425 research outputs found
Limits on surface gravities of Kepler planet-candidate host stars from non-detection of solar-like oscillations
We present a novel method for estimating lower-limit surface gravities log g
of Kepler targets whose data do not allow the detection of solar-like
oscillations. The method is tested using an ensemble of solar-type stars
observed in the context of the Kepler Asteroseismic Science Consortium. We then
proceed to estimate lower-limit log g for a cohort of Kepler solar-type
planet-candidate host stars with no detected oscillations. Limits on
fundamental stellar properties, as provided by this work, are likely to be
useful in the characterization of the corresponding candidate planetary
systems. Furthermore, an important byproduct of the current work is the
confirmation that amplitudes of solar-like oscillations are suppressed in stars
with increased levels of surface magnetic activity.Comment: Accepted for publication in ApJ; 35 pages, 10 figures, 5 table
Sindbis virus polyarthritis outbreak signalled by virus prevalence in the mosquito vectors
Polyarthritis and rash caused by Sindbis virus (SINV), was first recognised in northern Europe about 50 years ago and is known as Ockelbo disease in Sweden and Pogosta disease in Finland. This mosquito-borne virus occurs mainly in tropical and sub-tropical countries, and in northern Europe it is suggested to cause regularly reoccurring outbreaks. Here a seven-year cycle of SINV outbreaks has been referred to in scientific papers, although the hypothesis is based solely on reported human cases. In the search for a more objective outbreak signal, we evaluated mosquito abundance and SINV prevalence in vector mosquitoes from an endemic area in central Sweden. Vector mosquitoes collected in the River Dalälven floodplains during the years before, during, and after the hypothesised 2002 outbreak year were assayed for virus on cell culture. Obtained isolates were partially sequenced, and the nucleotide sequences analysed using Bayesian maximum clade credibility and median joining network analysis. Only one SINV strain was recovered in 2001, and 4 strains in 2003, while 15 strains were recovered in 2002 with significantly increased infection rates in both the enzootic and the bridge-vectors. In 2002, the Maximum Likelihood Estimated infection rates were 10.0/1000 in the enzootic vectors Culex torrentium/pipiens, and 0.62/1000 in the bridge-vector Aedes cinereus, compared to 4.9/1000 and 0.0/1000 in 2001 and 0.0/1000 and 0.32/1000 in 2003 Sequence analysis showed that all isolates belonged to the SINV genotype I (SINV-I). The genetic analysis revealed local maintenance of four SINV-I clades in the River Dalälven floodplains over the years. Our findings suggest that increased SINV-I prevalence in vector mosquitoes constitutes the most valuable outbreak marker for further scrutinising the hypothesized seven-year cycle of SINV-I outbreaks and the mechanisms behind
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
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
Recommended from our members
Viscoelastic properties of healthy human artery measured in saline solution by AFM based indentation technique
Using an Atomic Force Microscope with an attachment for indentation, we have measured local, in vitro mechanical properties of healthy femoral artery tissue held in saline solution. The elastic modulus (34. 3 kPa) and viscoelastic response ({tau}sub{epsilon} {equals} 16.9 s and {tau}sub{sigma} {equals} 29.3 s) of the unstretched,intimal vessel wall have been determined using Sneddon theory and a three element model(standard linear solid) for viscoelastic materials. The procedures necessary to employ the indenting attachment to detect elastic moduli in the kPa range in liquid are described
Asteroseismology of solar-type stars with K2
We present the first detections by the NASA K2 Mission of oscillations in
solar-type stars, using short-cadence data collected during K2 Campaign\,1
(C1). We understand the asteroseismic detection thresholds for C1-like levels
of photometric performance, and we can detect oscillations in subgiants having
dominant oscillation frequencies around . Changes to the
operation of the fine-guidance sensors are expected to give significant
improvements in the high-frequency performance from C3 onwards. A reduction in
the excess high-frequency noise by a factor of two-and-a-half in amplitude
would bring main-sequence stars with dominant oscillation frequencies as high
as into play as potential asteroseismic targets for
K2.Comment: Accepted for publication in PASP; 16 pages, 2 figure
Kepler-432: a red giant interacting with one of its two long period giant planets
We report the discovery of Kepler-432b, a giant planet ()
transiting an evolved star with an orbital period of days. Radial velocities (RVs) reveal that
Kepler-432b orbits its parent star with an eccentricity of , which we also measure independently with
asterodensity profiling (AP; ), thereby confirming
the validity of AP on this particular evolved star. The well-determined
planetary properties and unusually large mass also make this planet an
important benchmark for theoretical models of super-Jupiter formation.
Long-term RV monitoring detected the presence of a non-transiting outer planet
(Kepler-432c; days), and adaptive optics imaging revealed a nearby
(0\farcs87), faint companion (Kepler-432B) that is a physically bound M dwarf.
The host star exhibits high signal-to-noise asteroseismic oscillations, which
enable precise measurements of the stellar mass, radius and age. Analysis of
the rotational splitting of the oscillation modes additionally reveals the
stellar spin axis to be nearly edge-on, which suggests that the stellar spin is
likely well-aligned with the orbit of the transiting planet. Despite its long
period, the obliquity of the 52.5-day orbit may have been shaped by star-planet
interaction in a manner similar to hot Jupiter systems, and we present
observational and theoretical evidence to support this scenario. Finally, as a
short-period outlier among giant planets orbiting giant stars, study of
Kepler-432b may help explain the distribution of massive planets orbiting giant
stars interior to 1 AU.Comment: 22 pages, 19 figures, 5 tables. Accepted to ApJ on Jan 24, 2015
(submitted Nov 11, 2014). Updated with minor changes to match published
versio
Kepler White Paper: Asteroseismology of Solar-Like Oscillators in a 2-Wheel Mission
We comment on the potential for continuing asteroseismology of solar-type and
red-giant stars in a 2-wheel Kepler Mission. Our main conclusion is that by
targeting stars in the ecliptic it should be possible to perform high-quality
asteroseismology, as long as favorable scenarios for 2-wheel pointing
performance are met. Targeting the ecliptic would potentially facilitate unique
science that was not possible in the nominal Mission, notably from the study of
clusters that are significantly brighter than those in the Kepler field. Our
conclusions are based on predictions of 2-wheel observations made by a space
photometry simulator, with information provided by the Kepler Project used as
input to describe the degraded pointing scenarios. We find that elevated levels
of frequency-dependent noise, consistent with the above scenarios, would have a
significant negative impact on our ability to continue asteroseismic studies of
solar-like oscillators in the Kepler field. However, the situation may be much
more optimistic for observations in the ecliptic, provided that pointing resets
of the spacecraft during regular desaturations of the two functioning reaction
wheels are accurate at the < 1 arcsec level. This would make it possible to
apply a post-hoc analysis that would recover most of the lost photometric
precision. Without this post-hoc correction---and the accurate re-pointing it
requires---the performance would probably be as poor as in the Kepler-field
case. Critical to our conclusions for both fields is the assumed level of
pointing noise (in the short-term jitter and the longer-term drift). We suggest
that further tests will be needed to clarify our results once more detail and
data on the expected pointing performance becomes available, and we offer our
assistance in this work.Comment: NASA Kepler Mission White Paper; 10 pages, 2 figure
Fundamental Properties of Kepler Planet-Candidate Host Stars using Asteroseismology
We have used asteroseismology to determine fundamental properties for 66
Kepler planet-candidate host stars, with typical uncertainties of 3% and 7% in
radius and mass, respectively. The results include new asteroseismic solutions
for four host stars with confirmed planets (Kepler-4, Kepler-14, Kepler-23 and
Kepler-25) and increase the total number of Kepler host stars with
asteroseismic solutions to 77. A comparison with stellar properties in the
planet-candidate catalog by Batalha et al. shows that radii for subgiants and
giants obtained from spectroscopic follow-up are systematically too low by up
to a factor of 1.5, while the properties for unevolved stars are in good
agreement. We furthermore apply asteroseismology to confirm that a large
majority of cool main-sequence hosts are indeed dwarfs and not misclassified
giants. Using the revised stellar properties, we recalculate the radii for 107
planet candidates in our sample, and comment on candidates for which the radii
change from a previously giant-planet/brown-dwarf/stellar regime to a
sub-Jupiter size, or vice versa. A comparison of stellar densities from
asteroseismology with densities derived from transit models in Batalha et al.
assuming circular orbits shows significant disagreement for more than half of
the sample due to systematics in the modeled impact parameters, or due to
planet candidates which may be in eccentric orbits. Finally, we investigate
tentative correlations between host-star masses and planet candidate radii,
orbital periods, and multiplicity, but caution that these results may be
influenced by the small sample size and detection biases.Comment: 19 pages, 10 figures, 4 tables; accepted for publication in ApJ;
machine-readable versions of tables 1-3 are available as ancillary files or
in the source code; v2: minor changes to match published versio
Stellar Spin-Orbit Misalignment in a Multiplanet System
Stars hosting hot Jupiters are often observed to have high obliquities,
whereas stars with multiple co-planar planets have been seen to have low
obliquities. This has been interpreted as evidence that hot-Jupiter formation
is linked to dynamical disruption, as opposed to planet migration through a
protoplanetary disk. We used asteroseismology to measure a large obliquity for
Kepler-56, a red giant star hosting two transiting co-planar planets. These
observations show that spin-orbit misalignments are not confined to hot-Jupiter
systems. Misalignments in a broader class of systems had been predicted as a
consequence of torques from wide-orbiting companions, and indeed
radial-velocity measurements revealed a third companion in a wide orbit in the
Kepler-56 system.Comment: Accepted for publication in Science, published online on October 17
2013; PDF includes main article and supplementary materials (65 pages, 27
figures, 7 tables); v2: small correction to author lis
- …