Quark Coulomb Interactions and the Mass Difference of Mirror Nuclei

We study the Okamoto-Nolen-Schiffer (ONS) anomaly in the binding energy of mirror nuclei at high density by adding a single neutron or proton to a quark gluon plasma. In this high-density limit we find an anomaly equal to two-thirds of the Coulomb exchange energy of a proton. This effect is dominated by quark electromagnetic interactions---rather than by the up-down quark mass difference. At normal density we calculate the Coulomb energy of neutron matter using a string-flip quark model. We find a nonzero Coulomb energy because of the neutron's charged constituents. This effect could make a significant contribution to the ONS anomaly.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figs. sub. to Phys. Rev. Let

Ks-band detection of thermal emission and color constraints to CoRoT-1b: A low-albedo planet with inefficient atmospheric energy redistribution and a temperature inversion

We report the detection in Ks-band of the secondary eclipse of the hot Jupiter CoRoT-1b, from time series photometry with the ARC 3.5-m telescope at Apache Point Observatory. The eclipse shows a depth of 0.336+/-0.042 percent and is centered at phase 0.5022 (+0.0023,-0.0027), consistent with a zero eccentricity orbit ecos{\omega} = 0.0035 (+0.0036,-0.0042). We perform the first optical to near-infrared multi-band photometric analysis of an exoplanet's atmosphere and constrain the reflected and thermal emissions by combining our result with the recent 0.6, 0.71, and 2.09 micron secondary eclipse detections by Snellen et al. (2009), Gillon et al. (2009), and Alonso et al. (2009a). Comparing the multi-wavelength detections to state-of-the-art radiative-convective chemical-equilibrium atmosphere models, we find the near-infrared fluxes difficult to reproduce. The closest blackbody-based and physical models provide the following atmosphere parameters: a temperature T = 2454 (+84,-170) K, a very low Bond albedo A_B = 0.000 (+0.087,-0.000), and an energy redistribution parameter P_n = 0.1, indicating a small but nonzero amount of heat transfer from the day- to night-side. The best physical model suggests a thermal inversion layer with an extra optical absorber of opacity kappa_e =0.05cm^2g^-1, placed near the 0.1-bar atmospheric pressure level. This inversion layer is located ten times deeper in the atmosphere than the absorbers used in models to fit mid-infrared Spitzer detections of other irradiated hot Jupiters.Comment: accepted for publication on Ap

A quark model analysis of the charge symmetry breaking in nuclear force

In order to investigate the charge symmetry breaking (CSB) in the short range part of the nuclear force, we calculate the difference of the masses of the neutron and the proton, $\Delta {\rm M}$, the difference of the scattering lengths of the p-p and n-n scatterings, $\Delta a$, and the difference of the analyzing power of the proton and the neutron in the n-p scattering, $\Delta A(\theta)$, by a quark model. In the present model the sources of CSB are the mass difference of the up and down quarks and the electromagnetic interaction. We investigate how much each of them contributes to $\Delta {\rm M}$, $\Delta a$ and $\Delta A(\theta)$. It is found that the contribution of CSB of the short range part in the nuclear force is large enough to explain the observed $\Delta A(\theta)$, while $\Delta a$ is rather underestimated.Comment: 26 pages,6 figure

Isospin-Violating Meson-Nucleon Vertices as an Alternate Mechanism of Charge-Symmetry Breaking

We compute isospin-violating meson-nucleon coupling constants and their consequent charge-symmetry-breaking nucleon-nucleon potentials. The couplings result from evaluating matrix elements of quark currents between nucleon states in a nonrelativistic constituent quark model; the isospin violations arise from the difference in the up and down constituent quark masses. We find, in particular, that isospin violation in the omega-meson--nucleon vertex dominates the class IV CSB potential obtained from these considerations. We evaluate the resulting spin-singlet--triplet mixing angles, the quantities germane to the difference of neutron and proton analyzing powers measured in elastic $\vec{n}-\vec{p}$ scattering, and find them commensurate to those computed originally using the on-shell value of the $\rho$-$\omega$ mixing amplitude. The use of the on-shell $\rho$-$\omega$ mixing amplitude at $q^2=0$ has been called into question; rather, the amplitude is zero in a wide class of models. Our model possesses no contribution from $\rho$-$\omega$ mixing at $q^2=0$, and we find that omega-meson exchange suffices to explain the measured $n-p$ analyzing power difference~at~183 MeV.Comment: 20 pages, revtex, 3 uuencoded PostScript figure

Spitzer Transits of the Super-Earth GJ1214b and Implications for its Atmosphere

We observed the transiting super-Earth exoplanet GJ1214b using warm Spitzer at 4.5 μm wavelength during a 20 day quasi-continuous sequence in 2011 May. The goals of our long observation were to accurately define the infrared transit radius of this nearby super-Earth, to search for the secondary eclipse, and to search for other transiting planets in the habitable zone of GJ1214. We here report results from the transit monitoring of GJ1214b, including a reanalysis of previous transit observations by Désert et al. In total, we analyze 14 transits of GJ1214b at 4.5 μm, 3 transits at 3.6 μm, and 7 new ground-based transits in the I+z band. Our new Spitzer data by themselves eliminate cloudless solar composition atmospheres for GJ1214b, and methane-rich models from Howe & Burrows. Using our new Spitzer measurements to anchor the observed transit radii of GJ1214b at long wavelengths, and adding new measurements in I+z, we evaluate models from Benneke & Seager and Howe & Burrows using a χ^2 analysis. We find that the best-fit model exhibits an increase in transit radius at short wavelengths due to Rayleigh scattering. Pure water atmospheres are also possible. However, a flat line (no atmosphere detected) remains among the best of the statistically acceptable models, and better than pure water atmospheres. We explore the effect of systematic differences among results from different observational groups, and we find that the Howe & Burrows tholin-haze model remains the best fit, even when systematic differences among observers are considered

The Flat Transmission Spectrum of the Super-Earth GJ1214b from Wide Field Camera 3 on the Hubble Space Telescope

Capitalizing on the observational advantage offered by its tiny M dwarf host, we present HST/WFC3 grism measurements of the transmission spectrum of the super-Earth exoplanet GJ1214b. These are the first published WFC3 observations of a transiting exoplanet atmosphere. After correcting for a ramp-like instrumental systematic, we achieve nearly photon-limited precision in these observations, finding the transmission spectrum of GJ1214b to be flat between 1.1 and 1.7 microns. Inconsistent with a cloud-free solar composition atmosphere at 8.2 sigma, the measured achromatic transit depth most likely implies a large mean molecular weight for GJ1214b's outer envelope. A dense atmosphere rules out bulk compositions for GJ1214b that explain its large radius by the presence of a very low density gas layer surrounding the planet. High-altitude clouds can alternatively explain the flat transmission spectrum, but they would need to be optically thick up to 10 mbar or consist of particles with a range of sizes approaching 1 micron in diameter.Comment: 17 pages, 12 figures, accepted for publication in Ap

Exoplanet Atmosphere Measurements from Transmission Spectroscopy and other Planet-Star Combined Light Observations

It is possible to learn a great deal about exoplanet atmospheres even when we cannot spatially resolve the planets from their host stars. In this chapter, we overview the basic techniques used to characterize transiting exoplanets - transmission spectroscopy, emission and reflection spectroscopy, and full-orbit phase curve observations. We discuss practical considerations, including current and future observing facilities and best practices for measuring precise spectra. We also highlight major observational results on the chemistry, climate, and cloud properties of exoplanets.Comment: Accepted review chapter; Handbook of Exoplanets, eds. Hans J. Deeg and Juan Antonio Belmonte (Springer-Verlag). 22 pages, 6 figure

Experimental Facilities Development

This research was sponsored by the National Science Foundation Grant NSF PHY 87-1440

The GJ1214 Super-Earth System: Stellar Variability, New Transits, and a Search for Additional Planets

The super-Earth GJ1214b transits a nearby M dwarf that exhibits 1% intrinsic variability in the near-infrared. Here, we analyze new observations to refine the physical properties of both the star and planet. We present three years of out-of-transit photometric monitoring of the stellar host GJ1214 from the MEarth Observatory and find the rotation period to be long, mostly likely an integer multiple of 53 days, suggesting low levels of magnetic activity and an old age for the system. We show such variability will not pose significant problems to ongoing studies of the planet's atmosphere with transmission spectroscopy. We analyze 2 high-precision transit light curves from ESO's Very Large Telescope along with 7 others from the MEarth and FLWO 1.2 meter telescopes, finding physical parameters for the planet that are consistent with previous work. The VLT light curves show tentative evidence for spot occultations during transit. Using two years of MEarth light curves, we place limits on additional transiting planets around GJ1214 with periods out to the habitable zone of the system. We also improve upon the previous photographic V -band estimate for the star, finding V = 14.71 \pm 0.03.Comment: 16 pages, 10 figures, 6 tables, in emulateapj format. Published in ApJ. Replaced a missing reference in section 6.

A map of the large day-night temperature gradient of a super-Earth exoplanet.

Over the past decade, observations of giant exoplanets (Jupiter-size) have provided key insights into their atmospheres, but the properties of lower-mass exoplanets (sub-Neptune) remain largely unconstrained because of the challenges of observing small planets. Numerous efforts to observe the spectra of super-Earths--exoplanets with masses of one to ten times that of Earth--have so far revealed only featureless spectra. Here we report a longitudinal thermal brightness map of the nearby transiting super-Earth 55 Cancri e (refs 4, 5) revealing highly asymmetric dayside thermal emission and a strong day-night temperature contrast. Dedicated space-based monitoring of the planet in the infrared revealed a modulation of the thermal flux as 55 Cancri e revolves around its star in a tidally locked configuration. These observations reveal a hot spot that is located 41 ± 12 degrees east of the substellar point (the point at which incident light from the star is perpendicular to the surface of the planet). From the orbital phase curve, we also constrain the nightside brightness temperature of the planet to 1,380 ± 400 kelvin and the temperature of the warmest hemisphere (centred on the hot spot) to be about 1,300 kelvin hotter (2,700 ± 270 kelvin) at a wavelength of 4.5 micrometres, which indicates inefficient heat redistribution from the dayside to the nightside. Our observations are consistent with either an optically thick atmosphere with heat recirculation confined to the planetary dayside, or a planet devoid of atmosphere with low-viscosity magma flows at the surface