355 research outputs found
The Exoplanet Population Observation Simulator. I - The Inner Edges of Planetary Systems
The Kepler survey provides a statistical census of planetary systems out to
the habitable zone. Because most planets are non-transiting, orbital
architectures are best estimated using simulated observations of ensemble
populations. Here, we introduce EPOS, the Exoplanet Population Observation
Simulator, to estimate the prevalence and orbital architectures of multi-planet
systems based on the latest Kepler data release, DR25. We estimate that at
least 42% of sun-like stars have nearly coplanar planetary systems with 7 or
more exoplanets. The fraction of stars with at least one planet within 1 au
could be as high as 100% depending on assumptions about the distribution of
single transiting planets. We estimate an occurrence rate of planets in the
habitable zone around sun-like stars of eta_earth=36+-14%. The innermost
planets in multi-planet systems are clustered around an orbital period of 10
days (0.1 au), reminiscent of the protoplanetary disk inner edge or could be
explained by a planet trap at that location. Only a small fraction of planetary
systems have the innermost planet at long orbital periods, with fewer than ~8%
and ~3% having no planet interior to the orbit of Mercury and Venus,
respectively. These results reinforce the view that the solar system is not a
typical planetary system, but an outlier among the distribution of known
exoplanetary systems. We predict that at least half of the habitable zone
exoplanets are accompanied by (non-transiting) planets at shorter orbital
periods, hence knowledge of a close-in exoplanet could be used as a way to
optimize the search for Earth-size planets in the Habitable Zone with future
direct imaging missions.Comment: Accepted in AAS journals, code available on githu
The Onset of Planet Formation in Brown Dwarf Disks
The onset of planet formation in protoplanetary disks is marked by the growth
and crystallization of sub-micron-sized dust grains accompanied by dust
settling toward the disk mid-plane. Here we present infrared spectra of disks
around brown dwarfs and brown dwarf candidates. We show that all three
processes occur in such cool disks in a way similar or identical to that in
disks around low- and intermediate-mass stars. These results indicate that the
onset of planet formation extends to disks around brown dwarfs, suggesting that
planet formation is a robust process occurring in most young circumstellar
disks.Comment: Published in Science 2005, vol 310, 834; 3 pages in final format, 4
figures + 8 pages Supporting Online Material. For final typeset, see
http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/310/5749/834?eto
Earths in Other Solar Systems N-body simulations: the Role of Orbital Damping in Reproducing the Kepler Planetary Systems
The population of exoplanetary systems detected by Kepler provides
opportunities to refine our understanding of planet formation. Unraveling the
conditions needed to produce the observed exoplanets will sallow us to make
informed predictions as to where habitable worlds exist within the galaxy. In
this paper, we examine using N-body simulations how the properties of planetary
systems are determined during the final stages of assembly. While accretion is
a chaotic process, trends in the ensemble properties of planetary systems
provide a memory of the initial distribution of solid mass around a star prior
to accretion. We also use EPOS, the Exoplanet Population Observation Simulator,
to account for detection biases and show that different accretion scenarios can
be distinguished from observations of the Kepler systems. We show that the
period of the innermost planet, the ratio of orbital periods of adjacent
planets, and masses of the planets are determined by the total mass and radial
distribution of embryos and planetesimals at the beginning of accretion. In
general, some amount of orbital damping, either via planetesimals or gas,
during accretion is needed to match the whole population of exoplanets.
Surprisingly, all simulated planetary systems have planets that are similar in
size, showing that the "peas in a pod" pattern can be consistent with both a
giant impact scenario and a planet migration scenario. The inclusion of
material at distances larger than what Kepler observes has a profound impact on
the observed planetary architectures, and thus on the formation and delivery of
volatiles to possible habitable worlds.Comment: Resubmitted to ApJ. Planet formation models available online at
http://eos-nexus.org/genesis-database
The Exoplanet Population Observation Simulator. II -- Population Synthesis in the Era of Kepler
The collection of planetary system properties derived from large surveys such
as Kepler provides critical constraints on planet formation and evolution.
These constraints can only be applied to planet formation models, however, if
the observational biases and selection effects are properly accounted for. Here
we show how epos, the Exoplanet Population Observation Simulator, can be used
to constrain planet formation models by comparing the Bern planet population
synthesis models to the Kepler exoplanetary systems. We compile a series of
diagnostics, based on occurrence rates of different classes of planets and the
architectures of multi-planet systems, that can be used as benchmarks for
future and current modeling efforts. Overall, we find that a model with 100
seed planetary cores per protoplanetary disk provides a reasonable match to
most diagnostics. Based on these diagnostics we identify physical properties
and processes that would result in the Bern model more closely matching the
known planetary systems. These are: moving the planet trap at the inner disk
edge outward; increasing the formation efficiency of mini-Neptunes; and
reducing the fraction of stars that form observable planets. We conclude with
an outlook on the composition of planets in the habitable zone, and highlight
that the majority of simulated planets smaller than 1.7 Earth radii have
substantial hydrogen atmospheres.
The software used in this paper is available online for public scrutiny at
https://github.com/GijsMulders/eposComment: Accepted in Ap
Hubble Space Telescope astrometry of the closest brown dwarf binary system -- I. Overview and improved orbit
Located at ~2pc, the L7.5+T0.5 dwarfs system WISE J104915.57-531906.1
(Luhman16AB) is the third closest system known to Earth, making it a key
benchmark for detailed investigation of brown dwarf atmospheric properties,
thermal evolution, multiplicity, and planet-hosting frequency. In the first
study of this series -- based on a multi-cycle Hubble Space Telescope (HST)
program -- we provide an overview of the project and present improved estimates
of positions, proper motions, annual parallax, mass ratio, and the current best
assessment of the orbital parameters of the A-B pair. Our HST observations
encompass the apparent periastron of the binary at 220.5+/-0.2 mas at epoch
2016.402. Although our data seem to be inconsistent with recent ground-based
astrometric measurements, we also exclude the presence of third bodies down to
Neptune masses and periods longer than a year.Comment: 19 pages, 9 figures, 9 tables. Accepted for publication in MNRAS on
2017 May
The young stellar population of Lynds 1340. An infrared view
We present results of an infrared study of the molecular cloud Lynds 1340,
forming three groups of low and intermediate-mass stars. Our goals are to
identify and characterise the young stellar population of the cloud, study the
relationships between the properties of the cloud and the emergent stellar
groups, and integrate L1340 into the picture of the star-forming activity of
our Galactic environment. We selected candidate young stellar objects from the
Spitzer and WISE data bases using various published color criteria, and
classified them based on the slope of the spectral energy distribution. We
identified 170 Class II, 27 Flat SED, and Class 0/I sources. High angular
resolution near-infrared observations of the RNO 7 cluster, embedded in L1340,
revealed eight new young stars of near-infrared excess. The surface density
distribution of young stellar objects shows three groups, associated with the
three major molecular clumps of L1340, each consisting of less than 100
members, including both pre-main sequence stars and embedded protostars. New
Herbig--Haro objects were identified in the Spitzer images. Our results
demonstrate that L1340 is a prolific star-forming region of our Galactic
environment in which several specific properties of the intermediate-mass mode
of star formation can be studied in detail.Comment: 73 pages, 33 figures, 15 tables. Accepted for publication in ApJ
beta Pic b position relative to the Debris Disk
Context. We detected in 2009 a giant, close-by planet orbiting {\beta} Pic, a
young star surrounded with a disk, extensively studied for more than 20 years.
We showed that if located on an inclined orbit, the planet could explain
several peculiarities of {\beta} Pictoris system. However, the available data
did not permit to measure the inclination of {\beta} Pic b with respect to the
disk, and in particular to establish in which component of the disk - the main,
extended disk or the inner inclined component/disk-, the planet was located.
Comparison between the observed planet position and the disk orientation
measured on previous imaging data was not an option because of potential biases
in the measurements. Aims. Our aim is to measure precisely the planet location
with respect to the dust disk using a single high resolution image, and
correcting for systematics or errors that degrades the precision of the disk
and planet relative position measurements. Methods. We gathered new NaCo data
at Ks band, with a set-up optimized to derive simultaneously the orientation(s)
of the disk(s) and that of the planet. Results. We show that the projected
position of {\beta} Pic b is above the midplane of the main disk. With the
current data and knowledge on the system, this implies that {\beta} Pic b
cannot be located in the main disk. The data rather suggest the planet being
located in the inclined component.Comment: 13 pages, 6 figures, to appear in Astronomy and Astrophysic
The HST Large Program on Omega Centauri. I. Multiple stellar populations at the bottom of the main sequence probed in NIR-Optical
As part of a large investigation with Hubble Space Telescope to study the
faintest stars within the globular cluster Omega Centauri, in this work we
present early results on the multiplicity of its main sequence (MS) stars,
based on deep optical and near-infrared observations. By using appropriate
color-magnitude diagrams we have identified, for the first time, the two main
stellar populations I, and II along the entire MS, from the turn-off towards
the hydrogen-burning limit. We have compared the observations with suitable
synthetic spectra of MS stars and conclude that the two MSs are consistent with
stellar populations with different metallicity, helium, and light-element
abundance. Specifically, MS-I corresponds to a metal-poor stellar population
([Fe/H]~-1.7) with Y~ 0.25 and [O/Fe]~0.30. The MS-II hosts helium-rich
(Y~0.37-0.40) stars with metallicity ranging from [Fe/H]~-1.7 to -1.4. Below
the MS knee (mF160W~19.5, our photometry reveals that each of the two main MSs
hosts stellar subpopulations with different oxygen abundances, with very O-poor
stars ([O/Fe]~-0.5) populating the MS-II. Such a complexity has never been
observed in previous studies of M-dwarfs in globular clusters. A few months
before the lunch of the James Webb Space Telescope, these results demonstrate
the power of optical and near-infrared photometry in the study of multiple
stellar populations in globular clusters.Comment: 13 pages, 9 figures, accepted for publication in MNRA
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