State-of-the-art radial-velocity (RV) exoplanet searches are currently limited by RV signals arising from stellar magnetic activity. We analyze solar observations acquired over a 3 yr period during ...the decline of Carrington Cycle 24 to test models of RV variation of Sun-like stars. A purpose-built solar telescope at the High Accuracy Radial-velocity Planet Searcher for the Northern hemisphere (HARPS-N) provides disk-integrated solar spectra, from which we extract RVs and log R HK ′ . The Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) provides disk-resolved images of magnetic activity. The Solar Radiation and Climate Experiment (SORCE) provides near-continuous solar photometry, analogous to a Kepler light curve. We verify that the SORCE photometry and HARPS-N log R HK ′ correlate strongly with the SDO-derived magnetic filling factor, while the HARPS-N RV variations do not. To explain this discrepancy, we test existing models of RV variations. We estimate the contributions of the suppression of convective blueshift and the rotational imbalance due to brightness inhomogeneities to the observed HARPS-N RVs. We investigate the time variation of these contributions over several rotation periods, and how these contributions depend on the area of active regions. We find that magnetic active regions smaller than 60 Mm2 do not significantly suppress convective blueshift. Our area-dependent model reduces the amplitude of activity-induced RV variations by a factor of two. The present study highlights the need to identify a proxy that correlates specifically with large, bright magnetic regions on the surfaces of exoplanet-hosting stars.
Efficient interconversion of both classical and quantum information between microwave and optical frequency is an important engineering challenge. The optomechanical approach with gigahertz-frequency ...mechanical devices has the potential to be extremely efficient due to the large optomechanical response of common materials, and the ability to localize mechanical energy into a micron-scale volume. However, existing demonstrations suffer from some combination of low optical quality factor, low electrical-to-mechanical transduction efficiency, and low optomechanical interaction rate. Here we demonstrate an on-chip piezo-optomechanical transducer that systematically addresses all these challenges to achieve nearly three orders of magnitude improvement in conversion efficiency over previous work. Our modulator demonstrates acousto-optic modulation with Formula: see text = 0.02 V. We show bidirectional conversion efficiency of Formula: see text with 3.3 μW red-detuned optical pump, and Formula: see text with 323 μW blue-detuned pump. Further study of quantum transduction at millikelvin temperatures is required to understand how the efficiency and added noise are affected by reduced mechanical dissipation, thermal conductivity, and thermal capacity.
The combination of high-contrast imaging and high-dispersion spectroscopy, which has successfully been use to detect the atmosphere of a giant planet, is one of the most promising potential probes of ...the atmosphere of Earth-size worlds. The forthcoming generation of extremely large telescopes (ELTs) may obtain sufficient contrast with this technique to detect O2 in the atmosphere of those worlds that orbit low-mass M dwarfs. This is strong motivation to carry out a census of planets around cool stars for which habitable zones can be resolved by ELTs, i.e. for M dwarfs within ~5 parsec. Our HARPS survey has been a major contributor to that sample of nearby planets. Here we report on our radial velocity observations of Ross 128 (Proxima Virginis, GJ447, HIP 57548), an M4 dwarf just 3.4 parsec away from our Sun. This source hosts an exo-Earth with a projected mass m sini = 1.35 M⊕ and an orbital period of 9.9 days. Ross 128 b receives less than 1.5 times as much flux as Earth from the Sun and its equilibrium ranges in temperature between 269 K for an Earth-like albedo and 213 K for a Venus-like albedo. Recent studies place it close to the inner edge of the conventional habitable zone. An 80-day long light curve from K2 campaign C01 demonstrates that Ross 128 b does not transit. Together with the All Sky Automated Survey (ASAS) photometry and spectroscopic activity indices, the K2 photometry shows that Ross 128 rotates slowly and has weak magnetic activity. In a habitability context, this makes survival of its atmosphere against erosion more likely. Ross 128 b is the second closest known exo-Earth, after Proxima Centauri b (1.3 parsec), and the closest temperate planet known around a quiet star. The 15 mas planet-star angular separation at maximum elongation will be resolved by ELTs (>3λ∕D) in the optical bands of O2.
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Context. Many efforts are being made to characterize extrasolar planetary systems and unveil the fundamental mechanisms of planet formation. An important aspect of the problem, which remains largely ...unknown, is to understand how the planet formation process depends on the mass of the parent star. In particular, as most planets discovered to date orbit a solar-mass primary, little is known about planet formation around more massive stars. Aims. To investigate this point, we present first results from a radial velocity planet search around red giants in the clump of intermediate-age open clusters. We choose clusters harbouring red giants with masses between 1.5 and 4 M_{\odot}, using the well-known cluster parameters to accurately determine the stellar masses. We are therefore exploring a poorly-known domain of primary masses, which will bring new insights into the properties of extrasolar planetary systems. Methods. We follow a sample of about 115 red giants with the Coralie and HARPS spectrographs to obtain high-precision radial velocity ( RV) measurements and detect giant planets around these stars. We use bisector and activity index diagnostics to distinguish between planetary-induced RV variations and stellar photospheric jitter. Results. We present the discoveries of a giant planet and a brown dwarf in the open clusters NGC 2423 and NGC 4349, orbiting the 2.4 M_{\odot}-star NGC 2423 No. 3 (TYC 5409-2156-1) and the 3.9 M_{\odot}-star NGC 4349 No. 127 (TYC 8975-2606-1). These low-mass companions have orbital periods of 714 and 678 days and minimum masses of 10.6 and 19.8 M sub(<) / I > Jup, respectively. Combined with the other known planetary systems, these detections indicate that the frequency of massive planets is higher around intermediate-mass stars, and therefore probably scales with the mass of the protoplanetary disk.
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Super-Earths belong to a class of planet not found in the Solar system, but which appear common in the Galaxy. Given that some super-Earths are rocky, while others retain substantial atmospheres, ...their study can provide clues as to the formation of both rocky and gaseous planets, and – in particular – they can help to constrain the role of photoevaporation in sculpting the exoplanet population. GJ 9827 is a system already known to host three super-Earths with orbital periods of 1.2, 3.6, and 6.2 d. Here, we use new HARPS-N radial velocity measurements, together with previously published radial velocities, to better constrain the properties of the GJ 9827 planets. Our analysis cannot place a strong constraint on the mass of GJ 9827 c, but does indicate that GJ 9827 b is rocky with a composition that is probably similar to that of the Earth, while GJ 9827 d almost certainly retains a volatile envelope. Therefore, GJ 9827 hosts planets on either side of the radius gap that appears to divide super-Earths into pre-dominantly rocky ones that have radii below ∼1.5Rꚛ, and ones that still retain a substantial atmosphere and/or volatile components, and have radii above ∼2Rꚛ. That the less heavily irradiated of the three planets still retains an atmosphere, may indicate that photoevaporation has played a key role in the evolution of the planets in this system.
Thanks to the importance that the star-planet relation has to our understanding of the planet formation process, the precise determination of stellar parameters for the ever increasing number of ...discovered extra-solar planets is of great relevance. Furthermore, precise stellar parameters are needed to fully characterize the planet properties. It is thus important to continue the efforts to determine, in the most uniform way possible, the parameters for stars with planets as new discoveries are announced. In this paper we present new precise atmospheric parameters for a sample of 48 stars with planets. We then take the opportunity to present a new catalogue of stellar parameters for FGK and M stars with planets detected by radial velocity, transit, and astrometry programs. The compiled catalogue is available online. The data can be used for statistical studies of the star-planet correlation, as well as for the derivation of consistent properties for known planets.
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The redshifts of all cosmologically distant sources are expected to experience a small, systematic drift as a function of time due to the evolution of the Universe's expansion rate. A measurement of ...this effect would represent a direct and entirely model-independent determination of the expansion history of the Universe over a redshift range that is inaccessible to other methods. Here we investigate the impact of the next generation of Extremely Large Telescopes on the feasibility of detecting and characterizing the cosmological redshift drift. We consider the Lyα forest in the redshift range 2 < z < 5 and other absorption lines in the spectra of high-redshift QSOs as the most suitable targets for a redshift drift experiment. Assuming photon-noise-limited observations and using extensive Monte Carlo simulations we determine the accuracy to which the redshift drift can be measured from the Lyα forest as a function of signal-to-noise ratio and redshift. Based on this relation and using the brightness and redshift distributions of known QSOs we find that a 42-m telescope is capable of unambiguously detecting the redshift drift over a period of ∼20 yr using 4000 h of observing time. Such an experiment would provide independent evidence for the existence of dark energy without assuming spatial flatness, using any other cosmological constraints or making any other astrophysical assumption.
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Ultra-short period (USP) planets are a class of exoplanets with periods shorter than one day. The origin of this sub-population of planets is still unclear, with different formation scenarios highly ...dependent on the composition of the USP planets. A better understanding of this class of exoplanets will, therefore, require an increase in the sample of such planets that have accurate and precise masses and radii, which also includes estimates of the level of irradiation and information about possible companions. Here we report a detailed characterization of a USP planet around the solar-type star HD 80653 ≡EP 251279430 using the K2 light curve and 108 precise radial velocities obtained with the HARPS-N spectrograph, installed on the Telescopio Nazionale
Galileo
. From the K2 C16 data, we found one super-Earth planet (
R
b
= 1.613 ± 0.071
R
⊕
) transiting the star on a short-period orbit (
P
b
= 0.719573 ± 0.000021 d). From our radial velocity measurements, we constrained the mass of HD 80653 b to
M
b
= 5.60 ± 0.43
M
⊕
. We also detected a clear long-term trend in the radial velocity data. We derived the fundamental stellar parameters and determined a radius of
R
⋆
= 1.22 ± 0.01
R
⊙
and mass of
M
⋆
= 1.18 ± 0.04
M
⊙
, suggesting that HD 80653 has an age of 2.7 ± 1.2 Gyr. The bulk density (
ρ
b
= 7.4 ± 1.1 g cm
−3
) of the planet is consistent with an Earth-like composition of rock and iron with no thick atmosphere. Our analysis of the K2 photometry also suggests hints of a shallow secondary eclipse with a depth of 8.1 ± 3.7 ppm. Flux variations along the orbital phase are consistent with zero. The most important contribution might come from the day-side thermal emission from the surface of the planet at
T
~ 3480 K.
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