573 research outputs found
Correction to: Economic evaluation of AbobotulinumtoxinA vs OnabotulinumtoxinA in real-life clinical management of cervical dystonia.
[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1186/s40734-020-0083-0.]
Weed Species Trait Selection as Shaped by Region and Crop Diversity in Organically Managed Spring Cereals
Weeds remain a challenge in organic arable farming, as well as supply ecosystem services. The aim is to control weed densities while hosting a diverse and manageable weed community, preventing domination of few deleterious species. Therefore, we want to understand how specific species are stimulated, and which traits are selected for. This study focuses on crop diversity hypothesizing that (1) regions and (2) crop diversity function as filters for specific weed species traits. We conducted a weed monitoring in spring cereals over 2 years on organic farms in five northern European regions. Management and weed trait variables collected for the occurring species allowed an RLQ fourth-corner analysis. The weed communities were regionally specific, but trait selection was not observed, except in Latvia. Hence, the regional species pool provided different species with similar traits. Crop diversity within the management of spring cereals, such as undersowing and cereal frequency in the rotation, affected weed traits. The number of years under organic production selected no traits, although species numbers are known to increase. Hence, general weed species diversity increased, irrespective of traits. We conclude that organic management may support the agility within the weed community against selection of species and act as a buffer rather than as filter
Ages and fundamental properties of Kepler exoplanet host stars from asteroseismology
We present a study of 33 {\it Kepler} planet-candidate host stars for which
asteroseismic observations have sufficiently high signal-to-noise ratio to
allow extraction of individual pulsation frequencies. We implement a new
Bayesian scheme that is flexible in its input to process individual oscillation
frequencies, combinations of them, and average asteroseismic parameters, and
derive robust fundamental properties for these targets. Applying this scheme to
grids of evolutionary models yields stellar properties with median statistical
uncertainties of 1.2\% (radius), 1.7\% (density), 3.3\% (mass), 4.4\%
(distance), and 14\% (age), making this the exoplanet host-star sample with the
most precise and uniformly determined fundamental parameters to date. We assess
the systematics from changes in the solar abundances and mixing-length
parameter, showing that they are smaller than the statistical errors. We also
determine the stellar properties with three other fitting algorithms and
explore the systematics arising from using different evolution and pulsation
codes, resulting in 1\% in density and radius, and 2\% and 7\% in mass and age,
respectively. We confirm previous findings of the initial helium abundance
being a source of systematics comparable to our statistical uncertainties, and
discuss future prospects for constraining this parameter by combining
asteroseismology and data from space missions. Finally we compare our derived
properties with those obtained using the global average asteroseismic
observables along with effective temperature and metallicity, finding an
excellent level of agreement. Owing to selection effects, our results show that
the majority of the high signal-to-noise ratio asteroseismic {\it Kepler} host
stars are older than the Sun.Comment: 25 pages, 17 figures, MNRAS accepte
An Introduction to Data Analysis in Asteroseismology
A practical guide is presented to some of the main data analysis concepts and
techniques employed contemporarily in the asteroseismic study of stars
exhibiting solar-like oscillations. The subjects of digital signal processing
and spectral analysis are introduced first. These concern the acquisition of
continuous physical signals to be subsequently digitally analyzed. A number of
specific concepts and techniques relevant to asteroseismology are then
presented as we follow the typical workflow of the data analysis process,
namely, the extraction of global asteroseismic parameters and individual mode
parameters (also known as peak-bagging) from the oscillation spectrum.Comment: Lecture presented at the IVth Azores International Advanced School in
Space Sciences on "Asteroseismology and Exoplanets: Listening to the Stars
and Searching for New Worlds" (arXiv:1709.00645), which took place in Horta,
Azores Islands, Portugal in July 201
Kepler-93b: A Terrestrial World Measured to within 120 km, and a Test Case for a New Spitzer Observing Mode
We present the characterization of the Kepler-93 exoplanetary system, based
on three years of photometry gathered by the Kepler spacecraft. The duration
and cadence of the Kepler observations, in tandem with the brightness of the
star, enable unusually precise constraints on both the planet and its host. We
conduct an asteroseismic analysis of the Kepler photometry and conclude that
the star has an average density of 1.652+/-0.006 g/cm^3. Its mass of
0.911+/-0.033 M_Sun renders it one of the lowest-mass subjects of asteroseismic
study. An analysis of the transit signature produced by the planet Kepler-93b,
which appears with a period of 4.72673978+/-9.7x10^-7 days, returns a
consistent but less precise measurement of the stellar density, 1.72+0.02-0.28
g/cm^3. The agreement of these two values lends credence to the planetary
interpretation of the transit signal. The achromatic transit depth, as compared
between Kepler and the Spitzer Space Telescope, supports the same conclusion.
We observed seven transits of Kepler-93b with Spitzer, three of which we
conducted in a new observing mode. The pointing strategy we employed to gather
this subset of observations halved our uncertainty on the transit radius ratio
R_p/R_star. We find, after folding together the stellar radius measurement of
0.919+/-0.011 R_Sun with the transit depth, a best-fit value for the planetary
radius of 1.481+/-0.019 R_Earth. The uncertainty of 120 km on our measurement
of the planet's size currently renders it one of the most precisely measured
planetary radii outside of the Solar System. Together with the radius, the
planetary mass of 3.8+/-1.5 M_Earth corresponds to a rocky density of 6.3+/-2.6
g/cm^3. After applying a prior on the plausible maximum densities of
similarly-sized worlds between 1--1.5 R_Earth, we find that Kepler-93b
possesses an average density within this group.Comment: 20 pages, 9 figures, accepted for publication in Ap
An ancient extrasolar system with five sub-Earth-size planets
The chemical composition of stars hosting small exoplanets (with radii less
than four Earth radii) appears to be more diverse than that of gas-giant hosts,
which tend to be metal-rich. This implies that small, including Earth-size,
planets may have readily formed at earlier epochs in the Universe's history
when metals were more scarce. We report Kepler spacecraft observations of
Kepler-444, a metal-poor Sun-like star from the old population of the Galactic
thick disk and the host to a compact system of five transiting planets with
sizes between those of Mercury and Venus. We validate this system as a true
five-planet system orbiting the target star and provide a detailed
characterization of its planetary and orbital parameters based on an analysis
of the transit photometry. Kepler-444 is the densest star with detected
solar-like oscillations. We use asteroseismology to directly measure a precise
age of 11.2+/-1.0 Gyr for the host star, indicating that Kepler-444 formed when
the Universe was less than 20% of its current age and making it the oldest
known system of terrestrial-size planets. We thus show that Earth-size planets
have formed throughout most of the Universe's 13.8-billion-year history,
leaving open the possibility for the existence of ancient life in the Galaxy.
The age of Kepler-444 not only suggests that thick-disk stars were among the
hosts to the first Galactic planets, but may also help to pinpoint the
beginning of the era of planet formation.Comment: Accepted for publication in ApJ; 42 pages, 10 figures, 4 table
KOI-3158: The oldest known system of terrestrial-size planets
The first discoveries of exoplanets around Sun-like stars have fueled efforts
to find ever smaller worlds evocative of Earth and other terrestrial planets in
the Solar System. While gas-giant planets appear to form preferentially around
metal-rich stars, small planets (with radii less than four Earth radii) can
form under a wide range of metallicities. This implies that small, including
Earth-size, planets may have readily formed at earlier epochs in the Universe's
history when metals were far less abundant. We report Kepler spacecraft
observations of KOI-3158, a metal-poor Sun-like star from the old population of
the Galactic thick disk, which hosts five planets with sizes between Mercury
and Venus. We used asteroseismology to directly measure a precise age of
11.2+/-1.0 Gyr for the host star, indicating that KOI-3158 formed when the
Universe was less than 20% of its current age and making it the oldest known
system of terrestrial-size planets. We thus show that Earth-size planets have
formed throughout most of the Universe's 13.8-billion-year history, providing
scope for the existence of ancient life in the Galaxy.Comment: Submitted to EPJ Web of Conferences, to appear in the Proceedings of
the 3rd CoRoT Symposium, Kepler KASC7 joint meeting; 4 pages, 1 figur
The Transiting System GJ1214: High-Precision Defocused Transit Observations and a Search for Evidence of Transit Timing Variation
Aims: We present 11 high-precision photometric transit observations of the
transiting super-Earth planet GJ1214b. Combining these data with observations
from other authors, we investigate the ephemeris for possible signs of transit
timing variations (TTVs) using a Bayesian approach.
Methods: The observations were obtained using telescope-defocusing
techniques, and achieve a high precision with random errors in the photometry
as low as 1mmag per point. To investigate the possibility of TTVs in the light
curve, we calculate the overall probability of a TTV signal using Bayesian
methods.
Results: The observations are used to determine the photometric parameters
and the physical properties of the GJ1214 system. Our results are in good
agreement with published values. Individual times of mid-transit are measured
with uncertainties as low as 10s, allowing us to reduce the uncertainty in the
orbital period by a factor of two.
Conclusions: A Bayesian analysis reveals that it is highly improbable that
the observed transit times is explained by TTV, when compared with the simpler
alternative of a linear ephemeris.Comment: Submitted to A&
Kepler-68: Three Planets, One With a Density Between That of Earth and Ice Giants
NASA's Kepler Mission has revealed two transiting planets orbiting Kepler-68.
Follow-up Doppler measurements have established the mass of the innermost
planet and revealed a third jovian-mass planet orbiting beyond the two
transiting planets. Kepler-68b, in a 5.4 day orbit has mass 8.3 +/- 2.3 Earth,
radius 2.31 +/- 0.07 Earth radii, and a density of 3.32 +/- 0.92 (cgs), giving
Kepler-68b a density intermediate between that of the ice giants and Earth.
Kepler-68c is Earth-sized with a radius of 0.953 Earth and transits on a 9.6
day orbit; validation of Kepler-68c posed unique challenges. Kepler-68d has an
orbital period of 580 +/- 15 days and minimum mass of Msin(i) = 0.947 Jupiter.
Power spectra of the Kepler photometry at 1-minute cadence exhibit a rich and
strong set of asteroseismic pulsation modes enabling detailed analysis of the
stellar interior. Spectroscopy of the star coupled with asteroseismic modeling
of the multiple pulsation modes yield precise measurements of stellar
properties, notably Teff = 5793 +/- 74 K, M = 1.079 +/- 0.051 Msun, R = 1.243
+/- 0.019 Rsun, and density 0.7903 +/- 0.0054 (cgs), all measured with
fractional uncertainties of only a few percent. Models of Kepler-68b suggest it
is likely composed of rock and water, or has a H and He envelope to yield its
density of about 3 (cgs).Comment: 32 pages, 13 figures, Accepted to Ap
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