BUMC Annual Report

Annual report of the Boston University Medical Center

BUMC Annual Report

Annual report of the Boston University Medical Center

The Hunt for Exomoons with Kepler (HEK): I. Description of a New Observational Project

Two decades ago, empirical evidence concerning the existence and frequency of planets around stars, other than our own, was absent. Since this time, the detection of extrasolar planets from Jupiter-sized to most recently Earth-sized worlds has blossomed and we are finally able to shed light on the plurality of Earth-like, habitable planets in the cosmos. Extrasolar moons may also be frequent habitable worlds but their detection or even systematic pursuit remains lacking in the current literature. Here, we present a description of the first systematic search for extrasolar moons as part of a new observational project called "The Hunt for Exomoons with Kepler" (HEK). The HEK project distills the entire list of known transiting planet candidates found by Kepler (2326 at the time of writing) down to the most promising candidates for hosting a moon. Selected targets are fitted using a multimodal nested sampling algorithm coupled with a planet-with-moon light curve modelling routine. By comparing the Bayesian evidence of a planet-only model to that of a planet-with-moon, the detection process is handled in a Bayesian framework. In the case of null detections, upper limits derived from posteriors marginalised over the entire prior volume will be provided to inform the frequency of large moons around viable planetary hosts, eta-moon. After discussing our methodologies for target selection, modelling, fitting and vetting, we provide two example analyses.Comment: 21 pages, 8 figures, 4 tables, accepted in Ap

HST PanCET program: A Cloudy Atmosphere for the promising JWST target WASP-101b

We present results from the first observations of the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) Panchromatic Comparative Exoplanet Treasury (PanCET) program for WASP-101b, a highly inflated hot Jupiter and one of the community targets proposed for the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) Early Release Science (ERS) program. From a single HST Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3) observation, we find that the near-infrared transmission spectrum of WASP-101b contains no significant H$_2$O absorption features and we rule out a clear atmosphere at 13{\sigma}. Therefore, WASP-101b is not an optimum target for a JWST ERS program aimed at observing strong molecular transmission features. We compare WASP-101b to the well studied and nearly identical hot Jupiter WASP-31b. These twin planets show similar temperature-pressure profiles and atmospheric features in the near-infrared. We suggest exoplanets in the same parameter space as WASP-101b and WASP-31b will also exhibit cloudy transmission spectral features. For future HST exoplanet studies, our analysis also suggests that a lower count limit needs to be exceeded per pixel on the detector in order to avoid unwanted instrumental systematics.Comment: 7 pages, 4 figures, 1 table, Accepted to ApJ

New constraints on dark energy from the observed growth of the most X-ray luminous galaxy clusters

We present constraints on the mean matter density, Omega_m, the normalization of the density fluctuation power spectrum, sigma_8, and the dark-energy equation-of-state parameter, w, obtained from measurements of the X-ray luminosity function of the largest known galaxy clusters at redshifts z<0.7, as compiled in the Massive Cluster Survey (MACS) and the local BCS and REFLEX galaxy cluster samples. Our analysis employs an observed mass-luminosity relation, calibrated by hydrodynamical simulations, including corrections for non-thermal pressure support and accounting for the presence of intrinsic scatter. Conservative allowances for all known systematic uncertainties are included, as are standard priors on the Hubble constant and mean baryon density. We find Omega_m=0.28 +0.11 -0.07 and sigma_8=0.78 +0.11 -0.13 for a spatially flat, cosmological-constant model, and Omega_m=0.24 +0.15 -0.07, sigma_8=0.85 +0.13 -0.20 and w=-1.4 +0.4 -0.7 for a flat, constant-w model. Future work improving our understanding of redshift evolution and observational biases affecting the mass--X-ray luminosity relation have the potential to significantly tighten these constraints. Our results are consistent with those from recent analyses of type Ia supernovae, cosmic microwave background anisotropies, the X-ray gas mass fraction of relaxed galaxy clusters, baryon acoustic oscillations and cosmic shear. Combining the new X-ray luminosity function data with current supernova, cosmic microwave background and cluster gas fraction data yields the improved constraints Omega_m=0.269 +- 0.016, sigma_8=0.82 +- 0.03 and w=-1.02 +- 0.06. (Abridged)Comment: Submitted to MNRAS. 15 pages, 15 figures. v2: Improved modeling of the mass-luminosity relation, including additional systematic allowances for evolution in the scatter and non-thermal pressure support. Constraints are somewhat weaker, but overall conclusions are unchanged

HIFLUGCS: Galaxy cluster scaling relations between X-ray luminosity, gas mass, cluster radius, and velocity dispersion

We present relations between X-ray luminosity and velocity dispersion (L-sigma), X-ray luminosity and gas mass (L-Mgas), and cluster radius and velocity dispersion (r500-sigma) for 62 galaxy clusters in the HIFLUGCS, an X-ray flux-limited sample minimizing bias toward any cluster morphology. Our analysis in total is based on ~1.3Ms of clean X-ray XMM-Newton data and 13439 cluster member galaxies with redshifts. Cool cores are among the major contributors to the scatter in the L-sigma relation. When the cool-core-corrected X-ray luminosity is used the intrinsic scatter decreases to 0.27 dex. Even after the X-ray luminosity is corrected for the cool core, the scatter caused by the presence of cool cores dominates for the low-mass systems. The scatter caused by the non-cool-core clusters does not strongly depend on the mass range, and becomes dominant in the high-mass regime. The observed L-sigma relation agrees with the self-similar prediction, matches that of a simulated sample with AGN feedback disregarding six clusters with <45 cluster members with spectroscopic redshifts, and shows a common trend of increasing scatter toward the low-mass end, i.e., systems with sigma<500km/s. A comparison of observations with simulations indicates an AGN-feedback-driven impact in the low-mass regime. The best fits to the $L-M_{\rm gas}$ relations for the disturbed clusters and undisturbed clusters in the observational sample closely match those of the simulated samples with and without AGN feedback, respectively. This suggests that one main cause of the scatter is AGN activity providing feedback in different phases, e.g., during a feedback cycle. The slope and scatter in the observed r500-sigma relation is similar to that of the simulated sample with AGN feedback except for a small offset but still within the scatter.Comment: 45 pages, 28 figures, A&A proof-version, high-resolution figures in Appendix F can be found in the electronic version on the A&A we

BUMC Annual Report

Annual report of the Boston University Medical Center