Abstract
Kepler 1627A is a G8V star previously known to host a 3.8
R
⊕
planet on a 7.2 day orbit. The star was observed by the Kepler space telescope because it is nearby (
d
= 329 pc) and it ...resembles the Sun. Here, we show using Gaia kinematics, TESS stellar rotation periods, and spectroscopic lithium abundances that Kepler 1627 is a member of the
38
−
5
+
6
Myr old
δ
Lyr cluster. To our knowledge, this makes Kepler 1627Ab the youngest planet with a precise age yet found by the prime Kepler mission. The Kepler photometry shows two peculiarities: the average transit profile is asymmetric, and the individual transit times might be correlated with the local light-curve slope. We discuss possible explanations for each anomaly. More importantly, the
δ
Lyr cluster is one of ∼10
3
coeval groups whose properties have been clarified by Gaia. Many other exoplanet hosts are candidate members of these clusters; their ages can be verified with the trifecta of Gaia, TESS, and ground-based spectroscopy.
We present a new census of the Orion Nebula Cluster over a large field of view (> ~30' x 30'), significantly increasing the known population of stellar and substellar cluster members with precisely ...determined properties. We develop and exploit a technique to determine stellar effective temperatures from optical colors, nearly doubling the previously available number of objects with effective temperature determinations in this benchmark cluster. Our technique utilizes colors from deep photometry in the I band and in two medium-band filters at lambda ~ 753 and 770 nm, which accurately measure the depth of a molecular feature present in the spectra of cool stars. From these colors we can derive effective temperatures with a precision corresponding to better than one-half spectral subtype, and importantly this precision is independent of the extinction to the individual stars. Also, because this technique utilizes only photometry redward of 750 nm, the results are only mildly sensitive to optical veiling produced by accretion. Completing our census with previously available data, we place some 1750 sources in the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram and assign masses and ages down to 0.02 solar masses. At faint luminosities, we detect a large population of background sources which is easily separated in our photometry from the bona fide cluster members. The resulting initial mass function of the cluster has good completeness well into the substellar mass range, and we find that it declines steeply with decreasing mass. This suggests a deficiency of newly formed brown dwarfs in the cluster compared to the Galactic disk population.
Abstract
Understanding the effects of high-energy radiation and stellar winds on planetary atmospheres is vital for explaining the observed properties of close-in exoplanets. Observations of ...transiting exoplanets in the triplet of metastable helium lines at 10830 Å allow extended atmospheres and escape processes to be studied for individual planets. We observed one transit of WASP-107b with NIRSPEC on Keck at 10830 Å. Our observations, for the first time, had significant posttransit phase coverage, and we detected excess absorption for over an hour after fourth contact. The data can be explained by a comet-like tail extending out to ∼7 planet radii, which corresponds to roughly twice the Roche lobe radius of the planet. Planetary tails are expected based on three-dimensional simulations of escaping exoplanet atmospheres, particularly those including the interaction between the escaped material and strong stellar winds, and have been previously observed at 10830 Å in at least one other exoplanet. With both the largest midtransit absorption signal and the most extended tail observed at 10830 Å, WASP-107b remains a keystone exoplanet for atmospheric escape studies.
Abstract
Stellar positions and velocities from Gaia are yielding a new view of open cluster dispersal. Here we present an analysis of a group of stars spanning Cepheus (
l
= 100°) to Hercules (
l
= ...40°), hereafter the Cep-Her complex. The group includes four Kepler objects of interest: Kepler-1643 b (
R
p
= 2.32 ± 0.13
R
⊕
,
P
= 5.3 days), KOI-7368 b (
R
p
= 2.22 ± 0.12
R
⊕
,
P
= 6.8 days), KOI-7913 Ab (
R
p
= 2.34 ± 0.18
R
⊕
,
P
= 24.2 days), and Kepler-1627 Ab (
R
p
= 3.85 ± 0.11
R
⊕
,
P
= 7.2 days). The latter Neptune-sized planet is in part of the Cep-Her complex called the
δ
Lyr cluster. Here we focus on the former three systems, which are in other regions of the association. Based on kinematic evidence from Gaia, stellar rotation periods from TESS, and spectroscopy, these three objects are also ≈40 million years (Myr) old. More specifically, we find that Kepler-1643 is
46
−
7
+
9
Myr old, based on its membership in a dense subcluster of the complex called RSG-5. KOI-7368 and KOI-7913 are
36
−
8
+
10
Myr old, and are in a diffuse region that we call CH-2. Based on the transit shapes and high-resolution imaging, all three objects are most likely planets, with false-positive probabilities of 6 × 10
−9
, 4 × 10
−3
, and 1 × 10
−4
for Kepler-1643, KOI-7368, and KOI-7913, respectively. These planets demonstrate that mini-Neptunes with sizes of ≈2 Earth radii exist at ages of 40 Myr.
Abstract
We present an analysis of
K2
light curves (LCs) for candidate members of the young Upper Sco (USco) association (∼8 Myr) and the neighboring
ρ
Oph embedded cluster (∼1 Myr). We establish ...∼1300 stars as probable members, ∼80% of which are periodic. The phased LCs have a variety of shapes which can be attributed to physical causes ranging from stellar pulsation and stellar rotation to disk-related phenomena. We identify and discuss a number of observed behaviors. The periods are ∼0.2–30 days with a peak near 2 days and the rapid period end nearing breakup velocity. M stars in the young USco region rotate systematically faster than GK stars, a pattern also present in
K2
data for the older Pleiades and Praesepe systems. At higher masses (types FGK), the well-defined period–color relationship for slowly rotating stars seen in the Pleiades and Praesepe systems is not yet present in USco. Circumstellar disks are present predominantly among the more slowly rotating M stars in USco, with few disks in the subday rotators. However, M dwarfs with disks rotate faster on average than FGK systems with disks. For four of these disked M dwarfs, we provide direct evidence for disk locking based on the
K2
LC morphologies. Our preliminary analysis shows a relatively mass-independent spin-up by a factor of ∼3.5 between USco and the Pleiades, then mass-dependent spin-down between Pleiades and Praesepe.
We present an analysis of K2 light curves (LCs) from Campaigns 4 and 13 for members of the young (∼3 Myr) Taurus association, in addition to an older (∼30 Myr) population of stars that is largely in ...the foreground of the Taurus molecular clouds. Out of 156 of the highest-confidence Taurus members, we find that 81% are periodic. Our sample of young foreground stars is biased and incomplete, but nearly all stars (37/38) are periodic. The overall distribution of rotation rates as a function of color (a proxy for mass) is similar to that found in other clusters: the slowest rotators are among the early M spectral types, with faster rotation toward both earlier FGK and later M types. The relationship between period and color/mass exhibited by older clusters such as the Pleiades is already in place by Taurus age. The foreground population has very few stars but is consistent with the USco and Pleiades period distributions. As found in other young clusters, stars with disks rotate on average slower, and few with disks are found rotating faster than ∼2 days. The overall amplitude of the LCs decreases with age, and higher-mass stars have generally lower amplitudes than lower-mass stars. Stars with disks have on average larger amplitudes than stars without disks, though the physical mechanisms driving the variability and the resulting LC morphologies are also different between these two classes.
Abstract
V347 Aurigae is associated with the small dark cloud L1438 and appears to be an isolated pre-main-sequence star located at distance
d
≈ 200 pc. Multi-epoch, archival photometry reveals ...periodic brightness variations with amplitude
V
≈ 2.0 mag occurring on timescales of ∼160 days that have persisted for decades. Regular-cadence, optical imaging of the source with the Zwicky Transient Facility shows that a small reflection nebula illuminated by V347 Aur also fluctuates in brightness, at times fading completely. Multi-epoch, Keck/HIRES data suggests the presence of two distinct spectral components: a prominent emission-line-dominated spectrum with a heavily veiled continuum correlated with the bright photometric state, and an M-type absorption line spectrum associated with quiescence. All spectra exhibit strong Balmer and He
i
line emission, consistent with accretion, as well as high velocity emission arising from the forbidden transitions of O
i
, N
ii
, and S
ii
that are generally associated with collimated jets and disk winds. There is no evidence in existing high-dispersion spectroscopy or high-resolution imaging for binarity of V347 Aur. The repeating outburst events are possibly linked to accretion instabilities induced by an undetected companion or a structure within the circumstellar disk that periodically increases the mass accretion rate. V347 Aur is perhaps analogous to an EXor-type variable, though more regularly recurring.
We present high-resolution (R 634,000) optical (6330-8750 AA) spectra obtained with the HIRES spectrograph on the W. M. Keck I telescope of stars in Taurus-Auriga whose circumstellar environment ...suggests that they are less evolved than optically revealed T Tauri stars. Many of the stars are seen only via scattered light. The sample includes 15 class I stars and all class II stars that power Herbig-Haro flows in this region. For 28 of the 36 stars observed, our measurements are the first high-dispersion optical spectra ever obtained. Photospheric features are observed in all stars with detected continuum, 11 of 15 class I stars (42% of known Taurus class I stars) and 21 of 21 class II stars; strong emission lines (e.g., Ha) are detected in the spectra of all stars. These spectra, in combination with previous measurements, are used to search for differences between stars that power Herbig-Haro flows and stars that do not and to reassess the evolutionary state of so-called protostars (class I stars) relative to optically revealed T Tauri stars (class II stars). The stellar mass distribution of class I stars is similar to that of class II stars and includes three spectroscopically confirmed class I brown dwarfs. Class I stars (and brown dwarfs) in Taurus are slowly rotating (u sin i < 35 km s super(-1)); the angular momentum of a young star appears to dissipate prior to the optically revealed T Tauri phase. The amount of optical veiling and the inferred mass accretion rates of class I stars are surprisingly indistinguishable from class II stars. Class I stars do not have accretion-dominated luminosities; the accretion luminosity accounts for 625% of the bolometric luminosity. The median mass accretion rate of class I and class II stars of K7-M1 spectral type is 4 x 10 super(-8) M sub( )yr super(-1), and the median mass outflow rate is 5% of the mass accretion rate. The large ranges in mass accretion rate (62 orders of magnitude), mass outflow rate (63 orders of magnitude), and the ratio of these quantities (62 orders of magnitude) represent real dispersions in young accreting stars of similar mass. We confirm previous results that find larger forbidden-line emission associated with class I stars than class II stars. We suggest that this is caused by an orientation bias that allows a more direct view of the somewhat extended forbidden emission line regions than of the obscured stellar photospheres, rather than being caused by larger mass outflow rates. Overall, the similar masses, luminosities, rotation rates, mass accretion rates, mass outflow rates, and millimeter flux densities of class I stars and class II stars are best explained by a scenario in which most class I stars are no longer in the main accretion phase and are much older than traditionally assumed. Similarly, although stars that power Herbig-Haro flows appear to have larger mass outflow rates, their stellar and circumstellar properties are generally indistinguishable from those of similar mass stars that do not power these flows.
We present Keck Interferometer (KI) observations of T Tauri and Herbig Ae/Be stars with a spatial resolution of a few milliarcseconds and a spectral resolution of ∼2000. Our observations span the K ...band, and include the Brγ transition of hydrogen and the v = 2 → 0 and v = 3 → 1 transitions of carbon monoxide. For several targets, we also present data from Keck/NIRSPEC that provide higher spectral resolution, but a seeing-limited spatial resolution, of the same spectral features. We analyse the Brγ emission in the context of both disc and infall/outflow models, and conclude that the Brγ emission traces gas at very small stellocentric radii, consistent with the magnetospheric scale. However, some Brγ-emitting gas also seems to be located at radii of ≳ 0.1 au, perhaps tracing the inner regions of magnetically launched outflows. CO emission is detected from several objects, and we generate disc models that reproduce both the KI and NIRSPEC data well. We infer the CO spatial distribution to be coincident with the distribution of continuum emission in most cases. Furthermore, the Brγ emission in these objects is roughly coincident with both the CO and continuum emission. We present potential explanations for the spatial coincidence of continuum, Brγ, and CO overtone emission, and explore the implications for the low occurrence rate of CO overtone emission in young stars. Finally, we provide additional discussion of V1685 Cyg, which is unusual among our sample in showing large differences in emitting region size and spatial position as a function of wavelength.
PDF
