Theoretical planetary mass spectra - a predition for COROT

The satellite COROT will search for close-in exo-planets around a few thousand stars using the transit search method. The COROT mission holds the promise of detecting numerous exo-planets. Together with radial velocity follow-up observations, the masses of the detected planets will be known. We have devised a method for predicting the expected planetary populations and compared it to the already known exo-planets. Our method works by looking at all hydrostatic envelope solutions of giant gas planets that could possibly exist in arbitrary planetary nebulae and comparing the relative abundance of different masses. We have completed the first such survey of hydrostatic equilibria in an orbital range covering periods of 1 to 50 days. Statistical analysis of the calculated envelopes suggests division into three classes of giant planets that are distinguished by orbital separation. We term them classes G (close-in), H, and J (large separation). Each class has distinct properties such as a typical mass range. Furthermore, the division between class H and J appears to mark important changes in the formation: For close-in planets (classes G and H) the concept of a critical core-mass is meaningless while it is important for class J. This result needs confirmation by future dynamical analysis.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figures, MNRAS letter, accepted 2007 February

Leaving the Twilight Zone: A Congressional Check on Treaty Termination

This essay argues that Congress can—by a statute expressing the will of both houses—protect a treaty from presidential termination. Under this framework, when Congress expressly states its opposition to the termination of a particular treaty, it moves the president’s order to terminate the treaty into this third category where the president can rely only upon enumerated powers. In Goldwater v. Carter, the Supreme Court found a challenge to presidential treaty termination non-justiciable without forming a majority opinion, However, a statutory protection of a treaty creates a different dispute which fails to implicate any of the political question factors articulated by the Court in Baker v. Carr. While, neither of the competing analogies employed by scholars in discussing the termination power are persuasive, the treaty power’s inseparability from issues of war and peace suggest that the framers would not have vested the authority to terminate a treaty in a single individual. The framing generation’s fear of executive corruptibility and desire that the new republic would be a reliable diplomatic partner permeate their justifications for the treaty ratification process; the irreconcilability of these concerns with a plenary termination power strongly suggest that Congress can insulate treaties from a president acting unilaterally

The formation of HD 149026 b

Today, many extrasolar planets have been detected. Some of them exhibit properties quite different from the planets in our solar system and they have eluded attempts to explain their formation. One such case is HD 149026 b. It was discovered by Sato et al. (2005) . A transit-determined orbital inclination results in a total mass of 114 earth masses. The unusually small radius can be explained by a condensible element core with an inferred mass of 67 earth masses for the best fitting theoretical model. In the core accretion model, giant planets are assumed to form around a growing core of condensible materials. With increasing core mass, the amount of gravitationally bound envelope mass increases. This continues up to the so-called critical core mass -- the largest core allowing a hydrostatic envelope. For larger cores, the lack of static solutions forces a dynamic evolution of the protoplanet in the process accreting large amounts of gas or ejecting the envelope. This would prevent the formation of HD 149026 b. By studying all possible hydrostatic equilibria we could show that HD 149026 b can remain hydrostatic up to the inferred heavy core. This is possible if it is formed in-situ in a relatively low-pressure nebula. This formation process is confirmed by fluid-dynamic calculations using the environmental conditions as determined by the hydrostatic models. We present a quantitative in-situ formation scenario for the massive core planet HD 149026 b. Furthermore we predict a wide range of possible core masses for close-in planets like HD 149026 b. This is different from migration where typical critical core masses should be expected.Comment: 6 pages, 2 figures, letter MNRAS accepted 2007 Jan

Transit observations at the observatory in Grossschwabhausen: XO-1b and TrES-1

We report on observations of transit events of the transiting planets XO-1b and TrES-1 with the AIU Jena telescope in Grossschwabhausen. Based on our IR photometry (in March 2007) and available transit timings (SuperWASP, XO and TLC-project-data) we improved the orbital period of XO-1b (P = 3.941497$\pm$0.000006) and TrES-1 (P = 3.0300737$\pm$0.000006), respectively. The new ephemeris for the both systems are presented.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figure

Giant planet formation: episodic impacts vs. gradual core growth

We describe the growth of gas giant planets in the core accretion scenario. The core growth is not modeled as a gradual accretion of planetesimals but as episodic impacts of large mass ratios, i.e. we study impacts of 0.02 - 1 Earth masses onto cores of 1-15 Earth masses. Such impacts could deliver the majority of solid matter in the giant impact regime. We focus on the thermal response of the envelope to the energy delivery. Previous studies have shown that sudden shut off of core accretion can dramatically speed up gas accretion. We therefore expect that giant impacts followed by periods of very low core accretion will result in a net increase in gas accretion rate. This study aims at modelling such a sequence of events and to understand the reaction of the envelope to giant impacts in more detail. To model this scenario, we spread the impact energy deposition over a time that is long compared to the sound crossing time, but very short compared to the Kelvin-Helmholtz time. The simulations are done in spherical symmetry and assume quasi-hydrostatic equilibrium. Results confirm what could be inferred from previous studies: gas can be accreted faster onto the core for the same net core growth speed while at the same time rapid gas accretion can occur for smaller cores -- significantly smaller than the usual critical core mass. Furthermore our simulations show, that significant mass fractions of the envelope can be ejected by such an impact

Five New Transits of the Super-Neptune HD 149026

We present new photometry of HD 149026 spanning five transits of its "super-Neptune" planet. In combination with previous data, we improve upon the determination of the planet-to-star radius ratio: R_p/R_star = 0.0491^{+0.0018}_{-0.0005}. We find the planetary radius to be 0.71 +/- 0.05 R_Jup, in accordance with previous theoretical models invoking a high metal abundance for the planet. The limiting error is the uncertainty in the stellar radius. Although we find agreement among four different ways of estimating the stellar radius, the uncertainty remains at 7%. We also present a refined transit ephemeris and a constraint on the orbital eccentricity and argument of pericenter, e cos(omega) = -0.0014 +/- 0.0012, based on the measured interval between primary and secondary transits.Comment: To appear in ApJ [19 pages

Simultaneous X-ray, radio, near-infrared, and optical monitoring of Young Stellar Objects in the Coronet cluster

Multi-wavelength (X-ray to radio) monitoring of Young Stellar Objects (YSOs) can provide important information about physical processes at the stellar surface, in the stellar corona, and/or in the inner circumstellar disk regions. While coronal processes should mainly cause variations in the X-ray and radio bands, accretion processes may be traced by time-correlated variability in the X-ray and optical/infrared bands. Several multi-wavelength studies have been successfully performed for field stars and approx. 1-10 Myr old T Tauri stars, but so far no such study succeeded in detecting simultaneous X-ray to radio variability in extremely young objects like class I and class 0 protostars. Here we present the first simultaneous X-ray, radio, near-infrared, and optical monitoring of YSOs, targeting the Coronet cluster in the Corona Australis star-forming region, which harbors at least one class 0 protostar, several class I objects, numerous T Tauri stars, and a few Herbig AeBe stars. [...] Seven objects are detected simultaneously in the X-ray, radio, and optical/infrared bands; they constitute our core sample. While most of these sources exhibit clear variability in the X-ray regime and several also display optical/infrared variability, none of them shows significant radio variability on the timescales probed. We also do not find any case of clearly time-correlated optical/infrared and X-ray variability. [...] The absence of time-correlated multi-wavelength variability suggests that there is no direct link between the X-ray and optical/infrared emission and supports the notion that accretion is not an important source for the X-ray emission of these YSOs. No significant radio variability was found on timescales of days.Comment: 11 pages, 11 figures, accepted for publication in A&A (06 Dec 2006

Variability of young stars: Determination of rotational periods of weak-line T Tauri stars in the Cepheus-Cassiopeia star-forming region

We report on observation and determination of rotational periods of ten weak-line T Tauri stars in the Cepheus-Cassiopeia star-forming region. Observations were carried out with the Cassegrain-Teleskop-Kamera (CTK) at University Observatory Jena between 2007 June and 2008 May. The periods obtained range between 0.49 d and 5.7 d, typical for weak-line and post T Tauri stars.Comment: 11 pages, 26 figures, accepted to be published in A