899 research outputs found
The non-detection of oscillations in Procyon by MOST: is it really a surprise?
We argue that the non-detection of oscillations in Procyon by the MOST
satellite reported by Matthews et al. (2004) is fully consistent with published
ground-based velocity observations of this star. We also examine the claims
that the MOST observations represent the best photometric precision so far
reported in the literature by about an order of magnitude and are the most
sensitive data set for asteroseismology available for any star other than the
Sun. These statements are not correct, with the most notable exceptions being
observations of oscillations in alpha Cen A that are far superior. We further
disagree that the hump of excess power seen repeatedly from velocity
observations of Procyon can be explained as an artefact caused by gaps in the
data. The MOST observations failed to reveal oscillations clearly because their
noise level is too high, possibly from scattered Earthlight in the instrument.
We did find an excess of strong peaks in the MOST amplitude spectrum that is
inconsistent with a simple noise source such as granulation, and may perhaps
indicate oscillations at roughly the expected level.Comment: 6 pages, accepted for publication in A&A Letter
Detection of Solar-like Oscillations in the G7 Giant Star xi Hya
We report the firm discovery of solar-like oscillations in a giant star. We
monitored the star xi Hya (G7III) continuously during one month with the
CORALIE spectrograph attached to the 1.2m Swiss Euler telescope. The 433
high-precision radial-velocity measurements clearly reveal multiple oscillation
frequencies in the range 50 - 130 uHz, corresponding to periods between 2.0 and
5.5 hours. The amplitudes of the strongest modes are slightly smaller than 2
m/s. Current model calculations are compatible with the detected modes.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, accepted for publication as a letter in A&
p-mode frequencies in solar-like stars : I. Procyon A
As a part of an on-going program to explore the signature of p-modes in
solar-like stars by means of high-resolution absorption lines pectroscopy, we
have studied four stars (alfaCMi, etaCas A, zetaHer A and betaVir). We present
here new results from two-site observations of Procyon A acquired over twelve
nights in 1999. Oscillation frequencies for l=1 and l=0 (or 2) p-modes are
detected in the power spectra of these Doppler shift measurements. A frequency
analysis points out the dificulties of the classical asymptotic theory in
representing the p-mode spectrum of Procyon A
PASTIS: Bayesian extrasolar planet validation II. Constraining exoplanet blend scenarios using spectroscopic diagnoses
The statistical validation of transiting exoplanets proved to be an efficient
technique to secure the nature of small exoplanet signals which cannot be
established by purely spectroscopic means. However, the spectroscopic diagnoses
are providing us with useful constraints on the presence of blended stellar
contaminants. In this paper, we present how a contaminating star affects the
measurements of the various spectroscopic diagnoses as function of the
parameters of the target and contaminating stars using the model implemented
into the PASTIS planet-validation software. We find particular cases for which
a blend might produce a large radial velocity signal but no bisector variation.
It might also produce a bisector variation anti-correlated with the radial
velocity one, as in the case of stellar spots. In those cases, the full width
half maximum variation provides complementary constraints. These results can be
used to constrain blend scenarios for transiting planet candidates or radial
velocity planets. We review all the spectroscopic diagnoses reported in the
literature so far, especially the ones to monitor the line asymmetry. We
estimate their uncertainty and compare their sensitivity to blends. Based on
that, we recommend the use of BiGauss which is the most sensitive diagnosis to
monitor line-profile asymmetry. In this paper, we also investigate the
sensitivity of the radial velocities to constrain blend scenarios and develop a
formalism to estimate the level of dilution of a blended signal. Finally, we
apply our blend model to re-analyse the spectroscopic diagnoses of HD16702, an
unresolved face-on binary which exhibits bisector variations.Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRA
The `666' collaboration on OGLE transits: I. Accurate radius of the planets OGLE-TR-10b and OGLE-TR-56b with VLT deconvolution photometry
Transiting planets are essential to study the structure and evolution of
extra-solar planets. For that purpose, it is important to measure precisely the
radius of these planets. Here we report new high-accuracy photometry of the
transits of OGLE-TR-10 and OGLE-TR-56 with VLT/FORS1. One transit of each
object was covered in Bessel V and R filters, and treated with the
deconvolution-based photometry algorithm DECPHOT, to ensure accurate
millimagnitude light curves. Together with earlier spectroscopic measurements,
the data imply a radius of 1.22 +0.12-0.07 R_J for OGLE-TR-10b and 1.30 +- 0.05
R_J for OGLE-TR-56b. A re-analysis of the original OGLE photometry resolves an
earlier discrepancy about the radius of OGLE-TR-10. The transit of OGLE-TR-56
is almost grazing, so that small systematics in the photometry can cause large
changes in the derived radius. Our study confirms both planets as inflated hot
Jupiters, with large radii comparable to that of HD 209458 and at least two
other recently discovered transiting gas giants.Comment: Fundamental updates compared to previous version; accepted for
publication in Astronomy & Astrophysic
CoRoT 101186644: A transiting low-mass dense M-dwarf on an eccentric 20.7-day period orbit around a late F-star
We present the study of the CoRoT transiting planet candidate 101186644, also
named LRc01_E1_4780. Analysis of the CoRoT lightcurve and the HARPS
spectroscopic follow-up observations of this faint (m_V = 16) candidate
revealed an eclipsing binary composed of a late F-type primary (T_eff = 6090
+/- 200 K) and a low-mass, dense late M-dwarf secondary on an eccentric (e =
0.4) orbit with a period of ~20.7 days. The M-dwarf has a mass of 0.096 +/-
0.011 M_Sun, and a radius of 0.104 +0.026/-0.006 R_Sun, which possibly makes it
the smallest and densest late M-dwarf reported so far. Unlike the claim that
theoretical models predict radii that are 5%-15% smaller than measured for
low-mass stars, this one seems to have a radius that is consistent and might
even be below the radius predicted by theoretical models.Comment: Accepted for publication in Astronomy & Astrophysics, 8 pages, 10
figure
SOPHIE velocimetry of Kepler transit candidates. V. The three hot Jupiters KOI-135b, KOI-204b and KOI-203b (alias Kepler-17b)
We report the discovery of two new transiting hot Jupiters, KOI-135b and
KOI-204b, that were previously identified as planetary candidates by Borucki et
al. 2011, and, independently of the Kepler team, confirm the planetary nature
of Kepler-17b, recently announced by Desert et al. 2011. Radial-velocity
measurements, taken with the SOPHIE spectrograph at the OHP, and Kepler
photometry (Q1 and Q2 data) were used to derive the orbital, stellar and
planetary parameters. KOI-135b and KOI-204b orbit their parent stars in 3.02
and 3.25 days, respectively. They have approximately the same radius,
Rp=1.20+/-0.06 R_jup and 1.24+/-0.07 R_jup, but different masses Mp=3.23+/-0.19
M_jup and 1.02+/-0.07 M_jup. As a consequence, their bulk densities differ by a
factor of four, rho_p=2.33+/-0.36 g.cm^-3 (KOI-135b) and 0.65+/-0.12 g.cm-3
(KOI-204b). Our SOPHIE spectra of Kepler-17b, used both to measure the
radial-velocity variations and determine the atmospheric parameters of the host
star, allow us to refine the characterisation of the planetary system. In
particular we found the radial-velocity semi-amplitude and the stellar mass to
be respectively slightly smaller and larger than Desert et al. These two
quantities, however, compensate and lead to a planetary mass fully consistent
with Desert et al.: our analysis gives Mp=2.47+/-0.10 M_jup and Rp=1.33+/-0.04
R_jup. We found evidence for a younger age of this planetary system, t<1.8 Gyr,
which is supported by both evolutionary tracks and gyrochronology. Finally, we
confirm the detection of the optical secondary eclipse and found also the
brightness phase variation with the Q1 and Q2 Kepler data. The latter indicates
a low redistribution of stellar heat to the night side (<16% at 1-sigma), if
the optical planetary occultation comes entirely from thermal flux. The
geometric albedo is A_g<0.12 (1-sigma).Comment: submitted to Astronomy and Astrophysic
SOPHIE velocimetry of Kepler transit candidates VII. A false-positive rate of 35% for Kepler close-in giant exoplanet candidates
The false-positive probability (FPP) of Kepler transiting candidates is a key
value for statistical studies of candidate properties. A previous investigation
of the stellar population in the Kepler field has provided an estimate for the
FPP of less than 5% for most of the candidates. We report here the results of
our radial velocity observations on a sample of 46 Kepler candidates with a
transit depth greater than 0.4%, orbital period less than 25 days and host star
brighter than Kepler magnitude 14.7. We used the SOPHIE spectrograph mounted on
the 1.93-m telescope at the Observatoire de Haute-Provence to establish the
nature of the transiting candidates. In this sample, we found five undiluted
eclipsing binaries, two brown dwarfs, six diluted eclipsing binaries, and nine
new transiting planets that complement the 11 already published planets. The
remaining 13 candidates were not followed-up or remain unsolved due to photon
noise limitation or lack of observations. From these results we computed the
FPP for Kepler close-in giant candidates to be 34.8% \pm 6.5%. We aimed to
investigate the variation of the FPP for giant candidates with the longer
orbital periods and found that it should be constant for orbital periods
between 10 and 200 days. This significant disagrees with the previous
estimates. We discuss the reasons for this discrepancy and the possible
extension of this work toward smaller planet candidates. Finally, taking the
false-positive rate into account, we refined the occurrence rate of hot
jupiters from the Kepler data.Comment: Accepted in A&A. 16 pages including 4 online material pages. 6
figures and 1 tabl
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
Oscillations on the star Procyon
Stars are sphere of hot gas whose interiors transmit acoustic waves very
efficiently. Geologists learn about the interior structure of Earth by
monitoring how seismic waves propagate through it and, in a similar way, the
interior of a star can be probed using the periodic motions on the surface that
arise from such waves. Matthews et al. claim that the star Procyon does not
have acoustic surface oscillations of the strength predicted. However, we show
here, using ground-based spectroscopy, that Procyon is oscillating, albeit with
an amplitude that is only slightly greater than the noise level observed by
Matthews et al. using spaced-based photometry
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