1,038 research outputs found
Ruling out the orbital decay of the WASP-43b
We present 15 new transit observations of the exoplanet WASP-43b in the
,, and filters with the 1.0-m telescopes of Las Cumbres Observatory
Global Telescope (LCOGT) Network and the IAC80 telescope. We combine our 15 new
light curves with 52 others from literature, to analyze homogeneously all the
available transit light curves of this exoplanet. By extending the time span of
the monitoring of the transits to more than , and by analyzing the
individual mid-times of 72 transits, we study the proposed shortening of the
orbital period of WASP-43b. We estimate that the times of transit are
well-matched by our updated ephemeris equation, using a constant orbital
period. We estimate an orbital period change rate no larger than , which is fully consistent with a constant period. Based on
the timing analysis, we discard stellar tidal dissipation factors
. In addition, with the modelling of the transits we update the
system parameters: , and
, noticing a difference in the relative size of the planet
between optical and NIR bands.Comment: Accepted for publication in A
The GTC exoplanet transit spectroscopy survey X. Stellar spots versus Rayleigh scattering: the case of HAT-P-11b
Rayleigh scattering in a hydrogen-dominated exoplanet atmosphere can be
detected from ground or space based telescopes, however, stellar activity in
the form of spots can mimic Rayleigh scattering in the observed transmission
spectrum. Quantifying this phenomena is key to our correct interpretation of
exoplanet atmospheric properties. We obtained long-slit optical spectroscopy of
two transits of HAT-P-11b with the Optical System for Imaging and
low-Intermediate-Resolution Integrated Spectroscopy (OSIRIS) at Gran Telescopio
Canarias (GTC) on August 30 2016 and September 25 2017. We integrated the
spectrum of HAT-P-11 and one reference star in several spectroscopic channels
across the 400-785 nm region, creating numerous light curves of
the transits. We fit analytic transit curves to the data taking into account
the systematic effects and red noise present in the time series in an effort to
measure the change of the planet-to-star radius ratio
() across wavelength. By fitting both transits
together, we find a slope in the transmission spectrum showing an increase of
the planetary radius towards blue wavelengths. A closer inspection to the
transmission spectrum of the individual data sets reveals that the first
transit presents this slope while the transmission spectrum of the second data
set is flat. Additionally we detect hints of Na absorption in the first night,
but not in the second. We conclude that the transmission spectrum slope and Na
absorption excess found in the first transit observation are caused by
unocculted stellar spots. Modeling the contribution of unocculted spots to
reproduce the results of the first night we find a spot filling factor of
and a spot-to-photosphere temperature difference
of K.Comment: Accepted for publication in Astronomy & Astrophysics, 13 page
Detection of sodium in the atmosphere of WASP-69b
Transit spectroscopy is one of the most commonly used methods to characterize
exoplanets atmospheres. From the ground, these observations are very
challenging due to the terrestrial atmosphere and its intrinsic variations, but
high-spectral resolution observations overcome this difficulty by resolving the
spectral lines and taking advantage of the different Doppler velocities of the
Earth, the host star and the exoplanet. We analyze the transmission spectrum
around the Na I doublet at 589 nm of the exoplanet WASP-69b, a hot Jupiter
orbiting a K-type star with a period of 3.868 days, and compare the analysis to
that of the well-know hot Jupiter HD 189733b. We also present the analysis of
the Rossiter-McLaughlin effect for WASP-69b. Two transits of WASP-69b were
observed with the HARPS-North spectrograph (R = 115 000) at the TNG telescope.
We perform a telluric contamination subtraction based on the comparison between
the observed spectra and a telluric water model. Then, the common steps of the
differential spectroscopy are followed to extract the transmission spectrum.
The method is tested with archival transit data of the extensively studied
exoplanet HD 189733b, obtained with the HARPS-South spectrograph at ESO 3.6m
telescope, and then applied to WASP-69b data. For HD 189733b, we spectrally
resolve the Na I doublet and measure line contrasts of (D2) and
(D1), and FWHMs of {\AA} (D2) and
{\AA} (D1), in agreement with previously published results. A net
blueshift of {\AA} is measured. For WASP-69b only the contrast of
the D2 line is measured (). Even if this corresponds to a
detection at the -level of excess absorption of in a
passband of {\AA}, more transits are needed to fully characterize the
lines profiles and retrieve accurate atmospheric properties.Comment: 15 pages, 14 figure
The GTC exoplanet transit spectroscopy survey. VII. Detection of sodium in WASP-52b's cloudy atmosphere
We report the first detection of sodium absorption in the atmosphere of the
hot Jupiter WASP-52b. We observed one transit of WASP-52b with the
low-resolution Optical System for Imaging and low-Intermediate-Resolution
Integrated Spectroscopy (OSIRIS) at the 10.4 m Gran Telescopio Canarias (GTC).
The resulting transmission spectrum, covering the wavelength range from 522 nm
to 903 nm, is flat and featureless, except for the significant narrow
absorption signature at the sodium doublet, which can be explained by an
atmosphere in solar composition with clouds at 1 mbar. A cloud-free atmosphere
is stringently ruled out. By assessing the absorption depths of sodium in
various bin widths, we find that temperature increases towards lower
atmospheric pressure levels, with a positive temperature gradient of 0.88 +/-
0.65 K/km, possibly indicative of upper atmospheric heating and a temperature
inversion.Comment: 6 pages, 5 figures, accepted for publication in A&A Lette
The GTC exoplanet transit spectroscopy survey. VII. An optical transmission spectrum of WASP-48b
We obtained long-slit optical spectroscopy of one transit of WASP-48b with
the Optical System for Imaging and low-Intermediate-Resolution Integrated
Spectroscopy (OSIRIS) spectrograph at the 10.4 m Gran Telescopio Canarias
(GTC). We integrated the spectrum of WASP-48 and one reference star in several
channels with different wavelength ranges, creating numerous color light curves
of the transit. We fit analytic transit curves to the data taking into account
the systematic effects present in the time series in an effort to measure the
change of the planet-to-star radius ratio () across wavelength. After
removing the transit model and systematic trends to the curves we reached
precisions between 261 ppm and 455-755 ppm for the white and spectroscopic
light curves, respectively. We obtained uncertainty values between
and for all the curves analyzed in
this work. The measured transit depth for the curves made by integrating the
wavelength range between 530 nm and 905 nm is in agreement with previous
studies. We report a relatively flat transmission spectrum for WASP-48b with no
statistical significant detection of atmospheric species, although the
theoretical models that fit the data more closely include of TiO and VO.Comment: 8 pages, 8 figures. Accepted for publication in Astronomy and
Astrophysic
The GTC exoplanet transit spectroscopy survey. VI. A spectrally-resolved Rayleigh scattering slope in GJ 3470b
Aims. As a sub-Uranus-mass low-density planet, GJ 3470b has been found to
show a flat featureless transmission spectrum in the infrared and a tentative
Rayleigh scattering slope in the optical. We conducted an optical transmission
spectroscopy project to assess the impacts of stellar activity and to determine
whether or not GJ 3470b hosts a hydrogen-rich gas envelop. Methods. We observed
three transits with the low-resolution OSIRIS spectrograph at the 10.4 m Gran
Telescopio Canarias, and one transit with the high-resolution UVES spectrograph
at the 8.2 m Very Large Telescope. Results. From the high-resolution data, we
find that the difference of the Ca II H+K lines in- and out-of-transit is only
0.67 +/- 0.22%, and determine a magnetic filling factor of about 10-15%. From
the low-resolution data, we present the first optical transmission spectrum in
the 435-755 nm band, which shows a slope consistent with Rayleigh scattering.
Conclusions. After exploring the potential impacts of stellar activity in our
observations, we confirm that Rayleigh scattering in an extended
hydrogen/helium atmosphere is currently the best explanation. Further
high-precision observations that simultaneously cover optical and infrared
bands are required to answer whether or not clouds and hazes exist at
high-altitude.Comment: 12 pages, 11 figures, accepted for publication in A&
Level-Set modeling of grain growth in 316L stainless steel under different assumptions regarding grain boundary properties
Two finite element level-set (FE-LS) formulations are compared for the
modeling of grain growth of 316L stainless steel in terms of grain size, mean
values and histograms. Two kinds of microstructures are considered, some are
generated statistically from EBSD maps and the others are generated by
immersion of EBSD data in the FE formulation. Grain boundary (GB) mobility is
heterogeneously defined as a function of the GB disorientation. On the other
hand, GB energy is considered as heterogeneous or anisotropic, respectively
defined as a function of the disorientation and both the GB misorientation and
the GB inclination. In terms of mean grain size value and grain size
distribution (GSD), both formulations provide similar responses. However, the
anisotropic formulation better respects the experimental disorientation
distribution function (DDF) and predicts more realistic grain morphologies. It
was also found that the heterogeneous GB mobility described with a sigmoidal
function only affects the DDF and the morphology of grains. Thus, a slower
evolution of twin boundaries (TBs) is perceived
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