We present precise Doppler measurements of four stars obtained during the past decade at Keck Observatory by the California Planet Survey (CPS). These stars, namely, HD 34445, HD 126614, HD 13931, ...and Gl 179, all show evidence for a single planet in Keplerian motion. We also present Doppler measurements from the Hobby-Eberly Telescope (HET) for two of the stars, HD 34445 and Gl 179, that confirm the Keck detections and significantly refine the orbital parameters. These planets add to the statistical properties of giant planets orbiting near or beyond the ice line, and merit follow-up by astrometry, imaging, and space-borne spectroscopy. Their orbital parameters span wide ranges of planetary minimum mass (M sin i = 0.38-1.9 M{sub Jup}), orbital period (P = 2.87-11.5 yr), semimajor axis (a = 2.1-5.2 AU), and eccentricity (e = 0.02-0.41). HD 34445 b (P = 2.87 yr, M sin i = 0.79 M{sub Jup}, e = 0.27) is a massive planet orbiting an old, G-type star. We announce a planet, HD 126614 Ab, and an M dwarf, HD 126614 B, orbiting the metal-rich star HD 126614 (which we now refer to as HD 126614 A). The planet, HD 126614 Ab, has minimum mass M sin i = 0.38 M{sub Jup} and orbits the stellar primary with period P = 3.41 yr and orbital separation a = 2.3 AU. The faint M dwarf companion, HD 126614 B, is separated from the stellar primary by 489 mas (33 AU) and was discovered with direct observations using adaptive optics and the PHARO camera at Palomar Observatory. The stellar primary in this new system, HD 126614 A, has the highest measured metallicity (Fe/H = +0.56) of any known planet-bearing star. HD 13931 b (P = 11.5 yr, M sin i = 1.88 M{sub Jup}, e = 0.02) is a Jupiter analog orbiting a near solar twin. Gl 179 b (P = 6.3 yr, M sin i = 0.82 M{sub Jup}, e = 0.21) is a massive planet orbiting a faint M dwarf. The high metallicity of Gl 179 is consistent with the planet-metallicity correlation among M dwarfs, as documented recently by Johnson and Apps.
We present detections of the near-infrared thermal emission of three hot Jupiters and one brown dwarf using the Wide-field Infrared Camera (WIRCam) on the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope (CFHT). These ...include Ks-band secondary eclipse detections of the hot Jupiters WASP-3b and Qatar-1b and the brown dwarf KELT-1b. We also report Y-band, K-CONT-band, and two new and one reanalyzed Ks-band detections of the thermal emission of the hot Jupiter WASP-12b. We present a new reduction pipeline for CFHT/WIRCam data, which is optimized for high precision photometry. We also describe novel techniques for constraining systematic errors in ground-based near-infrared photometry, so as to return reliable secondary eclipse depths and uncertainties. We discuss the noise properties of our ground-based photometry for wavelengths spanning the near-infrared (the YJHK bands), for faint and bright stars, and for the same object on several occasions. For the hot Jupiters WASP-3b and WASP-12b we demonstrate the repeatability of our eclipse depth measurements in the Ks band; we therefore place stringent limits on the systematics of ground-based, near-infrared photometry, and also rule out violent weather changes in the deep, high pressure atmospheres of these two hot Jupiters at the epochs of our observations.
We present initial results from a new high-contrast imaging program dedicated to stars that exhibit long-term Doppler radial velocity accelerations (or "trends"). The goal of the TRENDS (TaRgetting ...bENchmark-objects with Doppler Spectroscopy) imaging survey is to directly detect and study the companions responsible for accelerating their host star. In this first paper of the series, we report the discovery of low-mass stellar companions orbiting HD 53665, HD 68017, and HD 71881 using NIRC2 adaptive optics (AO) observations at Keck. Follow-up imaging demonstrates association through common proper motion. These comoving companions have red colors with estimated spectral types of K7-M0, M5, and M3-M4, respectively. We determine a firm lower limit to their mass from Doppler and astrometric measurements. In the near future, it will be possible to construct three-dimensional orbits and calculate the dynamical mass of HD 68017 B and possibly HD 71881 B. We already detect astrometric orbital motion of HD 68017 B, which has a projected separation of 13.0 AU. Each companion is amenable to AO-assisted direct spectroscopy. Further, each companion orbits a solar-type star, making it possible to infer metallicity and age from the primary. Such benchmark objects are essential for testing theoretical models of cool dwarf atmospheres.
Here, we present the first, KOI-1474.01, which has a long orbital period (69.7340 days) and a large eccentricity e = 0.8 super(+0.10) sub(-0.07), skirting the proto-hot Jupiter boundary. Combining ...Kepler photometry, ground-based spectroscopy, and stellar evolution models, we characterize host KOI-1474 as a rapidly rotating F star. Statistical arguments reveal that the transiting candidate has a low false-positive probability of 3.1%. KOI-1474.01 also exhibits transit-timing variations of the order of an hour. We use the host star's period, radius, and projected rotational velocity to measure the inclination of the stellar spin. Comparing KOI 1474.01's inclination, we find that its orbit is marginally consistent with being aligned with the stellar spin axis, although a reanalysis is warranted with future additional data. Finally, we discuss how the number and existence of proto-hot Jupiters will not only demonstrate that hot Jupiters migrate via HEM, but also shed light on the typical timescale for the mechanism.
Precise Masses in the WASP-47 System Vanderburg, Andrew; Becker, Juliette C.; Buchhave, Lars A. ...
The Astronomical journal,
12/2017, Volume:
154, Issue:
6
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
Open access
We present precise radial velocity observations of WASP-47, a star known to host a hot Jupiter, a distant Jovian companion, and, uniquely, two additional transiting planets in short-period orbits: a ...super-Earth in a 19 hr orbit, and a Neptune in a 9 day orbit. We analyze our observations from the HARPS-N spectrograph along with previously published data to measure the most precise planet masses yet for this system. When combined with new stellar parameters and reanalyzed transit photometry, our mass measurements place strong constraints on the compositions of the two small planets. We find that, unlike most other ultra-short-period planets, the inner planet, WASP-47 e, has a mass (6.83 0.66 ) and a radius (1.810 0.027 ) that are inconsistent with an Earth-like composition. Instead, WASP-47 e likely has a volatile-rich envelope surrounding an Earth-like core and mantle. We also perform a dynamical analysis to constrain the orbital inclination of WASP-47 c, the outer Jovian planet. This planet likely orbits close to the plane of the inner three planets, suggesting a quiet dynamical history for the system. Our dynamical constraints also imply that WASP-47 c is much more likely to transit than a geometric calculation would suggest. We calculate a transit probability for WASP-47 c of about 10%, more than an order of magnitude larger than the geometric transit probability of 0.6%.
We use Monte Carlo simulations to estimate the number of extrasolar planets that are directly detectable in the solar neighborhood using current and forthcoming high-contrast imaging instruments. Our ...calculations take into consideration the important factors that govern the likelihood for imaging a planet, including the statistical properties of stars in the solar neighborhood, correlations between star and planet properties, observational effects, and selection criteria. We consider several different ground-based surveys, both biased and unbiased, and express the resulting planet yields as a function of stellar mass. Selecting targets based on their youth and visual brightness, we find that strong correlations between star mass and planet properties are required to reproduce high-contrast imaging results to date (i.e., HR 8799, Delta *b Pic). Using the most recent empirical findings for the occurrence rate of gas-giant planets from radial velocity (RV) surveys, our simulations indicate that naive extrapolation of the Doppler planet population to semimajor axes accessible to high-contrast instruments provides an excellent agreement between simulations and observations using present-day contrast levels. In addition to being intrinsically young and sufficiently bright to serve as their own beacon for adaptive optics correction, A-stars have a high planet occurrence rate and propensity to form massive planets in wide orbits, making them ideal targets. The same effects responsible for creating a multitude of detectable planets around massive stars conspire to reduce the number orbiting low-mass stars. However, in the case of a young stellar cluster, where targets are approximately the same age and situated at roughly the same distance, MK-stars can easily dominate the number of detections because of an observational bias related to small number statistics. The degree to which low-mass stars produce the most planet detections in this special case depends upon whether multiple formation mechanisms are at work. Upon relaxing our assumption that planets in ultra-wide (a > 100 AU) orbits resemble the RV sample, our simulations suggest that the companions found orbiting late-type stars (AB Pic, 1RXSJ1609, GSC 06214, etc.) are consistent with a formation channel distinct from that of RV planets. These calculations explain why planets have thus far been imaged preferentially around A-stars and K-, M-stars, but no spectral types in between, despite concerted efforts targeting F-, G-stars.
Ruprecht 147 is a hitherto unappreciated open cluster that holds great promise as a standard in fundamental stellar astrophysics. We have conducted a radial velocity survey of astrometric candidates ...with Lick, Palomar, and MMT observatories and have identified over 100 members, including 5 blue stragglers, 11 red giants, and 5 double-lined spectroscopic binaries (SB2s). We estimate the cluster metallicity from spectroscopic analysis, using Spectroscopy Made Easy (SME), and find it to be M/H = +0.07 = or - 0.03. We have obtained deep CFHT/MegaCam g'r'i'z' photometry and fit Padova isochrones to the (g' - i') and Two Micron All Sky Survey (J - K sub(S)) color-magnitude diagrams, using the tau super(2) maximum-likelihood procedure of Naylor, and an alternative method using two-dimensional cross-correlations developed in this work. We find best fits for Padova isochrones at age t = 2.5 + or - 0.25 Gyr, m - M - 7.35 + or - 0.1, and A sub(v) = 0.25 + or - 0.05, with additional uncertainty from the unresolved binary population and possibility of differential extinction across this large cluster. The inferred age is heavily dependent on our choice of stellar evolution model: fitting Dartmouth and PARSEC models yield age parameters of 3 Gyr and 3.25 Gyr, respectively. At ~300 pc and ~3 Gyr, Ruprecht 147 is by far the oldest nearby star cluster.
We show that the exoplanet HAT-P-7b has an extremely tilted orbit, with a true angle of at least 86 deg. with respect to its parent star's equatorial plane, and a strong possibility of retrograde ...motion. We also report evidence for an additional planet or companion star. The evidence for the unparalleled orbit and the third body is based on precise observations of the star's apparent radial velocity (RV). The anomalous RV due to rotation (the Rossiter-McLaughlin effect) was found to be a blueshift during the first half of the transit and a redshift during the second half, an inversion of the usual pattern, implying that the angle between the sky-projected orbital and stellar angular momentum vectors is 182.{sup 0}5 +- 9.{sup 0}4. The third body is implicated by excess RV variation of the host star over 2 yr. Some possible explanations for the tilted orbit of HAT-P-7b are a close encounter with another planet, the Kozai effect, and resonant capture by an inward-migrating outer planet.
ABSTRACT We report the detection of two new planets orbiting the K giants HD 86950 and HD 222076, based on precise radial velocities obtained with three instruments: AAT/UCLES, FEROS, and CHIRON. HD ...86950b has a period of 1270 57 days at au, and m sin . HD 222076b has days at au, and m sin . These two giant planets are typical of the population of planets known to orbit evolved stars. In addition, we find a high-amplitude periodic velocity signal ( m s−1) in HD 29399 and show that it is due to stellar variability rather than Keplerian reflex motion. We also investigate the relation between planet occurrence and host-star metallicity for the 164-star Pan-Pacific Planet Search (PPPS) sample of evolved stars. In spite of the small sample of PPPS detections, we confirm the trend of increasing planet occurrence as a function of metallicity found by other studies of planets orbiting evolved stars.
Doppler surveys have shown that the occurrence rate of Jupiter-mass planets appears to increase as a function of stellar mass. However, this result depends on the ability to accurately measure the ...masses of evolved stars. Recently, Lloyd called into question the masses of subgiant stars targeted by Doppler surveys. Lloyd argues that very few observable subgiants have masses greater than 1.5 M sub(middot in circle), and that most of them have masses in the range 1.0-1.2 M sub(middot in circle). To investigate this claim, we use Galactic stellar population models to generate an all-sky distribution of stars. We incorporate the effects that make massive subgiants less numerous, such as the initial mass function and differences in stellar evolution timescales. We find that these effects lead to negligibly small systematic errors in stellar mass estimates, in contrast to the approximate50% errors predicted by Lloyd. Additionally, our simulated target sample does in fact include a significant fraction of stars with masses greater than 1.5 M sub(middot in circle), primarily because the inclusion of an apparent magnitude limit results in a Malmquist-like bias toward more massive stars, in contrast to the volume-limited simulations of Lloyd. The magnitude limit shifts the mean of our simulated distribution toward higher masses and results in a relatively smaller number of evolved stars with masses in the range 1.0-1.2 M sub(middot in circle). We conclude that, within the context of our present-day understanding of stellar structure and evolution, many of the subgiants observed in Doppler surveys are indeed as massive as main-sequence A stars.