228 research outputs found
Oscillations in the Sun with SONG: Setting the scale for asteroseismic investigations
Context. We present the first high-cadence multi-wavelength radial-velocity
observations of the Sun-as-a-star, carried out during 57 consecutive days using
the stellar \'echelle spectrograph at the Hertzsprung SONG Telescope operating
at the Teide Observatory. Aims. The aim was to produce a high-quality data set
and reference values for the global helioseismic parameters {\nu_{max}}, and
{\Delta \nu} of the solar p-modes using the SONG instrument. The obtained data
set or the inferred values should then be used when the scaling relations are
applied to other stars showing solar-like oscillations which are observed with
SONG or similar instruments. Methods. We used different approaches to analyse
the power spectrum of the time series to determine {\nu_{max}}; simple Gaussian
fitting and heavy smoothing of the power spectrum. {\Delta\nu} was determined
using the method of autocorrelation of the power spectrum. The amplitude per
radial mode was determined using the method described in Kjeldsen et al.
(2008). Results. We found the following values for the solar oscillations using
the SONG spectrograph: {\nu_{max}} = 3141 {\pm} 12 {\mu}Hz, {\Delta\nu} =
134.98 {\pm} 0.04 {\mu}Hz and an average amplitude of the strongest radial
modes of 16.6 {\pm} 0.4 cm/s. These values are consistent with previous
measurements with other techniques.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figures, letter accepted for A&
Observing the changing surface structures of the active K giant sigma Gem with SONG
Aims: We aim to study the spot evolution and differential rotation in the
magnetically active cool K-type giant star sigma Gem from broadband photometry
and continuous spectroscopic observations that span 150 nights. Methods: We use
high-resolution, high signal-to-noise ratio spectra obtained with the
Hertzsprung SONG telescope to reconstruct surface (photospheric) temperature
maps with Doppler imaging techniques. The 303 observations span 150 nights and
allow for a detailed analysis of the spot evolution and surface differential
rotation. The Doppler imaging results are compared to simultaneous broadband
photometry from the Tennessee State University T3 0.4 m Automated Photometric
Telescope. The activity from the stellar chromosphere, which is higher in the
stellar atmosphere, is also studied using SONG observations of Balmer H alpha
line profiles and correlated with the photospheric activity. Results: The
temperature maps obtained during eight consecutive stellar rotations show
mainly high-latitude or polar spots, with the main spot concentrations above
latitude 45 deg. The spots concentrate around phase 0.25 near the beginning of
our observations and around phase 0.75 towards the end. The photometric
observations confirm a small jump in spot phases that occurred in February
2016. The cross-correlation of the temperature maps reveals rather strong
solar-like differential rotation, giving a relative surface differential
rotation coefficient of = 0.10 +/- 0.02. There is a weak correlation
between the locations of starspots and enhanced emission in the chromosphere at
some epochs.Comment: 19 pages, 10 figures, accepted for publication in Astronomy &
Astrophysics, in the published version the Tables B1 and B2 will only be
available via CD
Strong suppression of nuclear-charge changing interactions for 18 TeV/ c In ions channeled through a bent Si crystal
Abstract We present experimental results giving evidence for the strong reduction—a factor of more than 20—of nuclear-charge changing interactions for 18 TeV In 49+ ions channeled through a silicon crystal bent to 7.5, 11.9 and 19.8 mrad. A very small fraction of the deflected ions suffer electromagnetic or nuclear interactions leading to proton loss while traversing the 60 mm long crystal, even though its thickness corresponds to about 0.13 nuclear interaction lengths for an amorphous material. By considering the deflected ions only, we show experimentally that the nuclear-charge pickup reaction believed to be induced by virtual photons is a short-range phenomenon
The Transiting System GJ1214: High-Precision Defocused Transit Observations and a Search for Evidence of Transit Timing Variation
Aims: We present 11 high-precision photometric transit observations of the
transiting super-Earth planet GJ1214b. Combining these data with observations
from other authors, we investigate the ephemeris for possible signs of transit
timing variations (TTVs) using a Bayesian approach.
Methods: The observations were obtained using telescope-defocusing
techniques, and achieve a high precision with random errors in the photometry
as low as 1mmag per point. To investigate the possibility of TTVs in the light
curve, we calculate the overall probability of a TTV signal using Bayesian
methods.
Results: The observations are used to determine the photometric parameters
and the physical properties of the GJ1214 system. Our results are in good
agreement with published values. Individual times of mid-transit are measured
with uncertainties as low as 10s, allowing us to reduce the uncertainty in the
orbital period by a factor of two.
Conclusions: A Bayesian analysis reveals that it is highly improbable that
the observed transit times is explained by TTV, when compared with the simpler
alternative of a linear ephemeris.Comment: Submitted to A&
Kepler-77b: a very low albedo, Saturn-mass transiting planet around a metal-rich solar-like star
We report the discovery of Kepler-77b (alias KOI-127.01), a Saturn-mass
transiting planet in a 3.6-day orbit around a metal-rich solar-like star. We
combined the publicly available Kepler photometry (quarters 1-13) with
high-resolution spectroscopy from the Sandiford@McDonald and FIES@NOT
spectrographs. We derived the system parameters via a simultaneous joint fit to
the photometric and radial velocity measurements. Our analysis is based on the
Bayesian approach and is carried out by sampling the parameter posterior
distributions using a Markov chain Monte Carlo simulation. Kepler-77b is a
moderately inflated planet with a mass of Mp=0.430+/-0.032 Mjup, a radius of
Rp=0.960+/-0.016 Rjup, and a bulk density of 0.603+/-0.055 g/cm^3. It orbits a
slowly rotating (P=36+/-6 days) G5V star with M*=0.95+/-0.04 Msun,
R*=0.99+/-0.02 Rsun, Teff=5520+/-60 K, [M/H]=0.20+/-0.05, that has an age of
7.5+/-2.0 Gyr. The lack of detectable planetary occultation with a depth higher
than about 10 ppm implies a planet geometric and Bond albedo of
Ag<0.087+/-0.008 and Ab<0.058+/-0.006, respectively, placing Kepler-77b among
the gas-giant planets with the lowest albedo known so far. We found neither
additional planetary transit signals nor transit-timing variations at a level
of about 0.5 minutes, in accordance with the trend that close-in gas giant
planets seem to belong to single-planet systems. The 106 transits observed in
short-cadence mode by Kepler for nearly 1.2 years show no detectable signatures
of the planet's passage in front of starspots. We explored the implications of
the absence of detectable spot-crossing events for the inclination of the
stellar spin-axis, the sky-projected spin-orbit obliquity, and the latitude of
magnetically active regions.Comment: 13 pages, 10 figures, 3 tables. Accepted for publication in A&A. This
version includes referee comments. Planet's name changed from KOI-127b to
Kepler-77
High-precision photometry by telescope defocussing - VI. WASP-24, WASP-25 and WASP-26
The research leading to these results has received funding from the European Community's Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013/) under grant agreement nos. 229517 and 268421. This publication was supported by grants NPRP 09-476-1-078 and NPRP X-019-1-006 from Qatar National Research Fund (a member of Qatar Foundation). TCH acknowledges financial support from the Korea Research Council for Fundamental Science and Technology (KRCF) through the Young Research Scientist Fellowship Programme and is supported by the KASI (Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute) grant 2012-1-410-02/2013-9-400-00. SG, XW and XF acknowledge the support from NSFC under the grant no. 10873031. The research is supported by the ASTERISK project (ASTERoseismic Investigations with SONG and Kepler) funded by the European Research Council (grant agreement no. 267864). DR, YD, AE, FF (ARC), OW (FNRS research fellow) and J Surdej acknowledge support from the Communauté française de Belgique – Actions de recherche concertées – Académie Wallonie-Europe.We present time series photometric observations of 13 transits in the planetary systems WASP-24, WASP-25 and WASP-26. All three systems have orbital obliquity measurements, WASP-24 and WASP-26 have been observed with Spitzer, and WASP-25 was previously comparatively neglected. Our light curves were obtained using the telescope-defocussing method and have scatters of 0.5–1.2 mmag relative to their best-fitting geometric models. We use these data to measure the physical properties and orbital ephemerides of the systems to high precision, finding that our improved measurements are in good agreement with previous studies. High-resolution Lucky Imaging observations of all three targets show no evidence for faint stars close enough to contaminate our photometry. We confirm the eclipsing nature of the star closest to WASP-24 and present the detection of a detached eclipsing binary within 4.25 arcmin of WASP-26.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe
Establishing the accuracy of asteroseismic mass and radius estimates of giant stars – I. Three eclipsing systems at [Fe/H] ∼ −0.3 and the need for a large high-precision sample
We aim to establish and improve the accuracy level of asteroseismic estimates of mass, radius, and age of giant stars. This can be achieved by measuring independent, accurate, and precise masses, radii, effective temperatures and metallicities of long period eclipsing binary stars with a red giant component that displays solar-like oscillations. We measured precise properties of the three eclipsing binary systems KIC 7037405, KIC 9540226, and KIC 9970396 and estimated their ages be 5.3 ± 0.5, 3.1 ± 0.6, and 4.8 ± 0.5 Gyr. The measurements of the giant stars were compared to corresponding measurements of mass, radius, and age using asteroseismic scaling relations and grid modelling. We found that asteroseismic scaling relations without corrections to Δν systematically overestimate the masses of the three red giants by 11.7 per cent, 13.7 per cent, and 18.9 per cent, respectively. However, by applying theoretical correction factors fΔν according to Rodrigues et al. (2017), we reached general agreement between dynamical and asteroseismic mass estimates, and no indications of systematic differences at the precision level of the asteroseismic measurements. The larger sample investigated by Gaulme et al. (2016) showed a much more complicated situation, where some stars show agreement between the dynamical and corrected asteroseismic measures while others suggest significant overestimates of the asteroseismic measures. We found no simple explanation for this, but indications of several potential problems, some theoretical, others observational. Therefore, an extension of the present precision study to a larger sample of eclipsing systems is crucial for establishing and improving the accuracy of asteroseismology of giant stars
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