We report the discovery of a medium-strength (∼0.5 kG) magnetic field on the young, massive star τ Sco (B0.2 V), which becomes the third-hottest magnetic star known. Circularly polarized Zeeman ...signatures are clearly detected in observations collected mostly with the ESPaDOnS spectropolarimeter, recently installed on the 3.6-m Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope; temporal variability is also clearly established in the polarimetry, and can be unambiguously attributed to rotational modulation with a period close to 41 d. Archival ultraviolet (UV) spectra confirm that this modulation repeats over time-scales of decades, and refine the rotation period to 41.033 ± 0.002 d.
Despite the slow rotation rate of τ Sco, we none the less succeed in reconstructing the large-scale structure of its magnetic topology. We find that the magnetic structure is unusually complex for a hot star, with significant power in spherical-harmonic modes of degree up to 5. The surface topology is dominated by a potential field, although a moderate toroidal component is probably present. We fail to detect intrinsic temporal variability of the magnetic structure over the 1.5-yr period of our spectropolarimetric observations (in agreement with the stable temporal variations of the UV spectra), and infer that any differential surface rotation must be very small.
The topology of the extended magnetic field that we derive from the photospheric magnetic maps is also more complex than a global dipole, and features in particular a significantly warped torus of closed magnetic loops encircling the star (tilted at about 90° to the rotation axis), with additional, smaller, networks of closed-field lines. This topology appears to be consistent with the exceptional X-ray properties of τ Sco and also provides a natural explanation of the variability observed in wind-formed UV lines. Although we cannot completely rule out the possibility that the field is produced through dynamo processes of an exotic kind, we conclude that its magnetic field is most probably a fossil remnant from the star formation stage.
We present the confirmation of a new sub-Neptune close to the transition between super-Earths and sub-Neptunes transiting the M2 dwarf TOI-269 (TIC 220 479 565,
V
= 14.4 mag,
J
= 10.9 mag,
R
⋆
= ...0.40
R
⊙
,
M
⋆
= 0.39
M
⊙
,
d
= 57 pc). The exoplanet candidate has been identified in multiple TESS sectors, and validated with high-precision spectroscopy from HARPS and ground-based photometric follow-up from ExTrA and LCO-CTIO. We determined mass, radius, and bulk density of the exoplanet by jointly modeling both photometry and radial velocities with
juliet
. The transiting exoplanet has an orbital period of
P
= 3.6977104 ± 0.0000037 days, a radius of 2.77 ± 0.12
R
⊕
, and a mass of 8.8 ± 1.4
M
⊕
. Since TOI-269 b lies among the best targets of its category for atmospheric characterization, it would be interesting to probe the atmosphere of this exoplanet with transmission spectroscopy in order to compare it to other sub-Neptunes. With an eccentricity
e
= 0.425
−0.086
+0.082
, TOI-269 b has one of the highest eccentricities of the exoplanets with periods less than 10 days. The star being likely a few Gyr old, this system does not appear to be dynamically young. We surmise TOI-269 b may have acquired its high eccentricity as it migrated inward through planet-planet interactions.
We present here additional results of a spectropolarimetric survey of a small sample of stars ranging from spectral type M0 to M8 aimed at investigating observationally how dynamo processes operate ...in stars on both sides of the full convection threshold (spectral type M4). The present paper focuses on early M stars (M0–M3), that is above the full convection threshold. Applying tomographic imaging techniques to time series of rotationally modulated circularly polarized profiles collected with the NARVAL spectropolarimeter, we determine the rotation period and reconstruct the large-scale magnetic topologies of six early M dwarfs. We find that early-M stars preferentially host large-scale fields with dominantly toroidal and non-axisymmetric poloidal configurations, along with significant differential rotation (and long-term variability); only the lowest-mass star of our subsample is found to host an almost fully poloidal, mainly axisymmetric large-scale field resembling those found in mid-M dwarfs. This abrupt change in the large-scale magnetic topologies of M dwarfs (occurring at spectral type M3) has no related signature on X-ray luminosities (measuring the total amount of magnetic flux); it thus suggests that underlying dynamo processes become more efficient at producing large-scale fields (despite producing the same flux) at spectral types later than M3. We suspect that this change relates to the rapid decrease in the radiative cores of low-mass stars and to the simultaneous sharp increase of the convective turnover times (with decreasing stellar mass) that models predict to occur at M3; it may also be (at least partly) responsible for the reduced magnetic braking reported for fully convective stars.
We report on the discovery of a substellar companion or a massive Jupiter orbiting the G5V star HD 16760 using the spectrograph SOPHIE installed on the OHP 1.93-m telescope. Characteristics and ...performances of the spectrograph are presented, as well as the SOPHIE exoplanet consortium program. With a minimum mass of 14.3 ${M}_{\rm Jup}$, an orbital period of 465 days and an eccentricity of 0.067, HD 16760b seems to be located just at the end of the mass distribution of giant planets, close to the planet/brown-dwarf transition. Its quite circular orbit supports a formation in a gaseous protoplanetary disk.
Context: How planet properties depend on stellar mass is a key diagnostic of planetary formation mechanisms. Aims: This motivates planet searches around stars that are significantly more massive or ...less massive than the Sun, and in particular our radial velocity search for planets around very low-mass stars. Methods: As part of that program, we obtained measurements of GJ 674 , an M 2.5 dwarf at d = 4.5 pc. These measurements have dispersion much in excess of their internal errors. An intensive observing campaign demonstrates that the excess dispersion is due to two superimposed coherent signals, with periods of 4.69 and 35 days. Results: These data are described well by a 2-planet Keplerian model where each planet has a ~11 M_â minimum mass. A careful analysis of the (low-level) magnetic activity of GJ 674 , however, demonstrates that the 35-day period coincides with the stellar rotation period. This signal therefore originates in a spot inhomogeneity modulated by stellar rotation. The 4.69-day signal, on the other hand, is caused by a bona-fide planet, GJ 674b . Conclusions: Its detection adds to the growing number of Neptune-mass planets around M-dwarfs and reinforces the emerging conclusion that this mass domain is much more populated than the Jovian mass range. We discuss the metallicity distributions of M dwarf with and without planets and find a low 11% probability that they are drawn from the same parent distribution. Moreover, we find tentative evidence that the host star metallicity correlates with the total mass of their planetary system. Based on observations made with the HARPS instrument on the ESO 3.6 m telescope under the GTO program ID 072.C-0488 at Cerro La Silla (Chile). Radial-velocity, photometric and Ca II H+K index time series are only available in electronic format the CDS via anonymous ftp to cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr (130.79.128.5) or via http://cdsweb.u-strabg.fr/cgi-bin/qcat?J/A+A/474/293
Using the CFBDSIR wide field survey for brown dwarfs, we identified CFBDSIRJ214947.2-040308.9, a late T dwarf with an atypically red J − KS colour. We obtained an X-Shooter spectra, with signal ...detectable from 0.8 μm to 2.3 μm, which confirmed a T7 spectral type with an enhanced Ks-band flux indicative of a potentially low-gravity, young object. The comparison of our near infrared spectrum with atmosphere models for solar metallicity shows that CFBDSIRJ214947.2-040308.9 is probably a 650−750 K, log g = 3.75−4.0 substellar object. Using evolution models, this translates into a planetary mass object with an age in the 20−200 Myr range. An independent Bayesian analysis from proper motion measurements results in a 87% probability that this free-floating planet is a member of the 50−120 Myr-old AB Doradus moving group, which strengthens the spectroscopic diagnosis of youth. By combining our atmospheric characterisation with the age and metallicity constraints arising from the probable membership to the AB Doradus moving group, we find that CFBDSIRJ214947.2-040308.9 is probably a 4−7 Jupiter mass, free-floating planet with an effective temperature of ~700 K and a log g of ~4.0, typical of the late T-type exoplanets that are targeted by direct imaging. We stress that this object could be used as a benchmark for understanding the physics of the similar T-type exoplanets that will be discovered by the upcoming high-contrast imagers.
We present 4 very low mass stars radii measured with the VLTI using the 2.2 μm VINCI test instrument. The observations were carried out during the commissioning of the 104-meter-baseline with two ...8-meter-telescopes. We measure angular diameters of 0.7–1.5 mas with accuracies of 0.04–0.11 mas, and for spectral type ranging from M0V to M5.5V. We determine an empirical mass-radius relation for M dwarfs based on all available radius measurements. The observed relation agrees well with theoretical models at the present accuracy level, with possible discrepancy around 0.5–0.8 $M_{\odot}$ that needs to be confirmed. In the near future, dozens of M dwarfs radii will be measured with 0.1–1% accuracy, with the VLTI, thanks to the improvements expected from the near infrared instrument AMBER. This will bring strong observational constraints on both atmosphere and interior physics.
We measured the radii of 7 low and very low-mass stars using long baseline interferometry with the VLTI interferometer and its VINCI and AMBER near-infrared recombiners. We use these new data, ...together with literature measurements, to examine the luminosity-radius and mass-radius relations for K and M dwarfs. The precision of the new interferometric radii now competes with what can be obtained for double-lined eclipsing binaries. Interferometry provides access to much less active stars, as well as to stars with much better measured distances and luminosities, and therefore complements the information obtained from eclipsing systems. The radii of magnetically quiet late-K to M dwarfs match the predictions of stellar evolution models very well, providing direct confirmation that magnetic activity explains the discrepancy that was recently found for magnetically active eclipsing systems. The radii of the early K dwarfs are reproduced well for a mixing length parameter that approaches the solar value, as qualitatively expected.
We observed the transit of the HAT-P-6b exoplanet across its host star with the SOPHIE spectrograph (OHP, France). The resulting stellar radial velocities display the Rossiter-McLaughlin anomaly and ...reveal a retrograde orbit: the planetary orbital spin and the stellar rotational spin point in approximately opposite directions. A fit to the anomaly measures a sky-projected angle λ = 166° ± 10° between these two spin axes. All seven known retrograde planets are hot Jupiters with masses Mp < 3 MJup. About two thirds of the planets in this mass range, however, are prograde and aligned (λ ≃ 0°). In contrast, most of the more massive planets (Mp > 4 MJup) are prograde but misaligned. Different mechanisms may therefore be responsible for planetary obliquities above and below ~3.5 MJup.
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