In recent years, several close post-common-envelope eclipsing binaries have been found to show cyclic eclipse timing variations (ETVs). This effect is usually interpreted either as the gravitational ...interaction among circumbinary bodies and the host binary-known as the light travel time (LTT) effect-or as the quadrupole moment variations in one magnetic active component-known as the Applegate mechanism. In this study, we present an analysis of the ETV and the magnetic cycle of the close binary KIC 10544976. This system is composed of a white dwarf and a red dwarf in a short orbital period (0.35 days) and was monitored by ground-based telescopes between 2005 and 2017 and by the Kepler satellite between 2009 and 2013. Using the Kepler data, we derived the magnetic cycle of the red dwarf by two ways: the rate and energy of flares and the variability due to spots. Both methods resulted in a cycle of ∼600 days, which is in agreement with magnetic cycles measured for single low-mass stars. The orbital period of KIC 10544976 shows only one long-term variation which can be fitted by an LTT effect with period of ∼16.8 yr. Hence, one possible explanation for the ETVs is the presence of a circumbinary body with a minimal mass of ∼13.4 MJup. In the particular scenario of coplanarity between the external body and the inner binary, the third body mass is also ∼13.4 MJup. In this case, the circumbinary planet must either have survived the evolution of the host binary or have been formed as a consequence of its evolution.
Abstract
The temporal analysis of stellar activity evolution is usually dominated by a complex trade-off between model complexity and interpretability, often by neglecting the nonstationary nature of ...the process. Recent studies appear to indicate that the presence of multiple coexisting cycles in a single star is more common than previously thought. The correct identification of physically meaningful cyclic components in spectroscopic time series is therefore a crucial task, which cannot overlook local behaviors. Here we propose a decomposition technique that adaptively recovers amplitude- and frequency-varying components. We present our results for the solar activity as measured both by the sunspot number and the
K
-line emission index, and we consistently recover the Schwabe and Gleissberg cycles as well as the Gnevyshev–Ohl pattern probably related to the Hale cycle. We also recover the known 8 yr cycle for 61 Cygni A, in addition to evidence of a three-cycles-long pattern reminiscent of the Gnevyshev–Ohl rule. This is particularly interesting as we cannot discard the possibility of a relationship between the measured field polarity reversals and this Hale-like periodicity.
Kepler ultra-high precision photometry of long and continuous observations provides a unique dataset in which surface rotation and variability can be studied for thousands of stars. Because many of ...these old field stars also have independently measured asteroseismic ages, measurements of rotation and activity are particularly interesting in the context of age-rotation-activity relations. We study the surface rotation and photometric magnetic activity of a subset of 540 solar-like stars on the main-sequence and the subgiant branch for which stellar pulsations have been measured. The photometric magnetic activity levels of these stars were computed, and for 61.5% of the dwarfs, this level is similar to the range, from minimum to maximum, of the solar magnetic activity. We demonstrate that hot dwarfs, cool dwarfs, and subgiants have very different rotation-age relationships, highlighting the importance of separating out distinct populations when interpreting stellar rotation periods. Our sample of cool dwarf stars with age and metallicity data of the highest quality is consistent with gyrochronology relations reported in the literature.
Abstract Determination of fundamental parameters of stars impacts all fields of astrophysics, from galaxy evolution to constraining the internal structure of exoplanets. This paper presents a ...detailed spectroscopic analysis of Barnard’s star (otherwise known as Gl 699) that compares an exceptionally high-quality (an average signal-to-noise ratio of ∼1000 in the entire domain), high-resolution near-infrared (NIR) spectrum taken with Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope/SPIRou to PHOENIX-ACES stellar atmosphere models. The observed spectrum shows thousands of lines not identified in the models with a similarly large number of lines present in the model but not in the observed data. We also identify several other caveats, such as continuum mismatch, unresolved contamination, and spectral lines significantly shifted from their expected wavelengths; all of these can be a source of bias for the determination of abundance. Out of >10 4 observed lines in the NIR that could be used for chemical spectroscopy, we identify a short list of a few hundred lines that are reliable. We present a novel method for determining the effective temperature ( T eff ) and overall metallicity of slowly rotating M dwarfs that uses several groups of lines as opposed to bulk spectral fitting methods. With this method, we infer T eff = 3231 ± 21 K for Barnard's star, consistent with the value of 3238 ± 11 K inferred from the interferometric method. We also provide measurements of the abundance of 15 different elements for Barnard's star, including the abundances of four elements (K, O, Y, Th) never reported before for this star. This work emphasizes the need to improve current atmosphere models to fully exploit the NIR domain for chemical spectroscopy analysis.
Lithium abundances in open clusters provide an effective way of probing mixing processes in the interior of solar-type stars and convection is not the only mixing mechanism at work. To understand ...which mixing mechanisms are occurring in low-mass stars, we test non-standard models, which were calibrated using the Sun, with observations of three open clusters of different ages, the Hyades, NGC 752, and M 67. We collected all available data, and for the open cluster NGC 752, we redetermine the equivalent widths and the lithium abundances. Two sets of evolutionary models were computed, one grid of only standard models with microscopic diffusion and one grid with rotation-induced mixing, at metallicity Fe/H = 0.13, 0.0, and 0.01 dex, respectively, using the Toulouse-Geneva evolution code. We compare observations with models in a color–magnitude diagram for each cluster to infer a cluster age and a stellar mass for each cluster member. Then, for each cluster we analyze the lithium abundance of each star as a function of mass. The data for the open clusters Hyades, NGC 752, and M 67, are compatible with lithium abundance being a function of both age and mass for stars in these clusters. Our models with meridional circulation qualitatively reproduce the general trend of lithium abundance evolution as a function of stellar mass in all three clusters. This study points out the importance of mass dependence in the evolution of lithium abundance as a function of age. Comparison between models with and without rotation-induced mixing shows that the inclusion of meridional circulation is essential to account for lithium depletion in low-mass stars. However, our results suggest that other mechanisms should be included to explain the Li-dip and the lithium dispersion in low-mass stars.
A major obstacle to interpreting the rotation period distribution for main-sequence stars from Kepler mission data has been the lack of a precise evolutionary status for these objects. We address ...this by investigating the evolutionary status based on Gaia Data Release 2 parallaxes and photometry for more than 30,000 Kepler stars with rotation period measurements. Many of these are subgiants and should be excluded in future work on dwarfs. We particularly investigate a 193-star sample of solar analogs and report newly determined rotation periods for 125 of these. These include 54 stars from a prior sample, of which we can confirm the periods for 50. The remainder are new, and 10 of them longer than a solar rotation period, suggesting that Sun-like stars continue to spin down on the main sequence past solar age. Our sample of solar analogs could potentially serve as a benchmark for future missions, such as PLAnetary Transits and Oscillations of stars, and emphasizes the need for additional astrometric, photometric, and spectroscopic information before interpreting the stellar populations and results from time series surveys.
We identify a set of 18 solar analogs among the seismic sample of solar-like stars observed by the Kepler satellite rotating between 10 and 40 days. This set is constructed using the asteroseismic ...stellar properties derived using either the global oscillation properties or the individual acoustic frequencies. We measure the magnetic activity properties of these stars using observations collected by the photometric Kepler satellite and by the ground-based, high-resolution Hermes spectrograph mounted on the Mercator telescope. The photospheric (S sub(ph)) and chromospheric (S index) magnetic activity levels of these seismic solar analogs are estimated and compared in relation to the solar activity. We show that the activity of the Sun is comparable to the activity of the seismic solar analogs, within the maximum-to-minimum temporal variations of the 11-yr solar activity cycle 23. In agreement with previous studies, the youngest stars and fastest rotators in our sample are actually the most active. The activity of stars older than the Sun seems to not evolve much with age. Furthermore, the comparison of the photospheric, S sub(ph), with the well-established chromospheric, S index, indicates that the S sub(ph) index can be used to provide a suitable magnetic activity proxy which can be easily estimated for a large number of stars from space photometric observations.
A new sample of solar analogs and twin candidates has been constructed and studied, paying particular attention to their light curves from NASA's Kepler mission. This Letter aims to assess their ...evolutionary status, derive their rotation and ages, and identify those which are solar analogs or solar twin candidates. We separate out the subgiants that compose a large fraction of the asteroseismic sample, and which show an increase in the average rotation period as the stars ascend the subgiant branch. The rotation periods of the dwarfs, ranging from 6 to 30 days and averaging 19 days, allow us to assess their individual evolutionary states on the main sequence and to derive their ages using gyrochronology. These ages are found to be in agreement with a correlation coefficient of r = 0.79 with independent asteroseismic ages, where available. As a result of this investigation, we are able to identify 34 stars as solar analogs and 22 of them as solar twin candidates.
ABSTRACT This paper deals with the application of the creep tide theory (Ferraz-Mello) to the study of the rotation of stars hosting massive close-in planets. The stars have nearly the same tidal ...relaxation factors as gaseous planets and the evolution of their rotation is similar to that of close-in hot Jupiters: they tidally evolve toward a stationary solution. However, stellar rotation may also be affected by stellar wind braking. Thus, while the rotation of a quiet host star evolves toward a stationary attractor with a frequency ( ) times the orbital mean motion of the companion, the continuous loss of angular momentum in an active star displaces the stationary solution toward slower values: active host stars with big close-in companions tend to have rotational periods longer than the orbital periods of their companions. The study of some hypothetical examples shows that, because of tidal evolution, the rules of gyrochronology cannot be used to estimate the age of one system with a large close-in companion, no matter if the star is quiet or active, if the current semimajor axis of the companion is smaller than 0.03-0.04 AU. Details on the evolution of the systems: CoRoT LRc06E21637, CoRoT-27, Kepler-75, CoRoT-2, CoRoT-18, CoRoT-14 and on hypothetical systems with planets of mass 1-4 in orbit around a star similar to the Sun are given.
We propose a new parameterization of the impact parameter u0 and impact angle for microlensing systems composed by an Earth-like exoplanet around a solar-mass star at 1 au. We present the caustic ...topology of such system, as well as the related light curves generated by using such a new parameterization. Based on the same density of points and accuracy of regular methods, we obtain results five times faster for discovering Earth-like exoplanets. In this big data revolution of photometric astronomy, our method will impact future missions like WFIRST (NASA) and Euclid (ESA) and their data pipelines, providing a rapid and deep detection of exoplanets for this specific class of microlensing event that might otherwise be lost.
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