Context. The Sun displays differential rotation that is intimately connected to the solar dynamo and hence related to solar activity, the solar cycle, and the solar wind. Considering the ...detectability and habitability of planets around other stars it is important to understand the role of differential rotation in other stars. Aims. We present projected rotational velocities and new measurements of the rotational profile of some 180 nearby stars with spectral types A-F. The results are consolidated by a homogeneous compilation of basic stellar data from photometry and the identification of multiple stellar systems. New and previous measurements of rotation by line profile analysis are compiled and made available. Methods. The overall broadening profile is derived analysing spectral line shape from hundreds of spectral lines by the method of least-squares deconvolution, reducing spectral noise to a minimum. The effect of differential rotation on the broadening profile is best measured in inverse wavelength space by the first two zeros of its Fourier transform. Results. Projected rotational velocity vsini is measured for more than 110 of the sample stars. Rigid and differential rotation can be distinguished in 56 cases where vsini > 12 km s-1. We detect differential rotation rates of δΩ/Ω = 5% and more. Ten stars with significant differential rotation rates are identified. The line shapes of 46 stars are consistent with rigid rotation, even though differential rotation at very low rates might still be possible in these cases. The strongest amount of relative differential rotation (54%) detected by line profile analysis is found among F stars. Conclusions. As of now, 33 differential rotators detected by line profile analysis have been confirmed. The frequency of differential rotators decreases towards high effective temperature and rapid rotation. There is evidence for two populations of differential rotators, one of rapidly rotating A stars at the granulation boundary with strong horizontal shear and one of mid- to late-F type stars with moderate rates of rotation and less shear. The gap in between can only partly be explained by an upper bound found for the horizontal shear of F stars. Apparently, the physical conditions change at early-F spectral types. The range of horizontal shear observed for mid-type F stars is reproduced by theoretical calculations while there seems to be a discrepancy in period dependence for late-F stars.
CARMENES input catalogue of M dwarfs Alonso-Floriano, F J; Morales, J C; Caballero, J A ...
Astronomy and astrophysics (Berlin),
5/2015, Letnik:
577
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
CARMENES is a stabilized, high-resolution, double-channel spectrograph at the 3.5 m Calar Alto telescope. It is optimally designed for radial-velocity surveys of M dwarfs with potentially habitable ...Earth-mass planets. We prepare a list of the brightest, single M dwarfs in each spectral subtype observable from the northern hemisphere, from which we will select the best planet-hunting targets for CARMENES. In this first paper on the preparation of our input catalogue, we compiled a large amount of public data and collected low-resolution optical spectroscopy with CAFOS at the 2.2 m Calar Alto telescope for 753 stars. We derived accurate spectral types using a dense grid of standard stars, a double least-squares minimization technique, and 31 spectral indices previously defined by other authors. We calculated spectral types for all 753 stars, of which 305 are new and 448 are revised. This collection of low-resolution spectroscopic data serves as a candidate target list for the CARMENES survey and can be highly valuable for other radial-velocity surveys of M dwarfs and for studies of cool dwarfs in the solar neighbourhood.
Temperature inversion layers are predicted to be present in ultra-hot giant planet atmospheres. Although such inversion layers have recently been observed in several ultra-hot Jupiters, the chemical ...species responsible for creating the inversion remain unidentified. Here, we present observations of the thermal emission spectrum of an ultra-hot Jupiter, WASP-189b, at high spectral resolution using the HARPS-N spectrograph. Using the cross-correlation technique, we detect a strong Fe
I
signal. The detected Fe
I
spectral lines are found in emission, which is direct evidence of a temperature inversion in the planetary atmosphere. We further performed a retrieval on the observed spectrum using a forward model with an MCMC approach. When assuming a solar metallicity, the best-fit result returns a temperature of 4320
−100
+120
K at the top of the inversion, which is significantly hotter than the planetary equilibrium temperature (2641 K). The temperature at the bottom of the inversion is determined as 2200
−800
+1000
K. Such a strong temperature inversion is probably created by the absorption of atomic species like Fe
I
.
Ultra-hot Jupiters (UHJs) are highly irradiated giant exoplanets with extremely high day-side temperatures, which lead to thermal dissociation of most molecular species. It is expected that the ...neutral hydrogen atom is one of the main species in the upper atmospheres of UHJs. Neutral hydrogen has been detected in several UHJs by observing their Balmer line absorption. In this work, we report four transit observations of the UHJ WASP-33b, performed with the CARMENES and HARPS-North spectrographs, and the detection of the H
α
, H
β
, and H
γ
lines in the planetary transmission spectrum. The combined H
α
transmission spectrum of the four transits has an absorption depth of 0.99 ± 0.05%, which corresponds to an effective radius of 1.31 ± 0.01
R
p
. The strong H
α
absorption indicates that the line probes the high-altitude thermosphere. We further fitted the three Balmer lines using the
PAWN
model, assuming that the atmosphere is hydrodynamic and in local thermodynamic equilibrium. We retrieved a thermosphere temperature 12 200
−1000
+1300
K and a mass-loss rate
Ṁ
= 1011.8
−0.5
+0.6
g s
−1
. The retrieved high mass-loss rate is compatible with the “Balmer-driven” atmospheric escape scenario, in which the stellar Balmer continua radiation in the near-ultraviolet is substantially absorbed by excited hydrogen atoms in the planetary thermosphere.
Context. Thanks to the advances in modern instrumentation we have learned about many exoplanets that span a wide range of masses and composition. Studying their atmospheres provides insight into ...planetary origin, evolution, dynamics, and habitability. Present and future observing facilities will address these important topics in great detail by using more precise observations, high-resolution spectroscopy, and improved analysis methods. Aims. We investigate the feasibility of retrieving the vertical temperature distribution and molecular number densities from expected exoplanet spectra in the near-infrared. We use the test case of the CRIRES+ instrument at the Very Large Telescope which will operate in the near-infrared between 1 and 5 μm and resolving powers of R = 100 000 and R = 50 000. We also determine the optimal wavelength coverage and observational strategies for increasing accuracy in the retrievals. Methods. We used the optimal estimation approach to retrieve the atmospheric parameters from the simulated emission observations of the hot Jupiter HD 189733b. The radiative transfer forward model is calculated using a public version of the τ-REx software package. Results. Our simulations show that we can retrieve accurate temperature distribution in a very wide range of atmospheric pressures between 1 bar and 10−6 bar depending on the chosen spectral region. Retrieving molecular mixing ratios is very challenging, but a simultaneous observations in two separate infrared regions around 1.6 and 2.3 μm helps to obtain accurate estimates; the exoplanetary spectra must be of relatively high signal-to-noise ratio S∕N ≥ 10, while the temperature can already be derived accurately with the lowest value that we considered in this study (S∕N = 5). Conclusions. The results of our study suggest that high-resolution near-infrared spectroscopy is a powerful tool for studying exoplanet atmospheres because numerous lines of different molecules can be analyzed simultaneously. Instruments similar to CRIRES+ will provide data for detailed retrieval and will provide new important constraints on the atmospheric chemistry and physics.
Studies of atmospheres of directly imaged extrasolar planets with high-resolution spectrographs have shown that their characterization is predominantly limited by noise on the stellar halo at the ...location of the studied exoplanet. An instrumental combination of high-contrast imaging and high spectral resolution that suppresses this noise and resolves the spectral lines can therefore yield higher quality spectra. We study the performance of the proposed HiRISE fiber coupling between the direct imager SPHERE and the spectrograph CRIRES+ at the Very Large Telescope for spectral characterization of directly imaged planets. Using end-to-end simulations of HiRISE we determine the signal-to-noise ratio (S/N) of the detection of molecular species for known extrasolar planets in
H
and
K
bands, and compare them to CRIRES+. We investigate the ultimate detection limits of HiRISE as a function of stellar magnitude, and we quantify the impact of different coronagraphs and of the system transmission. We find that HiRISE largely outperforms CRIRES+ for companions around bright hosts like
β
Pictoris or 51 Eridani. For an
H
= 3.5 host, we observe a gain of a factor of up to 16 in observing time with HiRISE to reach the same S/N on a companion at 200 mas. More generally, HiRISE provides better performance than CRIRES+ in 2 h integration times between 50 and 350 mas for hosts with
H
< 8.5 and between 50 and 700 mas for
H
< 7. For fainter hosts like PDS 70 and HIP 65426, no significant improvements are observed. We find that using no coronagraph yields the best S/N when characterizing known exoplanets due to higher transmission and fiber-based starlight suppression. We demonstrate that the overall transmission of the system is in fact the main driver of performance. Finally, we show that HiRISE outperforms the best detection limits of SPHERE for bright stars, opening major possibilities for the characterization of future planetary companions detected by other techniques.
ABSTRACT
Small low-mass stars are favourable targets for the detection of rocky habitable planets. In particular, planetary systems in the solar neighbourhood are interesting and suitable for precise ...characterization. The RedDots campaigns seek to discover rocky planets orbiting nearby low-mass stars. The 2018 campaign targeted GJ 1061, which is the 20th nearest star to the Sun. For three consecutive months we obtained nightly, high-precision radial velocity measurements with the HARPS spectrograph. We analysed these data together with archival HARPS data. We report the detection of three planet candidates with periods of 3.204 ± 0.001, 6.689 ± 0.005, and 13.03 ± 0.03 d, which are close to 1:2:4 period commensurability. After several considerations related to the properties of the noise and sampling, we conclude that a fourth signal is most likely explained by stellar rotation, although it may be due to a planet. The proposed three-planet system (and the potential four-planet solution) is long-term dynamically stable. Planet–planet gravitational interactions are below our current detection threshold. The minimum masses of the three planets range from 1.4 ± 0.2 to 1.8 ± 0.3 M⊕. Planet d, with msin i = 1.64 ± 0.24 M⊕, receives a similar amount of energy as Earth receives from the Sun. Consequently it lies within the liquid-water habitable zone of the star and has a similar equilibrium temperature to Earth. GJ 1061 has very similar properties to Proxima Centauri but activity indices point to lower levels of stellar activity.
Context. The near-surface layers of cool main-sequence stars are structured by convective flows, which are overshooting into the atmosphere. The flows and the associated spatio-temporal variations of ...density and temperature affect spectral line profiles and thus have an impact on estimates of stellar properties such as effective temperature, gravitational acceleration, and abundances. Aims. We aim at identifying distinctive properties of the thermodynamic structure of the atmospheres of different stars and understand their causes. Methods. We ran comprehensive 3D radiation hydrodynamics simulations of the near-surface layers of six simulated stars of spectral type F3V to M2V with the MURaM code. We carry out a systematic parameter study of the mean stratifications, flow structures, and the energy flux in these stars. Results. We find monotonie trends along the lower main sequence in granule size, flow velocity, and intensity contrast. The convection in the M-star models differs substantially from that of the hotter stars, mainly owing to the more gradual transition from convective to radiative energy transport. Conclusions. While the basic mechanisms driving surface convection in cool stars are the same, the properties of the convection vary along the main sequence. Apart from monotonie trends in rms velocity, intensity contrast, granule size, etc., there is a transition between "naked" and "hidden" granulation around spectral type K5V caused by the (highly non-linear) temperature dependence of the opacity. These variations have to betaken into account when stellar parameters are derived from spectra.
Context. The relatively wide spread in the derived metallicities (Fe/H) of M dwarfs shows that various approaches have not yet converged to consistency. The presence of strong molecular features and ...incomplete line lists for the corresponding molecules have made determining the metallicity of M dwarfs difficult. Furthermore, the faint M dwarfs require long exposure times for the signal-to-noise ratio needed for a detailed spectroscopic abundance analysis. Aims. We present a high-resolution (R ~ 50 000) spectroscopic study of a sample of eight single M dwarfs and three wide-binary systems observed in the infrared J band. Methods. The absence of large molecular contributions allows for a precise continuum placement. We derived metallicities based on the best fit of synthetic spectra to the observed spectra. To verify the accuracy of the applied atmospheric models and test our synthetic spectrum approach, three binary systems with a K-dwarf primary and an M-dwarf companion were observed and analysed along with the single M dwarfs. Results. We obtain good agreement between the metallicities derived for the primaries and secondaries of our test binaries, thereby confirming the reliability of our method of analysing M dwarfs. Our metallicities agree well with some earlier determinations, and deviate from others. Conclusions. We conclude that spectroscopic abundance analysis in the J band is a reliable method for establishing the metallicity scale for M dwarfs. We recommend its application to a larger sample covering lower, as well as higher, metallicities. Further prospects for the method include abundance determinations for individual elements.
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