410 research outputs found
Detection limits for close eclipsing and transiting sub-stellar and planetary companions to white dwarfs in the WASP survey
We used photometric data from the WASP (Wide-Angle Search for Planets) survey
to explore the possibility of detecting eclipses and transit signals of brown
dwarfs, gas giants and terrestrial companions in close orbit around white
dwarfs. We performed extensive Monte Carlo simulations and we found that for
Gaussian random noise WASP is sensitive to companions as small as the Moon
orbiting a 12 white dwarf. For fainter stars WASP is sensitive to
increasingly larger bodies. Our sensitivity drops in the presence of co-variant
noise structure in the data, nevertheless Earth-size bodies remain readily
detectable in relatively low S/N data. We searched for eclipses and transit
signals in a sample of 194 white dwarfs in the WASP archive however, no
evidence for companions was found. We used our results to place tentative upper
limits to the frequency of such systems. While we can only place weak limits on
the likely frequency of Earth-sized or smaller companions; brown dwarfs and gas
giants (radius R) with periods 0.2 days must certainly be
rare (). More stringent constraints requires significantly larger white
dwarf samples, higher observing cadence and continuous coverage. The short
duration of eclipses and transits of white dwarfs compared to the cadence of
WASP observations appears to be one of the main factors limiting the detection
rate in a survey optimised for planetary transits of main sequence stars.Comment: 8 pages, 3 figure
On the Abundance of Circumbinary Planets
We present here the first observationally based determination of the rate of
occurrence of circumbinary planets. This is derived from the publicly available
Kepler data, using an automated search algorithm and debiasing process to
produce occurrence rates implied by the seven systems already known. These
rates depend critically on the planetary inclination distribution: if
circumbinary planets are preferentially coplanar with their host binaries, as
has been suggested, then the rate of occurrence of planets with
orbiting with \ d is \% (95\% confidence limits),
higher than but consistent with single star rates. If on the other hand the
underlying planetary inclination distribution is isotropic, then this
occurrence rate rises dramatically, to give a lower limit of 47\%. This implies
that formation and subsequent dynamical evolution in circumbinary disks must
either lead to largely coplanar planets, or proceed with significantly greater
ease than in circumstellar disks. As a result of this investigation we also
show that giant planets () are significantly less common in
circumbinary orbits than their smaller siblings, and confirm that the proposed
shortfall of circumbinary planets orbiting the shorter period binaries in the
Kepler sample is a real effect.Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRAS (1st August 2014). 12 pages. Update
to match final version, including clarifications and new figures. Results are
unchange
A transiting companion to the eclipsing binary KIC002856960
We present an early result from an automated search of Kepler eclipsing
binary systems for circumbinary companions. An intriguing tertiary signal has
been discovered in the short period eclipsing binary KIC002856960. This third
body leads to transit-like features in the light curve occurring every 204.2
days, while the two other components of the system display eclipses on a 6.2
hour period. The variations due to the tertiary body last for a duration of
\sim1.26 days, or 4.9 binary orbital periods. During each crossing of the
binary orbit with the tertiary body, multiple individual transits are observed
as the close binary stars repeatedly move in and out of alignment with the
tertiary object. We are at this stage unable to distinguish between a planetary
companion to a close eclipsing binary, or a hierarchical triply eclipsing
system of three stars. Both possibilities are explored, and the light curves
presented.Comment: Accepted into A&A Letters (5 pages & 3 figures
WASP-44b, WASP-45b and WASP-46b: three short-period, transiting extrasolar planets
We report the discovery of three extrasolar planets that transit their
moderately bright (Vmag = 12-13) host stars. WASP-44b is a 0.89-MJup planet in
a 2.42-day orbit around a G8V star. WASP-45b is a 1.03-MJup planet which passes
in front of the limb of its K2V host star every 3.13 days. Weak Ca II H+K
emission seen in the spectra of WASP-45 suggests the star is chromospherically
active. WASP-46b is a 2.10-MJup planet in a 1.43-day orbit around a G6V star.
Rotational modulation of the light curves of WASP-46 and weak Ca II H+K
emission in its spectra show the star to be photospherically and
chromospherically active.
We imposed circular orbits in our analyses as the radial velocity data are
consistent with (near-)circular orbits, as could be expected from both
empirical and tidal-theory perspectives for such short-period, Jupiter-mass
planets. We discuss the impact of fitting for eccentric orbits for such planets
when not supported by the data. The derived planetary and stellar radii depend
on the fitted eccentricity and these parameters inform intense theoretical
efforts concerning tidal circularisation and heating, bulk planetary
composition and the observed systematic errors in planetary and stellar radii.
As such, we recommend exercising caution in fitting the orbits of short period,
Jupiter-mass planets with an eccentric model when there is no evidence of
non-circularity.Comment: 12 pages, 8 figures, 6 tables. As accepted for publication in MNRA
On the abundance of circumbinary planets
We present here the first observationally based determination of the rate of occurrence of circumbinary planets. This is derived from the publicly available Kepler data, using an automated search algorithm and debiasing process to produce occurrence rates implied by the seven systems already known. These rates depend critically on the planetary inclination distribution: if circumbinary planets are preferentially coplanar with their host binaries, as has been suggested, then the rate of occurrence of planets with Rp > 6R⊕ orbiting with Pp 10R⊕) are significantly less common in circumbinary orbits than their smaller siblings, and confirm that the proposed shortfall of circumbinary planets orbiting the shorter period binaries in the Kepler sample is a real effec
Lucky Imaging of transiting planet host stars with LuckyCam
We obtained high-resolution, high-contrast optical imaging in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey i′ band with the LuckyCam camera mounted on the 2.56 m Nordic Optical Telescope, to search for faint stellar companions to 16 stars harbouring transiting exoplanets. The Lucky imaging technique uses very short exposures to obtain near diffraction-limited images yielding sub-arcsecond sensitivity, allowing us to search for faint stellar companions within the seeing disc of the primary planet host. Here, we report the detection of two candidate stellar companions to the planet host TrES-1 at separations <6.5 arcsec and we confirm stellar companions to CoRoT-2, CoRoT-3, TrES-2, TrES-4 and HAT-P-7 already known in the literature. We do not confirm the candidate companions to HAT-P-8 found via Lucky imaging by Bergfors et al., however, most probably because HAT-P-8 was observed in poor seeing conditions. Our detection sensitivity limits allow us to place constraints on the spectral types and masses of the putative bound companions to the planet host stars in our sample. If bound, the stellar companions identified in this work would provide stringent observational constraints to models of planet formation and evolution. In addition, these companions could affect the derived physical properties of the exoplanets in these systems
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