of targets are possible using the database and Python programming language. ExoData is also able to parse spectral types and fill in missing parameters according to programmable specifications and equations. Examples of use cases are integration of equations into data reduction pipelines, selecting planets for observing proposals and as an input catalogue to large scale simulation and analysis of planets.

ExoData is a python package freely available on GitHub. It is open source and community contributions are encouraged. The package can be easily installed using "pip install exodata", detailed setup information is provided within.

How Sunspots Influence Timing Transit Variations

How do starspots influence the transit timing variations of exoplanets? Simulations of individual and consecutive transits

Authors:

Ioannidis et al

Abstract:

Transit timing variations (TTVs) of exoplanets are normally interpreted as the consequence of gravitational interaction with additional bodies in the system. However, TTVs can also be caused by deformations of the system transits by starspots, which might thus pose a serious complication in their interpretation. We therefore simulate transit light curves deformed by spot-crossing events for different properties of the stellar surface and the planet, such as starspot position, limb darkening, planetary period, and impact parameter. Mid-transit times determined from these simulations can be significantly shifted with respect to the input values; these shifts cannot be larger than ~1% of the transit duration and depend most strongly on the longitudinal position of the spot during the transit and the transit duration. Consequently, TTVs with amplitudes larger than the above limit are very unlikely to be caused by starspots. We also investigate whether TTVs from sequences of consecutive transits with spot-crossing anomalies can be misinterpreted as the result of an additional body in the system. We use the Generalized Lomb-Scargle periodogram to search for periods in TTVs and conclude that low amplitude TTVs with statistically significant periods around active stars are the most problematic cases. In those cases where the photometric precision is high enough to inspect the transit shapes for deformations, it should be possible to identify TTVs caused by starspots, however, especially for cases with low transit signal to noise light curves (TSNR ≲ 15) it becomes quite difficult to reliably decide whether these periods come from starspots, physical companions in the system or if they are random noise artifacts.

The Pseudo-photosphere Model for the Continuum Emission of Gaseous Disks

The pseudo-photosphere model for the continuum emission of gaseous discs

Authors:

Vieira et al

Abstract:

We investigate the continuum emission of viscous decretion discs around Be stars in this paper. The results obtained from non-LTE (local thermodynamic equilibrium) radiative transfer models show two regimes in the disc surface brightness profile: an inner optically thick region, which behaves as a pseudo-photosphere with a wavelength-dependent size, and an optically thin tenuous outer part, which contributes with about a third of the total flux. The isophotal shape of the surface brightness is well described by elliptical contours with an axial ratio b/a=cosi for inclinations i less than 75∘. Based on these properties, a semi-analytical model was developed to describe the continuum emission of gaseous discs. It provides fluxes and spectral slopes at the infrared within an accuracy of 10% and 5%, respectively, when compared to the numerical results. The model indicates that the infrared spectral slope is mainly determined by both the density radial slope and the disc flaring exponent, being practically independent of disc inclination and base density. As a first application, the density structure of 15 Be stars was investigated, based on the infrared flux excess, and the results compared to previous determinations in the literature. Our results indicate that the decretion rates are in the range of 10−12 to 10−9M⊙yr−1, which is at least two orders of magnitude smaller than the previous outflowing disc model predictions.

Rotation Period Distribution of CoRoT⋆ and Kepler Sun-like stars

Rotation period distribution of CoRoT⋆ and Kepler Sun-like stars

Authors:

Leão et al

Abstract:

Aims.

We study the distribution of the photometric rotation period (Prot), which is a direct measurement of the surface rotation at active latitudes, for three subsamples of Sun-like stars: one from CoRoT data and two from Kepler data. For this purpose, we identify the main populations of these samples and interpret their main biases specifically for a comparison with the solar Prot.

Methods.

Prot and variability amplitude (A) measurements were obtained from public CoRoT and Kepler catalogs, which were combined with public data of physical parameters. Because these samples are subject to selection effects, we computed synthetic samples with simulated biases to compare with observations, particularly around the location of the Sun in the Hertzsprung-Russel (HR) diagram. Publicly available theoretical grids and empirical relations were used to combine physical parameters with Prot and A. Biases were simulated by performing cutoffs on the physical and rotational parameters in the same way as in each observed sample. A crucial cutoff is related with the detectability of the rotational modulation, which strongly depends on A.

Results.

The synthetic samples explain the observed Prot distributions of Sun-like stars as having two main populations: one of young objects (group I, with ages younger than ~1 Gyr) and another of main-sequence and evolved stars (group II, with ages older than ~1 Gyr). The proportions of groups I and II in relation to the total number of stars range within 64–84% and 16–36%, respectively. Hence, young objects abound in the distributions, producing the effect of observing a high number of short periods around the location of the Sun in the HR diagram. Differences in the Prot distributions between the CoRoT and Kepler Sun-like samples may be associated with different Galactic populations. Overall, the synthetic distribution around the solar period agrees with observations, which suggests that the solar rotation is normal with respect to Sun-like stars within the accuracy of current data.

Constraining X Ray Driven Photoevaporation in Protoplanetary Disks Around M Dwarfs

Constraining X-ray-Induced Photoevaporation of Protoplanetary Disks Orbiting Low-Mass Stars

Authors:

Punzi et al

Abstract:

Low-mass, pre-main sequence stars possess intense high-energy radiation fields as a result of their strong stellar magnetic activity. This stellar UV and X-ray radiation may have a profound impact on the lifetimes of protoplanetary disks. We aim to constrain the X-ray-induced photoevaporation rates of protoplanetary disks orbiting low-mass stars by analyzing serendipitous XMM-Newton and Chandra X-ray observations of candidate nearby (D less than 100 pc), young (age < 100 Myr) M stars identified in the GALEX Nearby Young-Star Survey (GALNYSS).

Polarimetric Microlensing Circumstellar Disks

Polarimetric microlensing of circumstellar disks

Authors:

Sajadan et al

Abstract:

We study the benefits of polarimetry observations of microlensing events to detect and characterize circumstellar disks around the microlensed stars located at the Galactic bulge. These disks which are unresolvable from their host stars make a net polarization effect due to their projected elliptical shapes. Gravitational microlensing can magnify these signals and make them be resolved. The main aim of this work is to determine what extra information about these disks can be extracted from polarimetry observations of microlensing events in addition to those given by photometry ones. Hot disks which are closer to their host stars are more likely to be detected by microlensing, owing to more contributions in the total flux. By considering this kind of disks, we show that although the polarimetric efficiency for detecting disks is similar to the photometric observation, but polarimetry observations can help to constraint the disk geometrical parameters e.g. the disk inner radius and the lens trajectory with respect to the disk semimajor axis. On the other hand, the time scale of polarimetric curves of these microlensing events generally increases while their photometric time scale does not change. By performing a Monte Carlo simulation, we show that almost 4 optically-thin disks around the Galactic bulge sources are detected (or even characterized) through photometry (or polarimetry) observations of high-magnification microlensing events during 10 years monitoring of 150 million objects.

OGLE-2013-BLG-0446 is a False Positive

Red noise versus planetary interpretations in the microlensing event OGLE-2013-BLG-446

Authors:

Bachelet et al

Abstract:

For all exoplanet candidates, the reliability of a claimed detection needs to be assessed through a careful study of systematic errors in the data to minimize the false positives rate. We present a method to investigate such systematics in microlensing datasets using the microlensing event OGLE-2013-BLG-0446 as a case study. The event was observed from multiple sites around the world and its high magnification (A_{max} \sim 3000) allowed us to investigate the effects of terrestrial and annual parallax. Real-time modeling of the event while it was still ongoing suggested the presence of an extremely low-mass companion (\sim 3M_\oplus ) to the lensing star, leading to substantial follow-up coverage of the light curve. We test and compare different models for the light curve and conclude that the data do not favour the planetary interpretation when systematic errors are taken into account.

Detecting Hiding Companion Stars in the Kepler Data

A COMPARISON OF SPECTROSCOPIC VERSUS IMAGING TECHNIQUES FOR DETECTING CLOSE COMPANIONS TO KEPLER OBJECTS OF INTEREST

Authors:

Teske et al

Abstract:

Kepler planet candidates require both spectroscopic and imaging follow-up observations to rule out false positives and detect blended stars. Traditionally, spectroscopy and high-resolution imaging have probed different host star companion parameter spaces, the former detecting tight binaries and the latter detecting wider bound companions as well as chance background stars. In this paper, we examine a sample of 11 Kepler host stars with companions detected by two techniques—near-infrared adaptive optics and/or optical speckle interferometry imaging, and a new spectroscopic deblending method. We compare the companion effective temperatures (Teff) and flux ratios (FB/FA, where A is the primary and B is the companion) derived from each technique and find no cases where both companion parameters agree within 1σ errors. In 3/11 cases the companion Teff values agree within 1σ errors, and in 2/11 cases the companion FB/FA values agree within 1σ errors. Examining each Kepler system individually considering multiple avenues (isochrone mapping, contrast curves, probability of being bound), we suggest two cases for which the techniques most likely agree in their companion detections (detect the same companion star). Overall, our results support the advantage that the spectroscopic deblending technique has for finding very close-in companions (θ lesssim 0farcs02–0farcs05) that are not easily detectable with imaging. However, we also specifically show how high-contrast AO and speckle imaging observations detect companions at larger separations (θ ≥ 0farcs02–0farcs05) that are missed by the spectroscopic technique, provide additional information for characterizing the companion and its potential contamination (e.g., position angle, separation, magnitude differences), and cover a wider range of primary star effective temperatures. The investigation presented here illustrates the utility of combining the two techniques to reveal higher-order multiples in known planet-hosting systems.

Brown Dwarf OGLE-2015-BLG-1268 Discovered via Microlensing

Mass Measurements of Isolated Objects from Space-based Microlensing

Authors:

Zhu et al

Abstract:

We report on the mass and distance measurements of two single-lens events from the 2015 Spitzer microlensing campaign. With both finite-source effect and microlens parallax measurements, we find that the lens of OGLE-2015-BLG-1268 is a 47±7 MJ brown dwarf at 5.4±1.0 kpc, and that the lens of OGLE-2015-BLG-0763 is a 0.50±0.04 M⊙ star at 6.9±1.0 kpc. We show that the probability to definitively measure the mass of isolated microlenses, including isolated stellar mass black holes and free floating planets, is dramatically increased once simultaneous ground- and space-based observations are conducted.

The Complicated Wasp-47 Multi Exoplanet System With a hot Jupiter

Doppler Monitoring of the WASP-47 Multiplanet System

Authors:

Dai et al

Abstract:

We present precise Doppler observations of WASP-47, a transiting planetary system featuring a hot Jupiter with both inner and outer planetary companions. This system has an unusual architecture and also provides a rare opportunity to measure planet masses in two different ways: the Doppler method, and the analysis of transit-timing variations (TTV). Based on the new Doppler data, obtained with the Planet Finder Spectrograph on the Magellan/Clay 6.5m telescope, the mass of the hot Jupiter is 370±29 M⊕. This is consistent with the previous Doppler determination as well as the TTV determination. For the inner planet WASP-47e, the Doppler data lead to a mass of 12.2±3.7 M⊕, in agreement with the TTV-based upper limit of less than 22~M⊕ (95% confidence). For the outer planet WASP-47d, the Doppler mass constraint of 10.4±8.4 M⊕ is consistent with the TTV-based measurement of 15.2+6.7−7.6 M⊕.

Hot Jupiter OGLE-TR-113b's Orbital is NOT Quickly Decaying

TraMoS IV: Discarding the Quick Orbital Decay Hypothesis for OGLE-TR-113b

Authors:

Hoyer et al

Abstract:

In the context of the TraMoS project we present nine new transit observations of the exoplanet OGLE-TR-113b observed with the Gemini South, Magellan Baade, Danish-1.54m and SOAR telescopes. We perform a homogeneous analysis of these new transits together with ten literature transits to probe into the potential detection of an orbital decay for this planet reported by \citet{adams2010}. Our new observations extend the transit monitoring baseline for this system by 6 years, to a total of more than 13 years. With our timing analysis we obtained a P˙=−1.0±6.0 ms~yr−1, which rejects previous hints of a larger orbital decay for OGLE-TR-113b. With our updated value of P˙ we can discard tidal quality factors of Q less than 10^5 for its host star. Additionally, we calculate a 1σ dispersion of the Transit Timing Variations (TTVs) of 42 seconds over the 13 years baseline, which discards additional planets in the system more massive than 0.5−3.0 M⊕ in 1:2, 5:3, 2:1 and 3:1 Mean Motion Resonances with OGLE-TR-113b. Finally, with the joint analysis of the 19 light curves we update transit parameters, such as the relative semi-major axis a/Rs=6.44+0.04−0.05, the planet-to-star radius ratio Rp/Rs=0.14436+0.00096−0.00088, and constrains its orbital inclination to i=89.27+0.51−0.68~degrees.

Reevaluating hot Jupiter HD 6434b

A New Analysis of the Exoplanet Hosting System HD 6434

Authors:

Hinkel et al

Abstract:

The current goal of exoplanetary science is not only focused on detecting but characterizing planetary systems in hopes of understanding how they formed, evolved, and relate to the Solar System. The Transit Ephemeris Refinement and Monitoring Survey (TERMS) combines both radial velocity (RV) and photometric data in order to achieve unprecedented ground-based precision in the fundamental properties of nearby, bright, exoplanet-hosting systems. Here we discuss HD 6434 and its planet, HD 6434b, which has a M_p*sin(i) = 0.44 M_J mass and orbits every 22.0170 days with an eccentricity of 0.146. We have combined previously published RV data with new measurements to derive a predicted transit duration of ~6 hrs, or 0.25 days, and a transit probability of 4%. Additionally, we have photometrically observed the planetary system using both the 0.9m and 1.0m telescopes at the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory, covering 75.4% of the predicted transit window. We reduced the data using the automated TERMS Photometry Pipeline, developed to ensure consistent and accurate results. We determine a dispositive null result for the transit of HD 6434b, excluding the full transit to a depth of 0.9% and grazing transit due to impact parameter limitations to a depth of 1.6%

Some Polished Graphics About the Exoplanet Discoveries

link.

Gas Giant Host Star HD 147513A's Characteristics

A spectro-polarimetric study of the planet-hosting G dwarf, HD 147513

Authors:

Hussain et al

Abstract:

The results from a spectro-polarimetric study of the planet-hosting Sun-like star, HD 147513 (G5V), are presented here. Robust detections of Zeeman signatures at all observed epochs indicate a surface magnetic field, with longitudinal magnetic field strengths varying between 1.0-3.2 G. Radial velocity variations from night to night modulate on a similar timescale to the longitudinal magnetic field measurements. These variations are therefore likely due to the rotational modulation of stellar active regions rather than the much longer timescale of the planetary orbit (Porb=528 d). Both the longitudinal magnetic field measurements and radial velocity variations are consistent with a rotation period of 10 +/- 2 days, which are also consistent with the measured chromospheric activity level of the star (log R'(HK)=-4.64). Together, these quantities indicate a low inclination angle, i~18 degrees. We present preliminary magnetic field maps of the star based on the above period and find a simple poloidal large-scale field. Chemical analyses of the star have revealed that it is likely to have undergone a barium-enrichment phase in its evolution because of a higher mass companion. Despite this, our study reveals that the star has a fairly typical activity level for its rotation period and spectral type. Future studies will enable us to explore the long-term evolution of the field, as well as to measure the stellar rotation period, with greater accuracy.

Forming Protoplanets Directly Observed in LkCa 15 Protoplanetary Disk

Accreting protoplanets in the LkCa 15 transition disk

Authors:

Sallum et al

Abstract:

Exoplanet detections have revolutionized astronomy, offering new insights into solar system architecture and planet demographics. While nearly 1,900 exoplanets have now been discovered and confirmed, , none are still in the process of formation. Transition disks, protoplanetary disks with inner clearings best explained by the influence of accreting planets, are natural laboratories for the study of planet formation. Some transition disks show evidence for the presence of young planets in the form of disk asymmetries or infrared sources detected within their clearings, as in the case of LkCa 15. Attempts to observe directly signatures of accretion onto protoplanets have hitherto proven unsuccessful . Here we report adaptive optics observations of LkCa 15 that probe within the disk clearing. With accurate source positions over multiple epochs spanning 2009–2015, we infer the presence of multiple companions on Keplerian orbits. We directly detect Hα emission from the innermost companion, LkCa 15 b, evincing hot (about 10,000 kelvin) gas falling deep into the potential well of an accreting protoplanet.

Eclipsing Binary FL Lyr has a Circumbinary Jupiter Analog Gas Giant

An Exo-Jupiter Candidate in the Eclipsing Binary FL Lyr

Authors:

Kozyreva et al

Abstract:

Light curves of the eclipsing binary FL Lyr acquired by the Kepler space telescope are analyzed. Eclipse timing measurements for FL Lyr testify to the presence of a third body in the system. Preliminary estimates of its mass and orbital period are greater than 2 MJupiter and greater than 7 yrs. The times of primary minimum in the light curve of FL Lyr during the operation of the Kepler mission are presented.

Evidence of a Planetary Influence on Solar Activity

Evidence of a planetary influence on solar activity: Phase coherence of the variation in sunspot area with the tidal effect of Mercury

Authors:

Edmonds et al

Abstract:

There have been numerous reports of quasiperiodicities in solar activity in the intermediate period range. However, no accepted explanation for the episodic occurrence of quasiperiodicities has emerged. This paper examines the possibility that the periodicities are associated with a Mercury Sun interaction of base period 88 days. To test this idea we band pass filter the 140 year long daily sunspot area data to obtain the 88 day period and 176 day sub harmonic period components of the data and compare the time variation of the components with the time variation of the orbital radius of Mercury, or more specifically with the time variation of the tidal effect of Mercury. We were able to show that, when successive episodes of the occurrence of the 88 day period component were discrete and not overlapping in time, the time variation of this component of sunspot area was either exactly in-phase or exactly in anti-phase with the time variation of tidal effect. A similar result was obtained for the 176 day period component. When several discrete episodes of the components occurred during a solar cycle the spectrum of the sunspot area data exhibited strong sidebands with periods dependent on the duration of the episodes. A simple model based on episode modulation and solar cycle modulation of 88 day and sub harmonic period sinusoids reproduced most of the spectral peaks observed in the intermediate range of sunspot area periodicity. This is compelling evidence of a link between the motion of Mercury and the periodic emergence of sunspots. It is proposed that the link involves magnetic surface waves with mode periods close to the sub harmonic periods associated with Mercury and the triggering of sunspot emergence by the waves.

The Impact of Multiple Stars on a Multi Exoplanetary Systems

Influence of Stellar Multiplicity On Planet Formation. IV. Adaptive Optics Imaging of Kepler Stars With Multiple Transiting Planet Candidates

Authors:

Wang et al

Abstract:

The Kepler mission provides a wealth of multiple transiting planet systems (MTPS). The formation and evolution of multi-planet systems are likely to be influenced by companion stars given the abundance of multi stellar systems. We study the influence of stellar companions by measuring the stellar multiplicity rate of MTPS. We select 138 bright (KP less than 13.5) Kepler MTPS and search for stellar companions with AO imaging data and archival radial velocity (RV) data. We obtain new AO images for 73 MTPS. Other MTPS in the sample have archival AO imaging data from the Kepler Community Follow-up Observation Program (CFOP). From these imaging data, we detect 42 stellar companions around 35 host stars. For stellar separation 1 AU less than a less than 100 AU, the stellar multiplicity rate is 5.2 ± 5.0% for MTPS, which is 2.8{\sigma} lower than 21.1 ± 2.8% for the control sample, i.e., the field stars in the solar neighborhood. We identify two origins for the deficit of stellar companions within 100 AU to MTPS: (1) a suppressive planet formation, and (2) the disruption of orbital coplanarity due to stellar companions. To distinguish between the two origins, we compare the stellar multiplicity rates of MTPS and single transiting planet systems (STPS). However, current data are not sufficient for this purpose. For 100 AU less than a less than 2000 AU, the stellar multiplicity rates are comparable for MTPS (8.0 ± 4.0%), STPS (6.4 ± 5.8%), and the control sample (12.5 ± 2.8%).

Forming Exoplanets may Experience a "Heating Torque" Counteracting Inward Migration

Planet heating prevents inward migration of planetary cores

Authors:

Benítez-Llambay et al

Abstract:

Planetary systems are born in the disks of gas, dust and rocky fragments that surround newly formed stars. Solid content assembles into ever-larger rocky fragments that eventually become planetary embryos. These then continue their growth by accreting leftover material in the disc. Concurrently, tidal effects in the disc cause a radial drift in the embryo orbits, a process known as migration. Fast inward migration is predicted by theory for embryos smaller than three to five Earth masses. With only inward migration, these embryos can only rarely become giant planets located at Earth's distance from the Sun and beyond, in contrast with observations. Here we report that asymmetries in the temperature rise associated with accreting infalling material produce a force (which gives rise to an effect that we call "heating torque") that counteracts inward migration. This provides a channel for the formation of giant planets and also explains the strong planet-metallicity correlation found between the incidence of giant planets and the heavy-element abundance of the host stars.

What's the Stability of Resonance of the Kepler 60 Multi Exoplanetary System

The Laplace resonance in the Kepler-60 system

Authors:

Gozdziewski et al

Abstract:

We investigate the dynamical stability of the Kepler-60 planetary system with three super-Earths. We first determine their orbital elements and masses by Transit Timing Variation (TTV) data spanning quarters Q1-Q16 of the KEPLER mission. The system is dynamically active but the TTV data constrain masses to ~4 Earth masses and orbits in safely wide stable zones. The observations prefer two types of solutions. The true three-body Laplace MMR exhibits the critical angle librating around 45 degrees and aligned apsides of the inner and outer pair of planets. In the Laplace MMR formed through a chain of two-planet 5:4 and 4:3 MMRs, all critical angles librate with small amplitudes of ~30 degrees and apsidal lines in planet's pairs are anti-aligned. The system is simultaneously locked in a three-body MMR with librations amplitude of ~10 degrees. The true Laplace MMR can evolve towards a chain of two-body MMRs in the presence of planetary migration. Therefore the three-body MMR formed in this way seems to be more likely state of the system. However, the true three-body MMR cannot be disregarded a priori and it remains a puzzling configuration that may challenge the planet formation theory.

Do Terrestrial Exoplanets Form From Sub Meter Sized 'Boulders'?

Growing the terrestrial planets from the gradual accumulation of sub-meter sized objects

Authors:

Levison et al

Abstract:

Building the terrestrial planets has been a challenge for planet formation models. In particular, classical theories have been unable to reproduce the small mass of Mars and instead predict that a planet near 1.5 AU should roughly be the same mass as the Earth. Recently, a new model called Viscous Stirred Pebble Accretion (VSPA) has been developed that can explain the formation of the gas giants. This model envisions that the cores of the giant planets formed from 100 to 1000 km bodies that directly accreted a population of pebbles --- sub-meter sized objects that slowly grew in the protoplanetary disk. Here we apply this model to the terrestrial planet region and find that it can reproduce the basic structure of the inner Solar System, including a small Mars and a low-mass asteroid belt. Our models show that for an initial population of planetesimals with sizes similar to those of the main belt asteroids, VSPA becomes inefficient beyond ∼1.5 AU. As a result, Mars's growth is stunted and nothing large in the asteroid belt can accumulate.

Exoplanet Densities Determined by Impacts, not PhotoEvaporation

Stealing the Gas: Giant Impacts and the Large Diversity in Exoplanet Densities

Authors:

Inamdar et al

Abstract:

Although current sensitivity limits are such that true Solar System analogs remain challenging to detect, numerous planetary systems have been discovered that are very different from our own Solar System. The majority of systems harbor a new class of planets, bodies that are typically several times more massive than the Earth but that orbit their host stars well inside the orbit of Mercury. These planets frequently show evidence for large Hydrogen and Helium envelopes containing several percent of the planet's mass and display a large diversity in mean densities. Here we show that this wide range can be achieved by one or two late giant impacts, which are frequently needed to achieve long-term orbital stability in multiple planet systems once the gas disk has disappeared. We demonstrate using hydrodynamical simulations that a single collision between similarly sized exoplanets can easily reduce the envelope-to-core-mass ratio by a factor of two and show that this leads to a corresponding increase in the observed mean density by factors of 2-3. In addition we investigate how envelope-mass-loss depends on envelope mass, planet radius, semi-major axis, and the mass distribution inside the envelope. We propose that a small number of giant impacts may be responsible for the large observed spread in mean densities, especially for multiple-planet systems containing planets with very different densities and which have not been significantly sculpted by photo evaporation.

HD 110058 has Edge-on Debris Disk with a Dust Ring and an Outer Disk Wing-tilt Asymmetry

Discovery of an Edge-on Debris Disk with a Dust Ring and an Outer Disk Wing-tilt Asymmetry

Authors:

Kasper et al

Abstract:

Using VLT/SPHERE near-infrared dual-band imaging and integral field spectroscopy we discovered an edge-on debris disk around the 17\,Myr old A-type member of the Scorpius-Centaurus OB association HD 110058. The edge-on disk can be traced to about 0.6" or 65 AU projected separation. In its northern and southern wings, the disk shows at all wavelengths two prominent, bright and symmetrically placed knots at 0.3" or 32 AU from the star. We interpret these knots as a ring of planetesimals whose collisions may produce most of the dust observed in the disk. We find no evidence for a bow in the disk, but we identify a pair of symmetric, hook-like features in both wings. Based on similar features in the Beta Pictoris disk we propose that this wing-tilt asymmetry traces either an outer planetesimal belt that is inclined with respect to the disk midplane or radiation-pressure-driven dust blown out from a yet unseen, inner belt which is inclined with respect to the disk midplane. The misaligned inner or outer disk may be a result of interaction with a yet unseen planet. Overall, the disk geometry resembles the nearby disk around Beta Pictoris, albeit seen at smaller radial scales.

Observations of Protoplanetary Disks in the Eta Chamaeleontis Association

Herschel-PACS observations of discs in the Eta Chamaeleontis association

Authors:

Riviere-Marichalar et al

Abstract:

Protoplanetary discs are the birthplace for planets. Studying protoplanetary discs is the key to constraining theories of planet formation. By observing dust and gas in associations at different ages we can study the evolution of these discs, their clearing timescales, and their physical and geometrical properties. The stellar association Eta Cha is peculiar; some members still retain detectable amounts of gas in their discs at the late age of 7 Myr, making it one of the most interesting young stellar associations in the solar neighbourhood. We characterise the properties of dust and gas in protoplanetary and transitional discs in the Eta Cha young cluster, with special emphasis on explaining the peculiarities that lead to the observed high disc detection fraction and prominent IR excesses at an age of 7 Myr. We observed 17 members of the Eta Cha association with Herschel-PACS in photometric mode and line spectroscopic mode. A subset of members were also observed in range spectroscopic mode. The observations trace [OI] and $H2O emissions at 63.18 and 63.32 microns, respectively, as well as CO, OH, CH+ and [CII] at different wavelengths for those systems observed in range mode. The photometric observations were used to build complete spectral energy distributions (SEDs) from the optical to the far-IR. High-resolution multi-epoch optical spectra with high signal-to-noise ratios were also analysed to study the multiplicity of the sources and look for further gas (accreting) and outflow indicators.

Taurus Stars Have Long Lasting Protoplanetary Disks

The age of Taurus - environmental effects on disc lifetimes

Authors:

Rees et al

Abstract:

Using semi-empirical isochrones, we find the age of the Taurus star-forming region to be 3-4 Myr. Comparing the disc fraction in Taurus to young massive clusters suggests discs survive longer in this low density environment. We also present a method of photometrically de-reddening young stars using iZJH data.

Imaging the Carbon monoxide Snowline in HD 163296's Protoplanetary Disk

Chemical Imaging of the CO Snow Line in the HD 163296 Disk

Authors:

Qi et al

Abstract:

The condensation fronts (snow lines) of H2O, CO and other abundant volatiles in the midplane of a protoplanetary disk affect several aspects of planet formation. Locating the CO snow line, where the CO gas column density is expected to drop substantially, based solely on CO emission profiles is challenging. This has prompted an exploration of chemical signatures of CO freeze-out. We present ALMA Cycle 1 observations of the N2H+ J=3-2 and DCO+ J=4-3 emission lines toward the disk around the Herbig Ae star HD~163296 at ~0.5" (60 AU) resolution, and evaluate their utility as tracers of the CO snow line location. The N2H+ emission is distributed in a ring with an inner radius at 90 AU, corresponding to a midplane temperature of 25 K. This result is consistent with a new analysis of optically thin C18O data, which implies a sharp drop in CO abundance at 90 AU. Thus N2H+ appears to be a robust tracer of the midplane CO snow line. The DCO+ emission also has a ring morphology, but neither the inner nor the outer radius coincides with the CO snow line location of 90 AU, indicative of a complex relationship between DCO+ emission and CO freeze-out in the disk midplane. Compared to TW Hya, CO freezes out at a higher temperature in the disk around HD 163296 (25 vs. 17 K in the TW Hya disk), perhaps due to different ice compositions. This highlights the importance of actually measuring the CO snow line location, rather than assuming a constant CO freeze-out temperature for all disks.

The Structure and Evolution of Protoplanetary Disks

The Structure and Evolution of Protoplanetary Disks: an infrared and submillimeter view

Authors:

Cieza et al

Abstract:

Circumstellar disks are the sites of planet formation, and the very high incidence of extrasolar planets implies that most of them actually form planetary systems. Studying the structure and evolution of protoplanetary disks can thus place important constraints on the conditions, timescales, and mechanisms associated with the planet formation process. In this review, we discuss observational results from infrared and submillimeter wavelength studies. We review disk lifetimes, transition objects, disk demographics, and highlight a few remarkable results from ALMA Early Science observations. We finish with a brief discussion of ALMA's potential to transform the field in near future.

Spiral Arms Observed in MWC 758 and SAO 206462 Systems' Protoplanetary Disks

Spiral Arms in Gravitationally Unstable Protoplanetary Disks as Imaged in Scattered Light

Authors:

Dong et al

Abstract:

Combining 3D smoothed-particle hydrodynamics and Monte Carlo radiative transfer calculations, we examine the morphology of spiral density waves induced by gravitational instability (GI) in protoplanetary disks, as they would appear in direct images at near-infrared (NIR) wavelengths. We find that systems with disk-to-star-mass ratios q=M_disk/M_star that are ~0.25 or more may produce prominent spiral arms in NIR imaging, remarkably resembling features observed in the MWC 758 and SAO 206462 systems. The contrast of GI-induced arms at NIR wavelengths can reach a factor of ~3, and their pitch angles are about 10-15 degree. The dominant azimuthal wavenumber of GI-induced spiral arms roughly obeys m~1/q in the range 2les sthan approximately 1/q less than approximately 8. In particular, a massive disk with q~0.5 can exhibit grand-design m=2 spirals. GI-induced arms are in approximate corotation with the local disk, and may therefore trap dust particles by pressure drag. Although GI can produce NIR spiral arms with morphologies, contrasts, and pitch angles similar to those reported in recent observations, it also makes other demands that may or may not be satisfied in any given system. A GI origin requires that the spirals be relatively compact, on scales less than approximately 100 AU; that the disk be massive, q>~0.25; and that the accretion rate Mdot be high, on the order of 1e-6 solar mass per year.

What is the Gemini Planet Imager?

Forming the Cold Classical Kuiper Belt in a Light Protoplanetary Disk

Forming the Cold Classical Kuiper Belt in a light Disk

Authors:

Shannon et al

Abstract:

Large Kuiper Belt Objects are conventionally thought to have formed out of a massive planetesimal belt that is a few thousand times its current mass. Such a picture, however, is incompatible with multiple lines of evidence. Here, we present a new model for the conglomeration of Cold Classical Kuiper belt objects, out of a solid belt only a few times its current mass, or a few percent of the solid density in a Minimum Mass Solar Nebula. This is made possible by depositing most of the primordial mass in grains of size centimetre or smaller. These grains collide frequently and maintain a dynamically cold belt out of which large bodies grow efficiently: an order-unity fraction of the solid mass can be converted into large bodies, in contrast to the ~0.1% efficiency in conventional models. Such a light belt may represent the true outer edge of the Solar system, and it may have effectively halted the outward migration of Neptune. In addition to the high efficiency, our model can also produce a mass spectrum that peaks at an intermediate size, similar to the observed Cold Classicals, if one includes the effect of cratering collisions. In particular, the observed power-law break observed at ~30 km for Cold Classicals, one that has been interpreted as a result of collisional erosion, may be primordial in origin.

Water Emissions Deteced From T Tauri Star Protoplanetary Disks

Understanding the water emission in the mid- and far-IR from protoplanetary disks around T~Tauri stars

Authors:

Antonellini et al

Abstract:

We investigate which properties of protoplanetary disks around T Tauri stars affect the physics and chemistry in the regions where mid- and far-IR water lines originate and their respective line fluxes. We search for diagnostics for future observations. With the code ProDiMo, we build a series of models exploring a large parameter space, computing rotational and rovibrational transitions of water in nonlocal thermodynamic equilibrium (non-LTE). We select a sample of transitions in the mid- IR regime and the fundamental ortho and para water transitions in the far-IR. We investigate the chemistry and the local physical conditions in the line emitting regions. We calculate Spitzer spectra for each model and compare far-IR and mid-IR lines. In addition, we use mid-IR colors to tie the water line predictions to the dust continuum. Parameters affecting the water line fluxes in disks by more than a factor of three are : the disk gas mass, the dust-to-gas mass ratio, the dust maximum grain size, ISM(InterStellarMedium) UV radiation field, the mixing parameter of Dubrulle settling, the disk flaring parameter, and the dust size distribution. The first four parameters affect the mid-IR lines much more than the far-IR lines. A key driver behind water spectroscopy is the dust opacity, which sets the location of the water line emitting region. We identify three types of parameters. Parameters, such as dust-to-gas ratio, ISM radiation field, and dust size distribution, affect the mid-IR lines more, while the far-IR transitions are more affected by the flaring index. The gas mass greatly affects lines in both regimes. Higher spectral resolution and line sensitivities, like from the James Webb Space Telescope, are needed to detect a statistically relevant sample of individual water lines to distinguish further between these types of parameters.

43 Brown Dwarf Systems Observed, 3 Binary Brown Dwarf Systems Resolved

High Resolution Imaging of Very Low Mass Spectral Binaries: Three Resolved Systems and Detection of Orbital Motion in an L/T Transition Binary

Authors:

Bardalez Gagliuffi et al

Abstract:

We present high resolution Laser Guide Star Adaptive Optics imaging of 43 late-M, L and T dwarf systems with Keck/NIRC2. These include 17 spectral binary candidates, systems whose spectra suggest the presence of a T dwarf secondary. We resolve three systems: 2MASS J1341−3052, SDSS J1511+0607 and SDSS J2052−1609; the first two are resolved for the first time. All three have projected separations less than 8 AU and estimated periods of 14−80 years. We also report a preliminary orbit determination for SDSS J2052−1609 based on six epochs of resolved astrometry between 2005−2010. Among the 14 unresolved spectral binaries, 5 systems were confirmed binaries but remained unresolved, implying a minimum binary fraction of 47+12−11% for this sample. Our inability to resolve most of the spectral binaries, including the confirmed binaries, supports the hypothesis that a large fraction of very low mass systems have relatively small separations and are missed with direct imaging.

Atmospheric Haze may be a Biosignature

An atmospheric haze around a faraway planet -- like the one which probably shrouded and cooled the young Earth -- could show that the world is potentially habitable, or even be a sign of life itself.

Astronomers often use the Earth as a proxy for hypothetical exoplanets in computer modeling to simulate what such worlds might be like and under what circumstances they might be hospitable to life.

In new research from the University of Washington-based Virtual Planetary Laboratory, UW doctoral student Giada Arney and co-authors chose to study Earth in its Archean era, about 2 ½ billion years back, because it is, as Arney said, "the most alien planet we have geochemical data for."

The work builds on geological data from other researchers that suggests the early Earth was intermittently shrouded by an organic pale orange haze that came from light breaking down methane molecules in the atmosphere into more complex hydrocarbons, organic compounds of hydrogen and carbon.

"Hazy worlds seem common both in our solar system and in the population of exoplanets we've characterized so far," Arney said. "Thinking about Earth with a global haze allows us to put our home planet into the context of these other worlds, and in this case, the haze may even be a sign of life itself."

Arney and co-authors will present their findings Nov. 11 at the American Astronomical Society's Division of Planetary Sciences conference in National Harbor, Maryland.

The researchers used photochemical, climate and radiation simulations to examine the early Earth shrouded by a "fractal" hydrocarbon haze, meaning that the imagined haze particles are not spherical, as used in many such simulations, but agglomerates of spherical particles, bunched together not unlike grapes, but smaller than a raindrop. A fractal haze, they found, would have significantly lowered the planetary surface temperature.

However, they also found the cooling would be partly countered by concentrations of greenhouse gases that tend to warm a planet. They saw that this combination would result in a moderate, possibly habitable average global temperature.

Such a haze, the researchers found, also would have absorbed ultraviolet light so well as to effectively shield the Archean Earth from deadly radiation before the rise of oxygen and the ozone layer, which now provides that protection. The haze was a benefit to just-evolving surface biospheres on Earth, as it could be to similar exoplanets.

The researchers also found that, based on the early Earth data, it's unlikely such a haze would be formed by abiotic, or nonliving means. So for exoplanets with Earthlike amounts of carbon dioxide in their atmospheres, Arney said, "organic haze might be a novel type of biosignature. However, we know these hazes can also form without life on worlds like Saturn's moon Titan, so we are working to come up with more ways to distinguish biological hazes from abiotic ones."

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