Constraining the evolution of young radio-loud AGN

GPS and CSS radio sources are the objects of choice to investigate the evolution of young radio-loud AGN. Previous investigations, mainly based on number counts and source size distributions, indicate that GPS/CSS sources decrease significantly in radio power when evolving into old, extended objects. We suggest this is preceded by a period of increase in radio luminosity, which lasts as long as the radio source is confined within the core-radius of its host galaxy. We have selected a sample of nearby compact radio sources, unbiased by radio spectrum, to determine their radio luminosity function, size distribution, dynamical ages, and emission line properties in a complete and homogeneous way. First results indicate that the large majority of objects (>80%) exhibit classical GPS/CSS radio spectra, and show structures consistent with the being compact double, or compact symmetric objects. This sample provides and ideal basis to further test and constrain possible evolution scenarios, and to investigate the relation between radio spectra and morphologies, orientation and Doppler boosting in samples of young radio-loud AGN, in an unbiased way.Comment: LaTeX, 8 pages, 3 figs: Accepted by Publications of the Astronomical Society of Australia, as part of the proceedings of the 3rd GPS/CSS workshop, eds. T. Tzioumis et a

K-band transit and secondary eclipse photometry of exoplanet OGLE-TR-113b

We present high precision K-band photometry of the transit and secondary eclipse of extrasolar planet OGLE-TR-113, using the SOFI near-infrared instrument on ESO's NTT. Data were taken in 5 second exposures over two periods of 3-4 hours, using random jitter position offsets. In this way, a relative photometric precision of ~1% per frame was achieved, avoiding systematic effects that seem to become dominant at precisions exceeding this level, and resulting in an overall accuracy of 0.1% per ~10 minutes. The observations of the transit show a flat bottom light-curve indicative of a significantly lower stellar limb-darkening at near-infrared than at optical wavelengths. The observations of the secondary eclipse result in a 3 sigma detection of emission from the exoplanet at 0.17+-0.05%. However, residual systematic errors make this detection rather tentative.Comment: 6 pages, 7 figures: MNRAS accepte

Optical spectroscopy of faint gigahertz peaked spectrum sources

We present spectroscopic observations of a sample of faint Gigahertz Peaked Spectrum (GPS) radio sources drawn from the Westerbork Northern Sky Survey (WENSS). Redshifts have been determined for 19 (40%) of the objects. The optical spectra of the GPS sources identified with low redshift galaxies show deep stellar absorption features. This confirms previous suggestions that their optical light is not significantly contaminated by AGN-related emission, but is dominated by a population of old (>9 Gyr) and metal-rich (>0.2 [Fe/H]) stars, justifying the use of these (probably) young radio sources as probes of galaxy evolution. The optical spectra of GPS sources identified with quasars are indistinguishable from those of flat spectrum quasars, and clearly different from the spectra of Compact Steep Spectrum (CSS) quasars. The redshift distribution of the GPS quasars in our radio-faint sample is comparable to that of the bright samples presented in the literature, peaking at z ~ 2-3. It is unlikely that a significant population of low redshift GPS quasars is missed due to selection effects in our sample. We therefore claim that there is a genuine difference between the redshift distributions of GPS galaxies and quasars, which, because it is present in both the radio-faint and bright samples, can not be due to a redshift-luminosity degeneracy. It is therefore unlikely that the GPS quasars and galaxies are unified by orientation, unless the quasar opening angle is a strong function of redshift. We suggest that the GPS quasars and galaxies are unrelated populations and just happen to have identical observed radio-spectral properties, and hypothesise that GPS quasars are a sub-class of flat spectrum quasars.Comment: LaTeX, 13 pages. Accepted by MNRAS. For related papers see http://www.ast.cam.ac.uk/~snelle

Using the chromatic Rossiter-McLaughlin effect to probe the broadband signature in the optical transmission spectrum of HD 189733b

Transmission spectroscopy is a powerful technique for probing exoplanetary atmospheres. A successful ground-based observational method uses a differential technique based on high-dispersion spectroscopy, but that only preserves narrow features in transmission spectra. Here we use the chromatic Rossiter-McLaughlin (RM) effect to measure the Rayleigh-scattering slope in the transmission spectrum of HD 189733b with the aim to show that it can be effectively used to measure broadband transmission features. The amplitude of the RM effects depends on the effective size of the planet, and in the case of an atmospheric contribution therefore depends on the observed wavelength. We analysed archival HARPS data of three transits of HD 189733b, covering a wavelength range of 400 to 700 nm. We measured the slope in the transmission spectrum of HD 189733b at a $2.5\sigma$ significance. Assuming it is due to Rayleigh scattering and not caused by stellar activity, it would correspond to an atmospheric temperature, as set by the scale height, of $T = 2300 \pm 900 \mathrm{K}$, well in line with previously obtained results. This shows that ground-based high-dispersion spectral observations can be used to probe broad-band features in the transmission spectra of extrasolar planets, by using the chromatic RM effect. This method will be particularly interesting in conjunction with the new echelle spectrograph ESPRESSO, which currently is under construction for ESOs Very Large Telescope and will provide a gain in signal-to-noise ratio of about a factor 4 compared to HARPS. This will be of great value because of the limited and uncertain future of the Hubble Space Telescope and because the future James Webb Space Telescope will not cover this wavelength regime.Comment: 8 pages, 7 figures, accepted for publication on Astronomy and Astrophysic

A stringent upper limit to 18cm radio emission from the extrasolar planet system tau Bootis

Context: It has been speculated for many years that some extrasolar planets may emit strong cyclotron emission at low radio frequencies in the range 10-100 MHz. Despite several attempts no such emission has yet been seen. Aims: The hot Jupiter system tau Bootis is one of the nearest (d=15 pc) exoplanets known to date. The gravitational influence of this massive hot Jupiter (M=6 M_jup) has locked the star-planet system, making the star rotate in P~3.3 days, similar to the orbital period of the planet. From the well established correlation between stellar rotation and radio luminosity, it is conceivable that the tau Bootis system emits strong radio emission at significantly higher frequencies than currently probed, which we aimed to investigate with this work. Methods: We observed tau Bootis with the Westerbork Synthesis Radio Telescope (WSRT) at a frequency of 1.7 GHz. for 12 hours in spectral line mode, reaching a noise level of 42 microJy/beam at the position of the target. Results: No 18cm radio emission is detected from tau Bootis, resulting in a 3 sigma upper limit of 0.13 mJy, corresponding to a 18cm radio luminosity of <3.7e13 erg/s/Hz. We observe tau Bootis to be two orders of magnitude fainter than expected from the stellar relation between radio luminosity and rotation velocity. Conclusions: This implies that either the tau Bootis system is underluminous in the radio compared to similar fast-rotating stars, or that we happened to observe the target during a low state of radio emission.Comment: 4 pages, 1 figure: Accepted for publication in A&

Searching for reflected light from τ\tau Bootis b with high-resolution ground-based spectroscopy: Approaching the 10−510^{-5} contrast barrier

It is challenging to measure the starlight reflected from exoplanets because of the extreme contrast with their host stars. For hot Jupiters, this contrast is in the range of $10^{-6}$ to $10^{-4}$, depending on their albedo, radius and orbital distance. Searches for reflected light have been performed since the first hot Jupiters were discovered, but with very limited success because hot Jupiters tend to have low albedo values due to the general absence of reflective cloud decks. The aim of this study is to search for reflected light from $\tau$ Boo b, a hot Jupiter with one of the brightest host stars. Since its discovery in 1997, it has been the subject of several reflected-light searches using high-dispersion spectroscopy. Here we aim to combine these data in to a single meta-analysis. We analysed more than 2,000 archival high-dispersion spectra obtained with the UVES, ESPaDOnS, NARVAL UES and HARPS-N spectrographs during various epochs between 1998 and 2013. Each spectrum was first cleaned of the stellar spectrum and subsequently cross-correlated with a PHOENIX model spectrum. These were then Doppler shifted to the planet rest-frame and co-added in time, weighted according to the expected signal-to-noise of the planet signal. We reach a 3$\sigma$ upper limit of the planet to star contrast of $1.5 \times 10^{-5}$. Assuming a planet radius of 1.15 $R_J$, this corresponds to an optical albedo of 0.12 between 400-700 nm. This low albedo is in line with secondary eclipse and phase curve observations of other hot Jupiters using space-based observatories, as well as theoretical predictions of their reflective properties.Comment: 15 pages, 13 figures, accepted for publication in Astronomy and Astrophysic

A Parkes half-Jansky sample of GPS galaxies

This paper describes the selection of a new southern/equatorial sample of Gigahertz Peaked Spectrum (GPS) radio galaxies, and subsequent optical CCD imaging and spectroscopic observations using the ESO 3.6m telescope. The sample consists of 49 sources with -4020 degrees, and S(2.7GHz)>0.5 Jy, selected from the Parkes PKSCAT90 survey. About 80% of the sources are optically identified, and about half of the identifications have available redshifts. The R-band Hubble diagram and evolution of the host galaxies of GPS sources are reviewed.Comment: Latex, 12 pages, 8 figures, accepted for publication in MNRA

Detecting isotopologues in exoplanet atmospheres using ground-based high-dispersion spectroscopy

Cross-correlation is a well-tested method for exoplanet characterization. A new, potentially powerful application is the measurement of atmospheric isotope ratios. In particular D/H can give unique insights into a planet's formation and evolution. Here we aim to study the detectability of isotopologues in the high-dispersion spectra of exoplanets, to identify the optimal wavelengths ranges, and to predict the required observational efforts with current and future ground-based instruments. High-dispersion (R=10$^5$) thermal emission (and sometimes reflection) spectra were simulated by self-consistently modeling exoplanet atmospheres over a wide range of temperatures. These were synthetically observed with telescopes equivalent to the VLT or ELT, and analyzed with cross-correlation, resulting in S/N predictions for the detection of $^{13}$CO, HDO, and CH$_3$D. For the best observable exoplanets, $^{13}$CO is in range of current telescopes. It will be most favorably detected at 2.4 microns, just longward of the spectral range probed by several high-dispersion observations in the literature. CH$_3$D can best be seen at 4.7 microns, using 40m-class telescopes for planets with $T_{\rm equ}$ below 600 K. In this case, sky emission is often dominating the noise. HDO can be targeted at 3.7 microns, where sky emission is smaller. 40m-class telescopes may detect it in planets with $T_{\rm equ}$ below 900~K, potentially even 8m-class telescopes in the case of methane quenching. If Proxima Cen b is water-rich, HDO could be detected with the ELT in 1 night in reflected light. Isotopologues will soon belong to the exoplanet characterisation tools. Measuring D/H, and ratios of other isotopes, could be a prime science case for the METIS instrument on the ELT, especially for nearby rocky and ice giant planets. This can give unique insights in their history of ice enrichment and atmospheric evaporation.Comment: 22 pages, 12 figures, updated version, accepted for publication in A &