The K2 Mission has photometrically monitored thousands of stars at high precision and cadence in a series of ∼80-day campaigns focused on sections of the ecliptic plane. During its second campaign, ...K2 targeted over 1000 young stellar objects (YSOs) in the ∼1-3 Myr Ophiuchus and 5-10 Myr Upper Scorpius regions. From this set, we have carefully vetted photometry from WISE and Spitzer to identify those YSOs with infrared excess indicative of primordial circumstellar disks. We present here the resulting comprehensive sample of 288 young disk-bearing stars from B through M spectral types and analysis of their associated K2 light curves. Using statistics of periodicity and symmetry, we categorize each light curve into eight different variability classes, notably including "dippers" (fading events), "bursters" (brightening events), stochastic, and quasi-periodic types. Nearly all (96%) of disk-bearing YSOs are identified as variable at 30-minute cadence with the sub-1% precision of K2. Combining our variability classifications with (circum)stellar properties, we find that the bursters, stochastic sources, and the largest amplitude quasi-periodic stars have larger infrared colors, and hence stronger circumstellar disks. They also tend to have larger H equivalent widths, indicative of higher accretion rates. The dippers, on the other hand, cluster toward moderate infrared colors and low H . Using resolved disk observations, we further find that the latter favor high inclinations, except for a few notable exceptions with close to face-on disks. These observations support the idea that YSO time-domain properties are dependent on several factors, including accretion rate and view angle.
We present 29 likely members of the young Oph or Upper Sco regions of recent star formation that exhibit "accretion burst" type light curves in K2 time series photometry. The bursters were identified ...by visual examination of their ∼80-day light curves, though all satisfy the flux asymmetry criterion for burst behavior defined by Cody et al. The burst sources represent 9% of cluster members with strong infrared excess indicative of circumstellar material. Higher amplitude burster behavior is correlated with larger inner disk infrared excesses, as inferred from WISE color. The burst sources are also outliers in their large H emission equivalent widths. No distinction between bursters and non-bursters is seen in stellar properties such as multiplicity or spectral type. The frequency of bursters is similar between the younger, more compact Oph region, and the older, more dispersed Upper Sco region. The bursts exhibit a range of shapes, amplitudes (∼10%-700%), durations (∼1-10 days), repeat timescales (∼3-80 days), and duty cycles (∼10%-100%). Our results provide important input to models of magnetospheric accretion, in particular, by elucidating the properties of accretion-related variability in the low state between major longer duration events such as EX Lup and FU Ori type accretion outbursts. We demonstrate the broad continuum of accretion burst behavior in young stars-extending the phenomenon to lower amplitudes and shorter timescales than traditionally considered in the theory of pre-main sequence accretion history.
We report the detection of V1298 Tau b, a warm Jupiter-sized planet (RP = 0.91 0.05 RJup, P = 24.1 days) transiting a young solar analog with an estimated age of 23 Myr. The star and its planet ...belong to Group 29, a young association in the foreground of the Taurus-Auriga star-forming region. While hot Jupiters have been previously reported around young stars, those planets are non-transiting and near-term atmospheric characterization is not feasible. The V1298 Tau system is a compelling target for follow-up study through transmission spectroscopy and Doppler tomography owing to the transit depth (0.5%), host star brightness (Ks = 8.1 mag), and rapid stellar rotation ( = 23 km s−1). Although the planet is Jupiter-sized, its mass is currently unknown due to high-amplitude radial velocity jitter. Nevertheless, V1298 Tau b may help constrain formation scenarios for at least one class of close-in exoplanets, providing a window into the nascent evolution of planetary interiors and atmospheres.
ABSTRACT We present the discovery in Kepler's K2 mission observations and our follow-up radial velocity (RV) observations from Keck/HIRES for four eclipsing binary (EB) star systems in the young ...benchmark Pleiades and Hyades clusters. Based on our modeling results, we announce two new low mass ( M tot < 0.6 M ) EBs among Pleiades members (HCG 76 and MHO 9) and we report on two previously known Pleiades binaries that are also found to be EB systems (HII 2407 and HD 23642). We measured the masses of the binary HCG 76 to 2.5% precision, and the radii to 4.5% precision, which together with the precise effective temperatures yield an independent Pleiades distance of 132 5 pc. We discuss another EB toward the Pleiades that is a possible but unlikely Pleiades cluster member (AK II 465). The two new confirmed Pleiades systems extend the mass range of Pleiades EB components to 0.2-2 M . Our initial measurements of the fundamental stellar parameters for the Pleiades EBs are discussed in the context of the current stellar models and the nominal cluster isochrone, finding good agreement with the stellar models of Baraffe et al. at the nominal Pleiades age of 120 Myr. Finally, in the Hyades, we report a new low mass eclipsing system (vA 50) that was concurrently discovered and studied by Mann et al. We confirm that the eclipse is likely caused by a Neptune-sized transiting planet, and with the additional RV constraints presented here we improve the constraint on the maximum mass of the planet to be 1.2 MJup.
Using K2 data, we identified 23 very-low-mass members of the Oph and Upper Scorpius star-forming region as having periodic photometric variability not easily explained by well-established physical ...mechanisms such as star spots, eclipsing binaries, or pulsation. All of these unusual stars are mid-to-late M dwarfs without evidence of active accretion, and with photometric periods generally <1 day. Often the unusual light-curve signature takes the form of narrow flux dips; when we also have rotation periods from star spots, the two periods agree, suggesting that the flux dips are due to material orbiting the star at the Keplerian co-rotation radius. We sometimes see "state-changes" in the phased light-curve morphologies where ∼25% of the waveform changes shape on timescales less than a day; often, the "state-change" takes place immediately after a strong flare. For the group of stars with these sudden light-curve morphology shifts, we attribute their flux dips as most probably arising from eclipses of warm coronal gas clouds, analagous to the slingshot prominences postulated to explain transient H absorption features in AB Doradus and other rapidly rotating late-type stars. For another group of stars with somewhat longer periods, we find the short-duration flux dips to be highly variable on both short and long timescales, with generally asymmetric flux-dip profiles. We believe that these flux dips are due to particulate clouds possibly associated with a close-in planet or resulting from a recent collisional event.
ABSTRACT We report the discovery of three low-mass double-lined eclipsing binaries in the pre-main sequence Upper Scorpius association, revealed by K2 photometric monitoring of the region over ∼78 ...days. The orbital periods of all three systems are <5 days. We use the K2 photometry plus multiple Keck/HIRES radial velocities (RVs) and spectroscopic flux ratios to determine fundamental stellar parameters for both the primary and secondary components of each system, along with the orbital parameters. We present tentative evidence that EPIC 203868608 is a hierarchical triple system comprised of an eclipsing pair of ∼25 MJup brown dwarfs with a wide M-type companion. If confirmed, it would constitute only the second double-lined eclipsing brown dwarf binary system discovered to date. The double-lined system EPIC 203710387 is composed of nearly identical M4.5-M5 stars with fundamentally determined masses and radii measured to better than 3% precision ( , and , ) from combination of the light curve and RV time series. These stars have the lowest masses of any stellar mass double-lined eclipsing binary to date. Comparing our derived stellar parameters with evolutionary models, we suggest an age of ∼10-11 Myr for this system, in contrast to the canonical age of 3-5 Myr for the association. Finally, EPIC 203476597 is a compact single-lined system with a G8-K0 primary and a likely mid-K secondary whose lines are revealed in spectral ratios. Continued measurement of RVs and spectroscopic flux ratios will better constrain fundamental parameters and should elevate the objects to benchmark status. We also present revised parameters for the double-lined eclipsing binary UScoCTIO 5 ( , and , ), which are suggestive of a system age younger than previously reported. We discuss the implications of our results on these ∼0.1-1.5 stars for pre-main-sequence evolutionary models.
Abstract
We present a systematic study of the most luminous (
M
IR
Vega magnitudes brighter than −14) infrared (IR) transients discovered by the
SPitzer
InfraRed Intensive Transients Survey (SPIRITS) ...between 2014 and 2018 in nearby galaxies (
D
< 35 Mpc). The sample consists of nine events that span peak IR luminosities of
M
4.5,peak
between −14 and −18.2, show IR colors between 0.2 < (3.6–4.5) < 3.0, and fade on timescales between 55 days <
t
fade
< 480 days. The two reddest events (
A
V
> 12) show multiple, luminous IR outbursts over several years and have directly detected, massive progenitors in archival imaging. With analyses of extensive, multiwavelength follow-up, we suggest the following possible classifications: five obscured core-collapse supernovae (CCSNe), two erupting massive stars, one luminous red nova, and one intermediate-luminosity red transient. We define a control sample of all optically discovered transients recovered in SPIRITS galaxies and satisfying the same selection criteria. The control sample consists of eight CCSNe and one Type Iax SN. We find that 7 of the 13 CCSNe in the SPIRITS sample have lower bounds on their extinction of 2 <
A
V
< 8. We estimate a nominal fraction of CCSNe in nearby galaxies that are missed by optical surveys as high as
(90% confidence). This study suggests that a significant fraction of CCSNe may be heavily obscured by dust and therefore undercounted in the census of nearby CCSNe from optical searches.
Abstract The SETI Ellipsoid is a strategy for technosignature candidate selection that assumes that extraterrestrial civilizations who have observed a galactic-scale event—such as supernova 1987A—may ...use it as a Schelling point to broadcast synchronized signals indicating their presence. Continuous wide-field surveys of the sky offer a powerful new opportunity to look for these signals, compensating for the uncertainty in their estimated time of arrival. We explore sources in the TESS continuous viewing zone, which corresponds to 5% of all TESS data, observed during the first 3 yr of the mission. Using improved 3D locations for stars from Gaia Early Data Release 3, we identified 32 SN 1987A SETI Ellipsoid targets in the TESS continuous viewing zone with uncertainties better than 0.5 lt-yr. We examined the TESS light curves of these stars during the Ellipsoid crossing event and found no anomalous signatures. We discuss ways to expand this methodology to other surveys, more targets, and different potential signal types.
We report the discovery of a repeating photometric signal from a low-mass member of the Praesepe open cluster that we interpret as a Neptune-sized transiting planet. The star is JS 183 (HSHJ 163, ...EPIC 211916756), with Teff = 3325 100 K, M* = 0.44 0.04 M , R* = 0.44 0.03 R , and . The planet has an orbital period of 10.134588 days and a radius of RP = 0.32 0.02 RJ. Since the star is faint at V = 16.5 and J = 13.3, we are unable to obtain a measured radial velocity orbit, but we can constrain the companion mass to below about 1.7 MJ, and thus well below the planetary boundary. JS 183b (since designated as K2-95b) is the second transiting planet found with K2 that resides in a several-hundred-megayear open cluster; both planets orbit mid-M dwarf stars and are approximately Neptune sized. With a well-determined stellar density from the planetary transit, and with an independently known metallicity from its cluster membership, JS 183 provides a particularly valuable test of stellar models at the fully convective boundary. We find that JS 183 is the lowest-density transit host known at the fully convective boundary, and that its very low density is consistent with current models of stars just above the fully convective boundary but in tension with the models just below the fully convective boundary.
We have analyzed K2 light curves for more than 3000 low-mass stars in the ∼8 Myr old Upper Sco association, the ∼125 Myr age Pleiades open cluster, and the ∼700 Myr old Hyades and Praesepe open ...clusters to determine stellar rotation rates. Many of these K2 targets show two distinct periods, and for the lowest-mass stars in these clusters, virtually all of these systems with two periods are photometric binaries. The most likely explanation is that we are detecting the rotation periods for both components of these binaries. We explore the evolution of the rotation rate in both components of photometric binaries relative to one another and to nonphotometric binary stars. In Upper Sco and the Pleiades, these low-mass binary stars have periods that are much shorter on average and much closer to each other than would be true if drawn at random from the M dwarf single stars. In Upper Sco, this difference correlates strongly with the presence or absence of infrared excesses due to primordial circumstellar disks-the single-star population includes many stars with disks, and their rotation periods are distinctively longer on average than their binary star cousins of the same mass. By Praesepe age, the significance of the difference in rotation rate between the single and binary low-mass M dwarf stars is much less, suggesting that angular momentum loss from winds for fully convective zero-age main-sequence stars erases memory of the rotation rate dichotomy for binary and single very low mass stars at later ages.
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