373 research outputs found
Flicker as a tool for characterizing planets through Asterodensity Profiling
Variability in the time series brightness of a star on a timescale of 8
hours, known as 'flicker', has been previously demonstrated to serve as a proxy
for the surface gravity of a star by Bastien et al. (2013). Although surface
gravity is crucial for stellar classification, it is the mean stellar density
which is most useful when studying transiting exoplanets, due to its direct
impact on the transit light curve shape. Indeed, an accurate and independent
measure of the stellar density can be leveraged to infer subtle properties of a
transiting system, such as the companion's orbital eccentricity via
asterodensity profiling. We here calibrate flicker to the mean stellar density
of 439 Kepler targets with asteroseismology, allowing us to derive a new
empirical relation given by
. The calibration is valid for stars with
KK, and flicker estimates corresponding
to stars with . Our relation has a model error in the
stellar density of 31.7% and so has times lower precision than that
from asteroseismology but is applicable to a sample times greater.
Flicker therefore provides an empirical method to enable asterodensity
profiling on hundreds of planetary candidates from present and future missions.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figures, 1 table. Accepted to ApJ Letters. Code available
at https://www.cfa.harvard.edu/~dkipping/flicker.htm
Misleading variations in estimated rotational frequency splittings of solar p modes: Consequences for helio- and asteroseismology
The aim of this paper is to investigate whether there are any 11-yr or
quasi-biennial solar cycle-related variations in solar rotational splitting
frequencies of low-degree solar p modes. Although no 11-yr signals were
observed, variations on a shorter timescale (~2yrs) were apparent. We show that
the variations arose from complications/artifacts associated with the
realization noise in the data and the process by which the data were analyzed.
More specifically, the realization noise was observed to have a larger effect
on the rotational splittings than accounted for by the formal uncertainties.
When used to infer the rotation profile of the Sun these variations are not
important. The outer regions of the solar interior can be constrained using
higher-degree modes. While the variations in the low-l splittings do make large
differences to the inferred rotation rate of the core, the core rotation rate
is so poorly constrained, even by low-l modes, that the different inferred
rotation profiles still agree within their respective 1sigma uncertainties. By
contrast, in asteroseismology, only low-l modes are visible and so higher-l
modes cannot be used to constrain the rotation profile of stars. Furthermore,
we usually only have one data set from which to measure the observed low-l
splitting. In such circumstances the inferred internal rotation rate of a main
sequence star could differ significantly from estimates of the surface rotation
rate, hence leading to spurious conclusions. Therefore, extreme care must be
taken when using only the splittings of low-l modes to draw conclusions about
the average internal rotation rate of a star.Comment: 10 pages, 7 figures, accepted for publication in MNRA
Proof of principle : the adaptive geometry of social foragers
Acknowledgments We thank Cape Nature for permission to undertake the study. We thank Dr Matt Grove and two anonymous referees for comments and suggestions that improved the manuscript substantially. This research was funded by grants from the Leakey Foundation, National Science and Engineering Research Council, Canada to S.P.H. and L.B., and by the National Research Foundation, South Africa to S.P.H. His co-authors dedicate this paper to the memory of P.M.R.C. The authors declare no competing interests.Peer reviewedPostprin
Are short-term variations in solar oscillation frequencies the signature of a second solar dynamo?
In addition to the well-known 11-year solar cycle, the Sun's magnetic
activity also shows significant variation on shorter time scales, e.g. between
one and two years. We observe a quasi-biennial (2-year) signal in the solar
p-mode oscillation frequencies, which are sensitive probes of the solar
interior. The signal is visible in Sun-as-a-star data observed by different
instruments and here we describe the results obtained using BiSON, GOLF, and
VIRGO data. Our results imply that the 2-year signal is susceptible to the
influence of the main 11-year solar cycle. However, the source of the signal
appears to be separate from that of the 11-year cycle. We speculate as to
whether it might be the signature of a second dynamo, located in the region of
near-surface rotational shear.Comment: 6 pages, 2 figures, proceedings for SOHO-24/GONG 2010 conference, to
be published in JPC
KOI-3890: A high mass-ratio asteroseismic red-giantM-dwarf eclipsing binary undergoing heartbeat tidal interactions
KOI-3890 is a highly eccentric, 153-day period eclipsing, single-lined
spectroscopic binary system containing a red-giant star showing solar-like
oscillations alongside tidal interactions. The combination of transit
photometry, radial velocity observations, and asteroseismology have enabled the
detailed characterisation of both the red-giant primary and the M-dwarf
companion, along with the tidal interaction and the geometry of the system. The
stellar parameters of the red-giant primary are determined through the use of
asteroseismology and grid-based modelling to give a mass and radius of
and
respectively. When combined with
transit photometry the M-dwarf companion is found to have a mass and radius of
and
. Moreover, through
asteroseismology we constrain the age of the system through the red-giant
primary to be . This provides a constraint on
the age of the M-dwarf secondary, which is difficult to do for other M-dwarf
binary systems. In addition, the asteroseismic analysis yields an estimate of
the inclination angle of the rotation axis of the red-giant star of
degrees. The obliquity of the system\textemdash the
angle between the stellar rotation axis and the angle normal to the orbital
plane\textemdash is also derived to give degrees
showing that the system is consistent with alignment. We observe no radius
inflation in the M-dwarf companion when compared to current low-mass stellar
models.Comment: 11 pages, 5 figures, accepted for publication in MNRA
Asteroseismic properties of solar-type stars observed with the NASA K2 mission: results from Campaigns 1-3 and prospects for future observations
We present an asteroseismic analysis of 33 solar-type stars observed in short
cadence during Campaigns (C) 1-3 of the NASA K2 mission. We were able to
extract both average seismic parameters and individual mode frequencies for
stars with dominant frequencies up to ~3300{\mu}Hz, and we find that data for
some targets are good enough to allow for a measurement of the rotational
splitting. Modelling of the extracted parameters is performed by using
grid-based methods using average parameters and individual frequencies together
with spectroscopic parameters. For the target selection in C3, stars were
chosen as in C1 and C2 to cover a wide range in parameter space to better
understand the performance and noise characteristics. For C3 we still detected
oscillations in 73% of the observed stars that we proposed. Future K2 campaigns
hold great promise for the study of nearby clusters and the chemical evolution
and age-metallicity relation of nearby field stars in the solar neighbourhood.
We expect oscillations to be detected in ~388 short-cadence targets if the K2
mission continues until C18, which will greatly complement the ~500 detections
of solar-like oscillations made for short-cadence targets during the nominal
Kepler mission. For ~30-40 of these, including several members of the Hyades
open cluster, we furthermore expect that inference from interferometry should
be possible.Comment: 17 pages, 15 figures, 4 tables; accepted for publication in PAS
Asteroseismology of the Hyades with K2: first detection of main-sequence solar-like oscillations in an open cluster
The Hyades open cluster was targeted during Campaign 4 (C4) of the NASA K2
mission, and short-cadence data were collected on a number of cool
main-sequence stars. Here, we report results on two F-type stars that show
detectable oscillations of a quality that allows asteroseismic analyses to be
performed. These are the first ever detections of solar-like oscillations in
main-sequence stars in an open cluster.Comment: 12 pages, 8 figures, 2 tables; accepted for publication in MNRA
An inexpensive device for monitoring patients' weights via automated hovering
Daily weight monitoring is integral to the management of heart failure (HF) [1]. Indeed, weight gain is a marker of HF decompensation, and daily weight monitoring has been associated with favorable prognosis [2]. Until now, assessment of weight has required patients to attend an in-person visit, which provides only an infrequent snapshot of their weight. Remote hovering practices have gained considerable traction during the past several years [3â7], but their use outside of research settings has been limited
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