The source GJ1132 is a nearby red dwarf known to host a transiting Earth-size planet. After its initial detection, we pursued an intense follow-up with the HARPS velocimeter. We now confirm the ...detection of GJ1132b with radial velocities alone. We refined its orbital parameters, and in particular, its mass (
m
b
= 1.66 ± 0.23
M
⊕
), density (
ρ
b
= 6.3 ± 1.3 g cm
−3
), and eccentricity (
e
b
< 0.22; 95%). We also detected at least one more planet in the system. GJ1132c is a super-Earth with period
P
c
= 8.93 ± 0.01 days and minimum mass
m
c
sin
i
c
= 2.64 ± 0.44
M
⊕
. Receiving about 1.9 times more flux than Earth in our solar system, its equilibrium temperature is that of a temperate planet (
T
eq
= 230−300 K for albedos
A
= 0.75 − 0.00), which places GJ1132c near the inner edge of the so-called habitable zone. Despite an a priori favorable orientation for the system,
Spitzer
observations reject most transit configurations, leaving a posterior probability <1% that GJ1132c transits. GJ1132(d) is a third signal with period
P
d
= 177 ± 5 days attributed to either a planet candidate with minimum mass
m
d
sin
i
d
= 8.4
−2.5
+1.7
M
⊕
or stellar activity. Its Doppler signal is the most powerful in our HARPS time series but appears on a timescale where either the stellar rotation or a magnetic cycle are viable alternatives to the planet hypothesis. On the one hand, the period is different than that measured for the stellar rotation (~125 days), and a Bayesian statistical analysis we performed with a Markov chain Monte Carlo and Gaussian processes demonstrates that the signal is better described by a Keplerian function than by correlated noise. On the other hand, periodograms of spectral indices sensitive to stellar activity show power excess at similar periods to that of this third signal, and radial velocity shifts induced by stellar activity can also match a Keplerian function. We, therefore, prefer to leave the status of GJ1132(d) undecided.
Context.
Gliese-832 (GJ 832) is an M2V star hosting a massive planet on a decade-long orbit, GJ 832b, discovered by radial velocity (RV). Later, a super Earth or mini-Neptune orbiting within the ...stellar habitable zone was reported (GJ 832c). The recently determined stellar rotation period (45.7 ± 9.3 days) is close to the orbital period of putative planet c (35.68 ± 0.03 days).
Aims.
We aim to confirm or dismiss the planetary nature of the RV signature attributed to GJ 832c, by adding 119 new RV data points, new photometric data, and an analysis of the spectroscopic stellar activity indicators. Additionally, we update the orbital parameters of the planetary system and search for additional signals.
Methods.
We performed a frequency content analysis of the RVs to search for periodic and stable signals. Radial velocity time series were modelled with Keplerians and Gaussian process (GP) regressions alongside activity indicators to subsequently compare them within a Bayesian framework.
Results.
We updated the stellar rotational period of GJ 832 from activity indicators, obtaining 37.5
+1.4
-1.5
days, improving the precision by a factor of 6. The new photometric data are in agreement with this value. We detected an RV signal near 18 days (FAP < 4.6%), which is half of the stellar rotation period. Two Keplerians alone fail at modelling GJ 832b and a second planet with a 35-day orbital period. Moreover, the Bayesian evidence from the GP analysis of the RV data with simultaneous activity indices prefers a model without a second Keplerian, therefore negating the existence of planet c.
Aims: The bright M2.5 dwarf K2-18 (Ms = 0.36 M⊙, Rs = 0.41 R⊙) at 34 pc is known to host a transiting super-Earth-sized planet orbiting within the star's habitable zone; K2-18b. Given the superlative ...nature of this system for studying an exoplanetary atmosphere receiving similar levels of insolation as the Earth, we aim to characterize the planet's mass which is required to interpret atmospheric properties and infer the planet's bulk composition. Methods: We have obtained precision radial velocity measurements with the HARPS spectrograph. We then coupled those measurements with the K2 photometry to jointly model the observed radial velocity variation with planetary signals and a correlated stellar activity model based on Gaussian process regression. Results: We measured the mass of K2-18b to be 8.0 ± 1.9M⊕ with a bulk density of 3.3 ± 1.2 g/cm3 which may correspond to a predominantly rocky planet with a significant gaseous envelope or an ocean planet with a water mass fraction ≳50%. We also find strong evidence for a second, warm super-Earth K2-18c (mp,csinic = 7.5 ± 1.3 M⊕) at approximately nine days with a semi-major axis 2.4 times smaller than the transiting K2-18b. After re-analyzing the available light curves of K2-18 we conclude that K2-18c is not detected in transit and therefore likely has an orbit that is non-coplanar with the orbit of K2-18b although only a small mutual inclination is required for K2-18c to miss a transiting configuration; | Δi| 1-2°. A suite of dynamical integrations are performed to numerically confirm the system's dynamical stability. By varying the simulated orbital eccentricities of the two planets, dynamical stability constraints are used as an additional prior on each planet's eccentricity posterior from which we constrain eb < 0.43 and ec < 0.47 at the level of 99% confidence. Conclusions: The discovery of the inner planet K2-18c further emphasizes the prevalence of multi-planet systems around M dwarfs. The characterization of the density of K2-18b reveals that the planet likely has a thick gaseous envelope which, along with its proximity to the solar system, makes the K2-18 planetary system an interesting target for the atmospheric study of an exoplanet receiving Earth-like insolation. Table A.2 is also available at the CDS via anonymous ftp to cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr ( 130.79.128.5 ) or via cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr/viz-bin/qcat?J/A+A/608/A35
Aims. Stellar activity is an important source of systematic errors and uncertainties in the characterization of exoplanets. Most of the techniques used to correct for this activity focus on an ad hoc ...data reduction. Methods. We have developed a software for the combined fit of transits and stellar activity features in high-precision long-duration photometry. Our aim is to take advantage of the modelling to derive correct stellar and planetary parameters, even in the case of strong stellar activity. Results. We use an analytic approach to model the light curve. The code KSint, modified by adding the evolution of active regions, is implemented into our Bayesian modelling package PASTIS. The code is then applied to the light curve of CoRoT-2. The light curve is divided in segments to reduce the number of free parameters needed by the fit. We perform a Markov chain Monte Carlo analysis in two ways. In the first, we perform a global and independent modelling of each segment of the light curve, transits are not normalized and are fitted together with the activity features, and occulted features are taken into account during the transit fit. In the second, we normalize the transits with a model of the non-occulted activity features, and then we apply a standard transit fit, which does not take the occulted features into account. Conclusions. Our model recovers the activity features coverage of the stellar surface and different rotation periods for different features. We find variations in the transit parameters of different segments and show that they are likely due to the division applied to the light curve. Neglecting stellar activity or even only bright spots while normalizing the transits yields a ~ 1.2σ larger and 2.3σ smaller transit depth, respectively. The stellar density also presents up to 2.5σ differences depending on the normalization technique. Our analysis confirms the inflated radius of the planet (1.475 ± 0.031RJ) found by other authors. We show that bright spots should be taken into account when fitting the transits. If a dominance of dark spots over bright ones is assumed, and a fit on a lower envelope of the deepest transits is carried out, overestimating the planet-to-star radius ratio of CoRoT-2 b by almost 3% is likely.
Radial-velocity observations of Kepler candidates obtained with the SOPHIE and HARPS-N spectrographs have permitted unveiling the nature of the five giant planets Kepler-41b, Kepler-43b, Kepler-44b, ...Kepler-74b, and Kepler-75b, the massive companion Kepler-39b, and the brown dwarf KOI-205b. These companions were previously characterized with long-cadence (LC) Kepler data. Here we aim at refining the parameters of these transiting systems by i) modelling the published radial velocities and Kepler short-cadence (SC) data that provide a much better sampling of the transits; ii) performing new spectral analyses of the SOPHIE and ESPaDOnS spectra, after improving our procedure for selecting and co-adding the SOPHIE spectra of faint stars (Kp ≳ 14); and iii) improving stellar rotation periods hence stellar age estimates through gyrochronology, when possible, by using all the available LC data up to quarter Q17. Posterior distributions of the system parameters were derived with a differential evolution Markov chain Monte Carlo approach. Our main results are as follows: a) Kepler-41b is significantly larger and less dense than previously found because a lower orbital inclination is favoured by SC data. This also affects the determination of the geometric albedo that is lower than previously derived: Ag< 0.135; b) Kepler-44b is moderately smaller and denser than reported in the discovery paper, as a consequence of the slightly shorter transit duration found with SC data; c) good agreement was achieved with published Kepler-43, Kepler-75, and KOI-205 system parameters, although the host stars Kepler-75 and KOI-205 were found to be slightly richer in metals and hotter, respectively; d) the previously reported non-zero eccentricities of Kepler-39b and Kepler-74b might be spurious. If their orbits were circular, the two companions would be smaller and denser than in the eccentric case. The radius of Kepler-39b is still larger than predicted by theoretical isochrones. Its parent star is hotter and richer in metals than previously determined.
Abstract Background Adolescents with previous self-injurious thoughts and behaviors (SITB) have over 2-fold risk of dying by suicide, higher than older ages. This meta-analysis aims to disentangle ...the association of each SITB with subsequent suicidal behavior in adolescence/young adulthood, the contribution of each SITB, and the proportion of suicide deaths with no previous suicide attempt. Methods We searched 6 databases until June 2015. Inclusion criteria: 1. Assessment of any previous SITB a) suicidal thoughts and behaviors (ideation; threat/gesture; plan; attempt); b) non-suicidal thoughts and behaviors (thoughts; threat/gesture; self-injury); c) self-harm as a risk factor of suicide attempt or suicide death; 2. Case-control or cohort studies; 3. Subjects aged 12-26y. Random effect models, metaregression analyses including mental health and environmental variables, and population attributable risks (PAR)s were estimated. Results From 23,682 potentially eligible articles, 29 were included in the meta-analysis (1,122,054 individuals). While 68% of all youth suicide deaths had no previous suicide attempt, suicide death was very strongly associated with any previous SITB (OR= 22.53, 95%CI: 18.40–27.58). Suicide attempts were also associated with a history of previous SITB (OR= 3.48, 95%CI: 2.71–4.43). There were no moderating effects for mental health and environmental features. The PAR of previous SITB to suicide attempts is 26%. Limitations There is considerable heterogeneity between the available studies. Due to limitations in the original studies, an over-estimation of the proportion dying at their first attempt cannot be ruled out, since they might have missed unrecognized previous suicide attempts. Conclusions Although more than two thirds of suicide deaths in adolescence/young adulthood have occurred with no previous suicidal behavior, previous SITBs have a much higher risk of dying by suicide than previously reported in this age group.
Since the start of the Wide-angle Search for Planets (WASP) program, more than 160 transiting exoplanets have been discovered in the WASP data. In the past, possible transit-like events identified by ...the WASP pipeline have been vetted by human inspection to eliminate false alarms and obvious false positives. The goal of this paper is to assess the effectiveness of machine learning as a fast, automated, and reliable means of performing the same functions on ground-based wide-field transit-survey data without human intervention. To this end, we have created training and test data sets made up of stellar light curves showing a variety of signal types including planetary transits, eclipsing binaries, variable stars, and non-periodic signals. We use a combination of machine-learning methods including Random Forest Classifiers (RFCs) and convolutional neural networks (CNNs) to distinguish between the different types of signals. The final algorithms correctly identify planets in the test data ∼90 per cent of the time, although each method on its own has a significant fraction of false positives. We find that in practice, a combination of different methods offers the best approach to identifying the most promising exoplanet transit candidates in data from WASP, and by extension similar transit surveys.
We report the discovery of the super-Earth K2-265 b detected with K2 photometry. The planet orbits a bright (Vmag = 11.1) star of spectral type G8V with a period of 2.37 days. We obtained ...high-precision follow-up radial velocity measurements from HARPS, and the joint Bayesian analysis showed that K2-265 b has a radius of 1.71 ± 0.11 R⊕ and a mass of 6.54 ± 0.84 M⊕, corresponding to a bulk density of 7.1 ± 1.8 g cm−3. Composition analysis of the planet reveals an Earth-like, rocky interior; this object has a rock mass fraction of ~80%. The short orbital period and small radius of the planet puts it below the lower limit of the photoevaporation gap, where the envelope of the planet could have eroded owing to strong stellar irradiation, leaving behind an exposed core. Knowledge of the planet core composition allows us to infer the possible formation and evolution mechanism responsible for its current physical parameters.
Whereas thousands of transiting giant exoplanets are known today, only a few are well characterized with long orbital periods. Here we present KOI-3680b, a new planet in this category. First ...identified by the
Kepler
team as a promising candidate from the photometry of the
Kepler
spacecraft, we establish here its planetary nature from the radial velocity follow-up secured over 2 yr with the SOPHIE spectrograph at Observatoire de Haute-Provence, France. The combined analysis of the whole dataset allows us to fully characterize this new planetary system. KOI-3680b has an orbital period of 141.2417 ± 0.0001 days, a mass of 1.93 ± 0.20
M
Jup
, and a radius of 0.99 ± 0.07
R
Jup
. It exhibits a highly eccentric orbit (
e
= 0.50 ± 0.03) around an early G dwarf. KOI-3680b is the transiting giant planet with the longest period characterized so far around a single star; it offers opportunities to extend studies which were mainly devoted to exoplanets close to their host stars, and to compare both exoplanet populations.
The PLATO 2.0 mission Rauer, H.; Catala, C.; Benz, W. ...
Experimental astronomy,
11/2014, Volume:
38, Issue:
1-2
Journal Article, Web Resource
Peer reviewed
Open access
PLATO 2.0 has recently been selected for ESA’s M3 launch opportunity (2022/24). Providing accurate key planet parameters (radius, mass, density and age) in statistical numbers, it addresses ...fundamental questions such as: How do planetary systems form and evolve? Are there other systems with planets like ours, including potentially habitable planets? The PLATO 2.0 instrument consists of 34 small aperture telescopes (32 with 25 s readout cadence and 2 with 2.5 s candence) providing a wide field-of-view (2232 deg
2
) and a large photometric magnitude range (4–16 mag). It focusses on bright (4–11 mag) stars in wide fields to detect and characterize planets down to Earth-size by photometric transits, whose masses can then be determined by ground-based radial-velocity follow-up measurements. Asteroseismology will be performed for these bright stars to obtain highly accurate stellar parameters, including masses and ages. The combination of bright targets and asteroseismology results in high accuracy for the bulk planet parameters: 2 %, 4–10 % and 10 % for planet radii, masses and ages, respectively. The planned baseline observing strategy includes two long pointings (2–3 years) to detect and bulk characterize planets reaching into the habitable zone (HZ) of solar-like stars and an additional step-and-stare phase to cover in total about 50 % of the sky. PLATO 2.0 will observe up to 1,000,000 stars and detect and characterize hundreds of small planets, and thousands of planets in the Neptune to gas giant regime out to the HZ. It will therefore provide the first large-scale catalogue of bulk characterized planets with accurate radii, masses, mean densities and ages. This catalogue will include terrestrial planets at intermediate orbital distances, where surface temperatures are moderate. Coverage of this parameter range with statistical numbers of bulk characterized planets is unique to PLATO 2.0. The PLATO 2.0 catalogue allows us to e.g.: - complete our knowledge of planet diversity for low-mass objects, - correlate the planet mean density-orbital distance distribution with predictions from planet formation theories,- constrain the influence of planet migration and scattering on the architecture of multiple systems, and - specify how planet and system parameters change with host star characteristics, such as type, metallicity and age. The catalogue will allow us to study planets and planetary systems at different evolutionary phases. It will further provide a census for small, low-mass planets. This will serve to identify objects which retained their primordial hydrogen atmosphere and in general the typical characteristics of planets in such low-mass, low-density range. Planets detected by PLATO 2.0 will orbit bright stars and many of them will be targets for future atmosphere spectroscopy exploring their atmosphere. Furthermore, the mission has the potential to detect exomoons, planetary rings, binary and Trojan planets. The planetary science possible with PLATO 2.0 is complemented by its impact on stellar and galactic science via asteroseismology as well as light curves of all kinds of variable stars, together with observations of stellar clusters of different ages. This will allow us to improve stellar models and study stellar activity. A large number of well-known ages from red giant stars will probe the structure and evolution of our Galaxy. Asteroseismic ages of bright stars for different phases of stellar evolution allow calibrating stellar age-rotation relationships. Together with the results of ESA’s Gaia mission, the results of PLATO 2.0 will provide a huge legacy to planetary, stellar and galactic science.