755 research outputs found
Improved parameters of seven Kepler giant companions characterized with SOPHIE and HARPS-N
Radial-velocity observations of Kepler candidates obtained with the SOPHIE
and HARPS-N spectrographs have permitted unveiling the nature of the five giant
planets Kepler-41b, Kepler-43b, Kepler-44b, Kepler-74b, and Kepler-75b, the
massive companion Kepler-39b, and the brown dwarf KOI-205b. These companions
were previously characterized with long-cadence (LC) Kepler data. Here we aim
at refining the parameters of these transiting systems by i) modelling the
published radial velocities (RV) and Kepler short-cadence (SC) data that
provide a much better sampling of the transits, ii) performing new spectral
analyses of the SOPHIE and ESPaDOnS spectra, and iii) improving stellar
rotation periods hence stellar age estimates through gyrochronology, when
possible. Posterior distributions of the system parameters were derived with a
differential evolution Markov chain Monte Carlo approach. Our main results are
as follows: a) Kepler-41b is significantly larger and less dense than
previously found because a lower orbital inclination is favoured by SC data.
This also affects the determination of the geometric albedo that is lower than
previously derived: Ag < 0.135; b) Kepler-44b is moderately smaller and denser
than reported in the discovery paper; c) good agreement was achieved with
published Kepler-43, Kepler-75, and KOI-205 system parameters, although the
host stars Kepler-75 and KOI-205 were found to be slightly richer in metals and
hotter, respectively; d) the previously reported non-zero eccentricities of
Kepler-39b and Kepler-74b might be spurious. If their orbits were circular, the
two companions would be smaller and denser than in the eccentric case. The
radius of Kepler-39b is still larger than predicted by theoretical isochrones.
Its parent star is hotter and richer in metals than previously determined.
[ABRIDGED]Comment: 17 pages, 9 figures, accepted for publication in Astronomy and
Astrophysic
A Gas Giant Circumbinary Planet Transiting the F Star Primary of the Eclipsing Binary Star KIC 4862625 and the Independent Discovery and Characterization of the two transiting planets in the Kepler-47 System
We report the discovery of a transiting, gas giant circumbinary planet
orbiting the eclipsing binary KIC 4862625 and describe our independent
discovery of the two transiting planets orbiting Kepler-47 (Orosz et al. 2012).
We describe a simple and semi-automated procedure for identifying individual
transits in light curves and present our follow-up measurements of the two
circumbinary systems. For the KIC 4862625 system, the 0.52+/-0.018 RJup radius
planet revolves every ~138 days and occults the 1.47+/-0.08 MSun, 1.7 +/-0.06
RSun F8 IV primary star producing aperiodic transits of variable durations
commensurate with the configuration of the eclipsing binary star. Our best-fit
model indicates the orbit has a semi-major axis of 0.64 AU and is slightly
eccentric, e=0.1. For the Kepler-47 system, we confirm the results of Orosz et
al. (2012). Modulations in the radial velocity of KIC 4862625A are measured
both spectroscopically and photometrically, i.e. via Doppler boosting, and
produce similar results.Comment: 40 pages, 17 figure
Protein-RNA linkage and post-translational modifications of two sobemovirus VPgs
Sobemoviruses possess a viral genome-linked protein (VPg) attached to the 5' end of viral RNA. VPg is processed from the viral polyprotein. In the current study, Cocksfoot mottle virus (CfMV) and Rice yellow mottle virus (RYMV) VPgs were purified from virions and analysed by mass spectrometry. The cleavage sites in the polyprotein and thereof the termini of VPg were experimentally proven. The lengths of the mature VPgs were determined to be 78 and 79 aa residues, respectively. The amino acid residues covalently linked to RNA in the two VPgs were, surprisingly, not conserved; it is a tyrosine at position 5 of CfMV VPg and serine at position 1 of RYMV VPg. Phosphorylations were identified in CfMV and RYMV VPgs with two positionally similar locations T20/S14 and S71/S72, respectively. RYMV VPg contains an additional phosphorylation site at S41
SOPHIE velocimetry of Kepler transit candidates VI. An additional companion in the KOI-13 system
We report the discovery of a new stellar companion in the KOI-13 system.
KOI-13 is composed by two fast-rotating A-type stars of similar magnitude. One
of these two stars hosts a transiting planet discovered by Kepler. We obtained
new radial velocity measurements using the SOPHIE spectrograph at the
Observatoire de Haute-Provence that revealed an additional companion in this
system. This companion has a mass between 0.4 and 1 Msun and orbits one of the
two main stars with a period of 65.831 \pm 0.029 days and an eccentricity of
0.52 \pm 0.02. The radial velocities of the two stars were derived using a
model of two fast-rotating line profiles. From the residuals, we found a hint
of the stellar variations seen in the Kepler light curve with an amplitude of
about 1.41 km/s and a period close to the rotational period. This signal
appears to be about three order of magnitude larger than expected for stellar
activity. From the analysis of the residuals, we also put a 3-sigma upper-limit
on the mass of the transiting planet KOI-13.01 of 14.8 Mjup and 9.4 Mjup,
depending on which star hosts the transit. We found that this new companion has
no significant impact on the photometric determination of the mass of KOI-13.01
but is expected to affect precise infrared photometry. Finally, using dynamical
simulations, we infer that the new companion is orbiting around KOI-13B while
the transiting planet candidate is expected to orbit KOI-13A. Thus, the
transiting planet candidate KOI-13.01 is orbiting the main component of a
hierarchical triple system.Comment: Accepted in A&A Letters. 4 pages including 4 figures and the RV tabl
Quasi-molecular lines in Lyman wings of cool DA white dwarfs; Application to FUSE observations of G231-40
We present new theoretical calculations of the total line profiles of Lyman
alpha and Lyman beta which include perturbations by both neutral hydrogen AND
protons and all possible quasi-molecular states of H_2 and H_2^+. They are used
to improve theoretical modeling of synthetic spectra for cool DA white dwarfs.
We compare them with FUSE observation of G231-40. The appearance of the line
wings between Lyman alpha and Lyman beta is shown to be sensitive to the
relative abundance of hydrogen ions and neutral atoms, and thereby to provide a
temperature diagnostic for stellar atmospheres and laboratory plasmas.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures, accepted for publication in Astronomy and
Astrophysic
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