We present the target list of solar-type stars to be observed in short-cadence (2 minute) for asteroseismology by the NASA Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) during its 2 year nominal ...survey mission. The solar-like Asteroseismic Target List (ATL) is comprised of bright, cool main-sequence and subgiant stars and forms part of the larger target list of the TESS Asteroseismic Science Consortium. The ATL uses the Gaia Data Release 2 and the Extended Hipparcos Compilation (XHIP) to derive fundamental stellar properties, to calculate detection probabilities, and to produce a rank-ordered target list. We provide a detailed description of how the ATL was produced and calculate expected yields for solar-like oscillators based on the nominal photometric performance by TESS. We also provide a publicly available source code that can be used to reproduce the ATL, thereby enabling comparisons of asteroseismic results from TESS with predictions from synthetic stellar populations.
We present photometry and spectroscopy for 27 pulsating hydrogen-atmosphere white dwarfs (DAVs; a.k.a. ZZ Ceti stars) observed by the Kepler space telescope up to K2 Campaign 8, an extensive ...compilation of observations with unprecedented duration (>75 days) and duty cycle (>90%). The space-based photometry reveals pulsation properties previously inaccessible to ground-based observations. We observe a sharp dichotomy in oscillation mode line widths at roughly 800 s, such that white dwarf pulsations with periods exceeding 800 s have substantially broader mode line widths, more reminiscent of a damped harmonic oscillator than a heat-driven pulsator. Extended Kepler coverage also permits extensive mode identification: we identify the spherical degree of 87 out of 201 unique radial orders, providing direct constraints of the rotation period for 20 of these 27 DAVs, more than doubling the number of white dwarfs with rotation periods determined via asteroseismology. We also obtain spectroscopy from 4 m-class telescopes for all DAVs with Kepler photometry. Using these homogeneously analyzed spectra, we estimate the overall mass of all 27 DAVs, which allows us to measure white dwarf rotation as a function of mass, constraining the endpoints of angular momentum in low- and intermediate-mass stars. We find that 0.51-0.73 M white dwarfs, which evolved from 1.7-3.0 M ZAMS progenitors, have a mean rotation period of 35 hr with a standard deviation of 28 hr, with notable exceptions for higher-mass white dwarfs. Finally, we announce an online repository for our Kepler data and follow-up spectroscopy, which we collect at http://k2wd.org.
Stellar Spin-Orbit Misalignment in a Multiplanet System Huber, Daniel; Carter, Joshua A.; Barbieri, Mauro ...
Science (American Association for the Advancement of Science),
10/2013, Letnik:
342, Številka:
6156
Journal Article
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Odprti dostop
Stars hosting hot Jupiters are often observed to have high obliquities, whereas stars with multiple coplanar planets have been seen to have low obliquities. This has been interpreted as evidence that ...hot-Jupiter formation is linked to dynamical disruption, as opposed to planet migration through a protoplanetary disk. We used asteroseismology to measure a large obliquity for Kepler-56, a red giant star hosting two transiting coplanar planets. These observations show that spin-orbit misalignments are not confined to hot-Jupiter systems. Misalignments in a broader class of systems had been predicted as a consequence of torques from wide-orbiting companions, and indeed radial velocity measurements revealed a third companion in a wide orbit in the Kepler-56 system.
A sub-Mercury-sized exoplanet Barclay, Thomas; Rowe, Jason F; Lissauer, Jack J ...
Nature (London),
2013-Feb-28, 2013-02-28, 20130228, Letnik:
494, Številka:
7438
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
Since the discovery of the first exoplanets, it has been known that other planetary systems can look quite unlike our own. Until fairly recently, we have been able to probe only the upper range of ...the planet size distribution, and, since last year, to detect planets that are the size of Earth or somewhat smaller. Hitherto, no planets have been found that are smaller than those we see in the Solar System. Here we report a planet significantly smaller than Mercury. This tiny planet is the innermost of three that orbit the Sun-like host star, which we have designated Kepler-37. Owing to its extremely small size, similar to that of the Moon, and highly irradiated surface, the planet, Kepler-37b, is probably rocky with no atmosphere or water, similar to Mercury.
We present the detection of non-radial oscillations in a hot, helium-atmosphere white dwarf using 78.7 days of nearly uninterrupted photometry from the Kepler space telescope. With an effective ...temperature >30,000 K, PG 0112+104 becomes the hottest helium-atmosphere white dwarf known to pulsate. The rich oscillation spectrum of low-order g-modes includes clear patterns of rotational splittings from consecutive sequences of dipole and quadrupole modes, which can be used to probe the rotation rate with depth in this highly evolved stellar remnant. We also measure a surface rotation rate of 10.17404 hr from an apparent spot modulation in the K2 data. With two independent measures of rotation, PG 0112+104 provides a remarkable test of asteroseismic inference.
We present a preliminary analysis of the cool pulsating white dwarf (WD) GD 1212, enabled by more than 11.5 days of space-based photometry obtained during an engineering test of the ...two-reaction-wheel-controlled Kepler spacecraft.We detect at least 19 independent pulsation modes, ranging from 828.2-1220.8 s, and at least 17 nonlinear combination frequencies of those independent pulsations. Our longest uninterrupted light curve, 9.0 days in length, evidences coherent difference frequencies at periods inaccessible from the ground, up to 14.5 hr, the longest-period signals ever detected in a pulsating WD. These results mark some of the first science to come from a two-wheel-controlled Kepler spacecraft, proving the capability for unprecedented discoveries afforded by extending Kepler observations to the ecliptic.
ABSTRACT We present observations of a new phenomenon in pulsating white dwarf stars: large-amplitude outbursts at timescales much longer than the pulsation periods. The cool ( = 11,060 K), ...hydrogen-atmosphere pulsating white dwarf PG 1149+057 was observed nearly continuously for more than 78.8 day by the extended Kepler mission in K2 Campaign 1. The target showed 10 outburst events, recurring roughly every 8 day and lasting roughly 15 hr, with maximum flux excursions up to 45% in the Kepler bandpass. We demonstrate that the outbursts affect the pulsations and therefore must come from the white dwarf. Additionally, we argue that these events are not magnetic reconnection flares, and are most likely connected to the stellar pulsations and the relatively deep surface convection zone. PG 1149+057 is now the second cool pulsating white dwarf to show this outburst phenomenon, after the first variable white dwarf observed in the Kepler mission, KIC 4552982. Both stars have the same effective temperature, within the uncertainties, and are among the coolest known pulsating white dwarfs of typical mass. These outbursts provide fresh observational insight into the red edge of the DAV instability strip and the eventual cessation of pulsations in cool white dwarfs.
Abstract
We present an analysis of 168 oscillating red giants from NASA's Kepler mission that exhibit anomalous peaks in their Fourier amplitude spectra. These peaks result from ellipsoidal ...variations that are indicative of binary star systems, at frequencies such that the orbit of any stellar companion would be within the convective envelope of the red giant. Alternatively, the observed phenomenon may be due to a close binary orbiting a red giant in a triple system, or chance alignments of foreground or background binary systems contaminating the target pixel aperture. We identify 87 stars in the sample as chance alignments using a combination of pixel Fourier analysis and difference imaging. We find that in the remaining 81 cases, the anomalous peaks are indistinguishable from the target star to within 4 arcsec, suggesting a physical association. We examine a galaxia model of the Kepler field of view to estimate background star counts and find that it is highly unlikely that all targets can be explained by chance alignments. From this, we conclude that these stars may comprise a population of physically associated systems.
We report on Kepler photometry of the hot subdwarf B (sdB) star B4 in the open cluster NGC 6791. We confirm that B4 is a reflection effect binary with an sdB component and a low-mass main-sequence ...companion with a circular 0.3985 day orbit. The sdB star is a g-mode pulsator (a V1093 Her star) with periods ranging from 2384 s to 7643 s. Several of the pulsation modes show symmetric splitting by 0.62 Delta *mHz. Attributing this to rotational splitting, we conclude that the sdB component has a rotation period of approximately 9.63 days, indicating that tidal synchronization has not been achieved in this system. Comparison with theoretical synchronization time provides a discriminant between various theoretical models.
We present an analysis of the binary and physical parameters of a unique pulsating white dwarf with a main-sequence companion, SDSS J1136+0409, observed for more than 77 d during the first pointing ...of the extended Kepler mission: K2 Campaign 1. Using new ground-based spectroscopy, we show that this post-common-envelope binary has an orbital period of 6.89760103(60) h, which is also seen in the photometry as a result of Doppler beaming and ellipsoidal variations of the secondary. We spectroscopically refine the temperature of the white dwarf to 12 330 ± 260 K and its mass to 0.601 ± 0.036 M⊙. We detect seven independent pulsation modes in the K2 light curve. A preliminary asteroseismic solution is in reasonable agreement with the spectroscopic atmospheric parameters. Three of the pulsation modes are clearly rotationally split multiplets, which we use to demonstrate that the white dwarf is not synchronously rotating with the orbital period but has a rotation period of 2.49 ± 0.53 h. This is faster than any known isolated white dwarf, but slower than almost all white dwarfs measured in non-magnetic cataclysmic variables, the likely future state of this binary.
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