The [Y/Mg] clock works for evolved solar metallicity stars

Previously [Y/Mg] has been proven to be an age indicator for solar twins. Here, we investigate if this relation also holds for helium-core-burning stars of solar metallicity. High resolution and high signal-to-noise ratio (S/N) spectroscopic data of stars in the helium-core-burning phase have been obtained with the FIES spectrograph on the NOT 2.56m telescope and the HIRES spectrograph on the Keck I 10 m telescope. They have been analyzed to determine the chemical abundances of four open clusters with close to solar metallicity; NGC 6811, NGC 6819, M67 and NGC 188. The abundances are derived from equivalent widths of spectral lines using ATLAS9 model atmospheres with parameters determined from the excitation and ionization balance of Fe lines. Results from asteroseismology and binary studies were used as priors on the atmospheric parameters, where especially the $\log g$ is determined to much higher precision than what is possible with spectroscopy. It is confirmed that the four open clusters are close to solar metallicity and they follow the [Y/Mg] vs. age trend previously found for solar twins. The [Y/Mg] vs. age clock also works for giant stars in the helium-core burning phase, which vastly increases the possibilities to estimate the age of stars not only in the solar neighborhood, but in large parts of the Galaxy, due to the brighter nature of evolved stars compared to dwarfs.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures, accepted for publication as a Letter to A&

Na I and Hα\alpha absorption features in the atmosphere of MASCARA-2b/KELT-20b

We have used the HARPS-North high resolution spectrograph ($\mathcal{R}$=115 000) at TNG to observe one transit of the highly irradiated planet MASCARA-2b/KELT-20b. Using only one transit observation, we are able to clearly resolve the spectral features of the atomic sodium (Na I) doublet and the H$\alpha$ line in its atmosphere, measuring absorption depths of 0.17$\pm$0.03$\%$ and 0.59$\pm$0.08$\%$ for a 0.75 $\AA$ passband, respectively. These absorptions are corroborated with the transmission measured from their respective transmission light curves, which show a large Rossiter-McLaughlin effect. In case of H$\alpha$, this absorption corresponds to an effective radius of $R_{\lambda}/R_P$=1.20$\pm$0.04. While the S/N of the final transmission spectrum is not sufficient to adjust different temperature profiles to the lines, we find that higher temperatures than the equilibrium are needed to explain the lines contrast. Particularly, we find that the Na I lines core require a temperature of T=4210$\pm$180K and that H$\alpha$ requires T=4330$\pm$520K. MASCARA-2b, like other planets orbiting A-type stars, receives a large amount of UV energy from its host star. This energy excites the atomic hydrogen and produces H$\alpha$ absorption, leading to the expansion and abrasion of the atmosphere. The study of other Balmer lines in the transmission spectrum would allow the determination of the atmospheric temperature profile and the calculation of the lifetime of the atmosphere. In the case of MASCARA-2b, residual features are observed in the H$\beta$ and H$\gamma$ lines, but they are not statistically significant. More transit observations are needed to confirm our findings in Na I and H$\alpha$, and to build up enough S/N to explore the presence of H$\beta$ and H$\gamma$ planetary absorptions.Comment: 14 pages, 12 figure

MASCARA-2 b: A hot Jupiter transiting the mV=7.6m_V=7.6 A-star HD185603

In this paper we present MASCARA-2 b, a hot Jupiter transiting the $m_V=7.6$ A2 star HD 185603. Since early 2015, MASCARA has taken more than 1.6 million flux measurements of the star, corresponding to a total of almost 3000 hours of observations, revealing a periodic dimming in the flux with a depth of $1.3\%$. Photometric follow-up observations were performed with the NITES and IAC80 telescopes and spectroscopic measurements were obtained with the Hertzsprung SONG telescope. We find MASCARA-2 b orbits HD 185603 with a period of $3.474119^{+0.000005}_{-0.000006}~\rm{days}$ at a distance of $0.057 \pm 0.006~\rm{AU}$, has a radius of $1.83 \pm 0.07~\rm{R}_{\rm{J}}$ and place a $99\%$ upper limit on the mass of $< 17~\rm{M}_{\rm{J}}$. HD 185603 is a rapidly rotating early-type star with an effective temperature of $8980^{+90}_{-130}~\rm{K}$ and a mass and radius of $1.89^{+0.06}_{-0.05}~M_\odot$, $1.60 \pm 0.06~R_\odot$, respectively. Contrary to most other hot Jupiters transiting early-type stars, the projected planet orbital axis and stellar spin axis are found to be aligned with $\lambda=0.6 \pm 4^\circ$. The brightness of the host star and the high equilibrium temperature, $2260 \pm 50~\rm{K}$, of MASCARA-2 b make it a suitable target for atmospheric studies from the ground and space. Of particular interest is the detection of TiO, which has recently been detected in the similarly hot planets WASP-33 b and WASP-19 b.Comment: 8 pages, 4 figures, Accepted for publication in A&

The K2-ESPRINT Project VI: K2-105 b, a Hot-Neptune around a Metal-rich G-dwarf

We report on the confirmation that the candidate transits observed for the star EPIC 211525389 are due to a short-period Neptune-sized planet. The host star, located in K2 campaign field 5, is a metal-rich ([Fe/H] = 0.26$\pm$0.05) G-dwarf (T_eff = 5430$\pm$70 K and log g = 4.48$\pm$0.09), based on observations with the High Dispersion Spectrograph (HDS) on the Subaru 8.2m telescope. High-spatial resolution AO imaging with HiCIAO on the Subaru telescope excludes faint companions near the host star, and the false positive probability of this target is found to be <$10^{-6}$ using the open source vespa code. A joint analysis of transit light curves from K2 and additional ground-based multi-color transit photometry with MuSCAT on the Okayama 1.88m telescope gives the orbital period of P = 8.266902$\pm$0.000070 days and consistent transit depths of $R_p/R_\star \sim 0.035$ or $(R_p/R_\star)^2 \sim 0.0012$. The transit depth corresponds to a planetary radius of $R_p = 3.59_{-0.39}^{+0.44} R_{\oplus}$, indicating that EPIC 211525389 b is a short-period Neptune-sized planet. Radial velocities of the host star, obtained with the Subaru HDS, lead to a 3\sigma\ upper limit of 90 $M_{\oplus} (0.00027 M_{\odot})$ on the mass of EPIC 211525389 b, confirming its planetary nature. We expect this planet, newly named K2-105 b, to be the subject of future studies to characterize its mass, atmosphere, spin-orbit (mis)alignment, as well as investigate the possibility of additional planets in the system.Comment: 11 pages, 9 figures, 4 tables, PASJ accepte

Ages and fundamental properties of Kepler exoplanet host stars from asteroseismology

We present a study of 33 {\it Kepler} planet-candidate host stars for which asteroseismic observations have sufficiently high signal-to-noise ratio to allow extraction of individual pulsation frequencies. We implement a new Bayesian scheme that is flexible in its input to process individual oscillation frequencies, combinations of them, and average asteroseismic parameters, and derive robust fundamental properties for these targets. Applying this scheme to grids of evolutionary models yields stellar properties with median statistical uncertainties of 1.2\% (radius), 1.7\% (density), 3.3\% (mass), 4.4\% (distance), and 14\% (age), making this the exoplanet host-star sample with the most precise and uniformly determined fundamental parameters to date. We assess the systematics from changes in the solar abundances and mixing-length parameter, showing that they are smaller than the statistical errors. We also determine the stellar properties with three other fitting algorithms and explore the systematics arising from using different evolution and pulsation codes, resulting in 1\% in density and radius, and 2\% and 7\% in mass and age, respectively. We confirm previous findings of the initial helium abundance being a source of systematics comparable to our statistical uncertainties, and discuss future prospects for constraining this parameter by combining asteroseismology and data from space missions. Finally we compare our derived properties with those obtained using the global average asteroseismic observables along with effective temperature and metallicity, finding an excellent level of agreement. Owing to selection effects, our results show that the majority of the high signal-to-noise ratio asteroseismic {\it Kepler} host stars are older than the Sun.Comment: 25 pages, 17 figures, MNRAS accepte

The K2-ESPRINT Project. I. Discovery of the Disintegrating Rocky Planet K2-22b with a Cometary Head and Leading Tail

We present the discovery of a transiting exoplanet candidate in the K2 Field-1 with an orbital period of 9.1457 hr: K2-22b. The highly variable transit depths, ranging from $\sim$0\% to 1.3\%, are suggestive of a planet that is disintegrating via the emission of dusty effluents. We characterize the host star as an M-dwarf with $T_{\rm eff} \simeq 3800$ K. We have obtained ground-based transit measurements with several 1-m class telescopes and with the GTC. These observations (1) improve the transit ephemeris; (2) confirm the variable nature of the transit depths; (3) indicate variations in the transit shapes; and (4) demonstrate clearly that at least on one occasion the transit depths were significantly wavelength dependent. The latter three effects tend to indicate extinction of starlight by dust rather than by any combination of solid bodies. The K2 observations yield a folded light curve with lower time resolution but with substantially better statistical precision compared with the ground-based observations. We detect a significant "bump" just after the transit egress, and a less significant bump just prior to transit ingress. We interpret these bumps in the context of a planet that is not only likely streaming a dust tail behind it, but also has a more prominent leading dust trail that precedes it. This effect is modeled in terms of dust grains that can escape to beyond the planet's Hill sphere and effectively undergo `Roche lobe overflow,' even though the planet's surface is likely underfilling its Roche lobe by a factor of 2.Comment: 22 pages, 16 figures. Final version accepted to Ap

K2-137 b: an Earth-sized planet in a 4.3-hour orbit around an M-dwarf

We report the discovery from K2 of a transiting terrestrial planet in an ultra-short-period orbit around an M3-dwarf. K2-137 b completes an orbit in only 4.3 hours, the second-shortest orbital period of any known planet, just 4 minutes longer than that of KOI 1843.03, which also orbits an M-dwarf. Using a combination of archival images, AO imaging, RV measurements, and light curve modelling, we show that no plausible eclipsing binary scenario can explain the K2 light curve, and thus confirm the planetary nature of the system. The planet, whose radius we determine to be 0.89 +/- 0.09 Earth radii, and which must have a iron mass fraction greater than 0.45, orbits a star of mass 0.463 +/- 0.052 Msol and radius 0.442 +/- 0.044 Rsol.Comment: 12 pages, 9 figures, accepted for publication in MNRA

The transiting multi-planet system HD3167: a 5.7 MEarth Super-Earth and a 8.3 MEarth mini-Neptune

HD3167 is a bright (V=8.9 mag) K0V star observed by the NASA's K2 space mission during its Campaign 8. It has been recently found to host two small transiting planets, namely, HD3167b, an ultra short period (0.96 d) super-Earth, and HD3167c, a mini-Neptune on a relatively long-period orbit (29.85 d). Here we present an intensive radial velocity follow-up of HD3167 performed with the FIES@NOT, [email protected], and HARPS-N@TNG spectrographs. We revise the system parameters and determine radii, masses, and densities of the two transiting planets by combining the K2 photometry with our spectroscopic data. With a mass of 5.69+/-0.44 MEarth, radius of 1.574+/-0.054 REarth, and mean density of 8.00(+1.0)(-0.98) g/cm^3, HD3167b joins the small group of ultra-short period planets known to have a rocky terrestrial composition. HD3167c has a mass of 8.33 (+1.79)(-1.85) MEarth and a radius of 2.740(+0.106)(-0.100) REarth, yielding a mean density of 2.21(+0.56)(-0.53) g/cm^3, indicative of a planet with a composition comprising a solid core surrounded by a thick atmospheric envelope. The rather large pressure scale height (about 350 km) and the brightness of the host star make HD3167c an ideal target for atmospheric characterization via transmission spectroscopy across a broad range of wavelengths. We found evidence of additional signals in the radial velocity measurements but the currently available data set does not allow us to draw any firm conclusion on the origin of the observed variation.Comment: 18 pages, 11 figures, 5 table

Planetary Candidates Observed by Kepler VI: Planet Sample from Q1-Q16 (47 Months)

\We present the sixth catalog of Kepler candidate planets based on nearly 4 years of high precision photometry. This catalog builds on the legacy of previous catalogs released by the Kepler project and includes 1493 new Kepler Objects of Interest (KOIs) of which 554 are planet candidates, and 131 of these candidates have best fit radii <1.5 R_earth. This brings the total number of KOIs and planet candidates to 7305 and 4173 respectively. We suspect that many of these new candidates at the low signal-to-noise limit may be false alarms created by instrumental noise, and discuss our efforts to identify such objects. We re-evaluate all previously published KOIs with orbital periods of >50 days to provide a consistently vetted sample that can be used to improve planet occurrence rate calculations. We discuss the performance of our planet detection algorithms, and the consistency of our vetting products. The full catalog is publicly available at the NASA Exoplanet Archive.Comment: 18 pages, to be published in the Astrophysical Journal Supplement Serie