1,038 research outputs found
Atmospheric studies of habitability in the Gliese 581 system
The M-type star Gliese 581 is orbited by at least one terrestrial planet
candidate in the habitable zone, i.e. GL 581 d. Orbital simulations have shown
that additional planets inside the habitable zone of GL 581 would be
dynamically stable. Recently, two further planet candidates have been claimed,
one of them in the habitable zone.
In view of the ongoing search for planets around M stars which is expected to
result in numerous detections of potentially habitable Super-Earths, we take
the GL 581 system as an example to investigate such planets. In contrast to
previous studies of habitability in the GL 581 system, we use a consistent
atmospheric model to assess surface conditions and habitability. Furthermore,
we perform detailed atmospheric simulations for a much larger subset of
potential planetary and atmospheric scenarios than previously considered.
A 1D radiative-convective atmosphere model is used to calculate temperature
and pressure profiles of model atmospheres, which we assumed to be composed of
molecular nitrogen, water, and carbon dioxide. In these calculations, key
parameters such as surface pressure and CO2 concentration as well as orbital
distance and planetary mass are varied.
Results imply that surface temperatures above freezing could be obtained,
independent of the here considered atmospheric scenarios, at an orbital
distance of 0.117 AU. For an orbital distance of 0.146 AU, CO2 concentrations
as low as 10 times the present Earth's value are sufficient to warm the surface
above the freezing point of water. At 0.175 AU, only scenarios with CO2
concentrations of 5% and 95% were found to be habitable. Hence, an additional
Super-Earth planet in the GL 581 system in the previously determined dynamical
stability range would be considered a potentially habitable planet.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures, accepted in Astronomy&Astrophysic
Detectability of atmospheric features of Earth-like planets in the habitable zone around M dwarfs
We investigate the detectability of atmospheric spectral features of
Earth-like planets in the habitable zone (HZ) around M dwarfs with the future
James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). We use a coupled 1D climate-chemistry-model
to simulate the influence of a range of observed and modelled M-dwarf spectra
on Earth-like planets. The simulated atmospheres served as input for the
calculation of the transmission spectra of the hypothetical planets, using a
line-by-line spectral radiative transfer model. To investigate the
spectroscopic detectability of absorption bands with JWST we further developed
a signal-to-noise ratio (S/N) model and applied it to our transmission spectra.
High abundances of CH and HO in the atmosphere of Earth-like planets
around mid to late M dwarfs increase the detectability of the corresponding
spectral features compared to early M-dwarf planets. Increased temperatures in
the middle atmosphere of mid- to late-type M-dwarf planets expand the
atmosphere and further increase the detectability of absorption bands. To
detect CH, HO, and CO in the atmosphere of an Earth-like planet
around a mid to late M dwarf observing only one transit with JWST could be
enough up to a distance of 4 pc and less than ten transits up to a distance of
10 pc. As a consequence of saturation limits of JWST and less pronounced
absorption bands, the detection of spectral features of hypothetical Earth-like
planets around most early M dwarfs would require more than ten transits. We
identify 276 existing M dwarfs (including GJ 1132, TRAPPIST-1, GJ 1214, and LHS
1140) around which atmospheric absorption features of hypothetical Earth-like
planets could be detected by co-adding just a few transits. We show that using
transmission spectroscopy, JWST could provide enough precision to be able to
partly characterise the atmosphere of Earth-like TESS planets around mid to
late M dwarfs.Comment: 18 pages, 10 figure
Probing the atmosphere of a sub-Jovian planet orbiting a cool dwarf
We derive the 0.01 m binned transmission spectrum, between 0.74 and 1.0
m, of WASP-80b from low resolution spectra obtained with the FORS2
instrument attached to ESO's Very Large Telescope. The combination of the fact
that WASP-80 is an active star, together with instrumental and telluric
factors, introduces correlated noise in the observed transit light curves,
which we treat quantitatively using Gaussian Processes. Comparison of our
results together with those from previous studies, to theoretically calculated
models reveals an equilibrium temperature in agreement with the previously
measured value of 825K, and a sub-solar metallicity, as well as an atmosphere
depleted of molecular species with absorption bands in the IR ().
Our transmission spectrum alone shows evidence for additional absorption from
the potassium core and wing, whereby its presence is detected from analysis of
narrow 0.003 m bin light curves (). Further observations with
visible and near-UV filters will be required to expand this spectrum and
provide more in-depth knowledge of the atmosphere. These detections are only
made possible through an instrument-dependent baseline model and a careful
analysis of systematics in the data.Comment: 13 pages, 11 figures, 3 tables. Accepted for publication in MNRA
Theoretical Transmission Spectra During Extrasolar Giant Planet Transits
The recent transit observation of HD 209458 b - an extrasolar planet orbiting
a sun-like star - confirmed that it is a gas giant and determined that its
orbital inclination is 85 degrees. This inclination makes possible
investigations of the planet atmosphere. In this paper we discuss the planet
transmission spectra during a transit. The basic tenet of the method is that
the planet atmosphere absorption features will be superimposed on the stellar
flux as the stellar flux passes through the planet atmosphere above the limb.
The ratio of the planet's transparent atmosphere area to the star area is
small, approximately 10^{-3} to 10^{-4}; for this method to work very strong
planet spectral features are necessary. We use our models of close-in
extrasolar giant planets to estimate promising absorption signatures: the
alkali metal lines, in particular the Na I and K I resonance doublets, and the
He I - triplet line at 1083.0 nm. If successful, observations
will constrain the line-of-sight temperature, pressure, and density. The most
important point is that observations will constrain the cloud depth, which in
turn will distinguish between different atmosphere models. We also discuss the
potential of this method for EGPs at different orbital distances and orbiting
non-solar-type stars.Comment: revised to agree with accepted paper, ApJ, in press. 12 page
A study of the performance of the transit detection tool DST in space-based surveys. Application of the CoRoT pipeline to Kepler data
Context. Transit detection algorithms are mathematical tools used for
detecting planets in the photometric data of transit surveys. In this work we
study their application to space-based surveys. Aims: Space missions are
exploring the parameter space of the transit surveys where classical algorithms
do not perform optimally, either because of the challenging signal-to-noise
ratio of the signal or its non-periodic characteristics. We have developed an
algorithm addressing these challenges for the mission CoRoT. Here we extend the
application to the data from the space mission Kepler. We aim at understanding
the performances of algorithms in different data sets. Methods: We built a
simple analytical model of the transit signal and developed a strategy for the
search that improves the detection performance for transiting planets. We
analyzed Kepler data with a set of stellar activity filtering and transit
detection tools from the CoRoT community that are designed for the search of
transiting planets. Results: We present a new algorithm and its performances
compared to one of the most widely used techniques in the literature using
CoRoT data. Additionally, we analyzed Kepler data corresponding to quarter Q1
and compare our results with the most recent list of planetary candidates from
the Kepler survey. We found candidates that went unnoticed by the Kepler team
when analyzing longer data sets. We study the impact of instrumental features
on the production of false alarms and false positives. These results show that
the analysis of space mission data advocates the use of complementary
detrending and transit detection tools also for future space-based transit
surveys such as PLATO.Comment: 18 pages, 23 figures, published in A&A, solved issue with reference
The extrasolar planet Gliese 581 d: a potentially habitable planet? (Corrigendum to arXiv:1009.5814)
We report here that the equation for H2O Rayleigh scattering was incorrectly
stated in the original paper [arXiv:1009.5814]. Instead of a quadratic
dependence on refractivity r, we accidentally quoted an r^4 dependence. Since
the correct form of the equation was implemented into the model, scientific
results are not affected.Comment: accepted to Astronomy&Astrophysic
Experimental observation of the crystallization of a paired holon state
A new excitation is observed at 201 meV in the doped-hole ladder cuprate
SrCuO, using ultraviolet resonance Raman scattering with
incident light at 3.7 eV polarized along the direction of the rungs. The
excitation is found to be of charge nature, with a temperature independent
excitation energy, and can be understood via an intra-ladder pair-breaking
process. The intensity tracks closely the order parameter of the charge density
wave in the ladder (CDW), but persists above the CDW transition
temperature (), indicating a strong local pairing above .
The 201 meV excitation vanishes in LaCaCuO,
and LaCaCuO which are samples with no holes in the
ladders. Our results suggest that the doped holes in the ladder are composite
bosons consisting of paired holons that order below .Comment: Accepted for publication in Physical Review Letters (4 figures
NGTS-4b: A sub-Neptune transiting in the desert
We report the discovery of NGTS-4b, a sub-Neptune-sized planet transiting a 13th magnitude K-dwarf in a 1.34 d orbit. NGTS-4b has a mass M = 20.6 ± 3.0 M⊕ and radius R = 3.18 ± 0.26 R⊕, which places it well within the so-called ‘Neptunian Desert’. The mean density of the planet (3.45 ± 0.95 g cm−3) is consistent with a composition of 100 per cent H2O or a rocky core with a volatile envelope. NGTS-4b is likely to suffer significant mass loss due to relatively strong EUV/X-ray irradiation. Its survival in the Neptunian desert may be due to an unusually high-core mass, or it may have avoided the most intense X-ray irradiation by migrating after the initial activity of its host star had subsided. With a transit depth of 0.13 ± 0.02 per cent, NGTS-4b represents the shallowest transiting system ever discovered from the ground, and is the smallest planet discovered in a wide-field ground-based photometric survey
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