ExoClock Project III: 450 new exoplanet ephemerides from ground and space observations

The ExoClock project has been created with the aim of increasing the efficiency of the Ariel mission. It will achieve this by continuously monitoring and updating the ephemerides of Ariel candidates over an extended period, in order to produce a consistent catalogue of reliable and precise ephemerides. This work presents a homogenous catalogue of updated ephemerides for 450 planets, generated by the integration of $\sim$18000 data points from multiple sources. These sources include observations from ground-based telescopes (ExoClock network and ETD), mid-time values from the literature and light-curves from space telescopes (Kepler/K2 and TESS). With all the above, we manage to collect observations for half of the post-discovery years (median), with data that have a median uncertainty less than one minute. In comparison with literature, the ephemerides generated by the project are more precise and less biased. More than 40\% of the initial literature ephemerides had to be updated to reach the goals of the project, as they were either of low precision or drifting. Moreover, the integrated approach of the project enables both the monitoring of the majority of the Ariel candidates (95\%), and also the identification of missing data. The dedicated ExoClock network effectively supports this task by contributing additional observations when a gap in the data is identified. These results highlight the need for continuous monitoring to increase the observing coverage of the candidate planets. Finally, the extended observing coverage of planets allows us to detect trends (TTVs - Transit Timing Variations) for a sample of 19 planets. All products, data, and codes used in this work are open and accessible to the wider scientific community.Comment: Recommended for publication to ApJS (reviewer's comments implemented). Main body: 13 pages, total: 77 pages, 7 figures, 7 tables. Data available at http://doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/P298

ExoClock Project. III. 450 New Exoplanet Ephemerides from Ground and Space Observations

The ExoClock project has been created to increase the efficiency of the Ariel mission. It will achieve this by continuously monitoring and updating the ephemerides of Ariel candidates, in order to produce a consistent catalog of reliable and precise ephemerides. This work presents a homogenous catalog of updated ephemerides for 450 planets, generated by the integration of ∼18,000 data points from multiple sources. These sources include observations from ground-based telescopes (the ExoClock network and the Exoplanet Transit Database), midtime values from the literature, and light curves from space telescopes (Kepler, K2, and TESS). With all the above, we manage to collect observations for half of the postdiscovery years (median), with data that have a median uncertainty less than 1 minute. In comparison with the literature, the ephemerides generated by the project are more precise and less biased. More than 40% of the initial literature ephemerides had to be updated to reach the goals of the project, as they were either of low precision or drifting. Moreover, the integrated approach of the project enables both the monitoring of the majority of the Ariel candidates (95%), and also the identification of missing data. These results highlight the need for continuous monitoring to increase the observing coverage of the candidate planets. Finally, the extended observing coverage of planets allows us to detect trends (transit-timing variations) for a sample of 19 planets. All the products, data, and codes used in this work are open and accessible to the wider scientific community

Grain Refinement of AlMn1Cu Alloy by Severe Plastic Deformation

Duże odkształcenie plastyczne SPD to technika stosowana w produkcji materiałów o ultradrobnej strukturze (UFG), oparta o intensywne rozdrobnienie ziarna. Dla procesu tego bezwzględnie najważniejsza jest sprawność. Najbardziej znanymi technologiami, które są aktualnie najintensywniej rozwijane są: ECAP, C2S2, CONFORM, HPT, CCDC, ARB oraz CGP. W opracowaniu dokonano analizy technologii ECAP, gdzie istotna poprawa sprawności procesu osiągana jest przez zmianę technologii narzędzia, a przez to zmianę ścieżki deformacji, co znacznie przybliża wizję wdrożenia tej technologii do przemysłu. Wpływ zmiany geometrii wkładki narzędzi ECAP na osiągnięcie wysokiego stopnia odkształcenia, z czym wiąże się wzrost sprawności procesu (tzn. osiągnięcie wymaganej średniej wielkości ziarna przy mniejszej ilości przejść przez narzędzie formujące) przedstawiono na przykładzie stopu AlMn1Cu wyprodukowane przez firmę AL Invest Bridlicna a.s. Dokonano zarówno matematycznej symulacji, jak i fizycznego przeciśnięcia próbek przez narzędzie ECAP. Badanie zostało skoncentrowane na podwyższeniu twardości i średniej wielkości ziarna w klasycznej geometrii kanałów ECAP w porównaniu z narzędziem ECAP o zmodyfikowanej geometrii, gdzie kanał poziomy został odchylony o 20° względem osi „x”, oraz w porównaniu z geometrią, gdzie w kanale poziomym utworzona została linia śrubowa (elektroerozyjnie). Dodatkowo, dla poszczególnych rodzajów geometrii ECAP wykonana została analiza metalograficzna struktury z wykorzystaniem transmisyjnej mikroskopii elektronowej (TEM) oraz przez pozyskanie obrazów dyfrakcyjnych w wybranych obszarach próbki (SAED). Sprawność nowego projektu została jednoznacznie potwierdzona.Severe plastic deformation is basic process used in technologies for production of ultra-fine grained materials (UFG), using the principle of high disintegration of grain. Efficiency of the given process is therefore of utmost importance. The best known technologies that are currently being intensively developed are the following ones: ECAP, C2S2, CONFORM, HPT, CCDC, ARB and CGP. The paper analyses the ECAP technology, where substantial enhancement of the process efficiency is achieved by change of tool geometry and therefore by change of deformation route, which significantly approaches implementation of this technology into industrial practice. Influence of change of geometry of the ECAP tool insert on achievement of high degree of deformation and thus on the increased efficiency of the process (i.e. achievement of the required mean grain size at significantly lower number of passes through the forming tool) has been demonstrated on the alloy AlMn1Cu manufactured by the company AL Invest Bridlicna a.s. Both mathematical simulation and practical extrusion of samples through the ECAP tool have been performed. Research was focused on the resulting magnitude of hardness and mean grain size in classical geometry of ECAP channels in comparison with modified geometry of the ECAP tool, where horizontal channel was deflected in respect to the axis “x“ by 20°, and in comparison with geometry, when helical line was created (by sparking) into part of horizontal channel. Moreover, metallographic analysis of structure realised on TEM and SAED was applied to individual types of ECAP channel geometry. Efficiency of new design has been confirmed unequivocally

Possible substellar companions in low-mass eclipsing binaries: GU Bootis and YY Geminorum

We present the next results of our long-term observational project to analyze the variations in the orbital periods of low-mass eclipsing binaries. About 70 new precise mid-eclipse times recorded with a CCD were obtained for two eclipsing binaries with short orbital periods: GU Boo (P = 0.​d49) and YY Gem (0.​d81). Observed-minus-calculated diagrams of the stars were analyzed using all reliable timings, and new parameters of the light-time effect were obtained. We derived for the first time or improved the short orbital periods of possible third bodies of 11 and 54 years for these low-mass binaries, respectively. We calculated that the minimum masses of the third components are close to 50 MJup, which corresponds to the mass of brown dwarfs. The multiplicity of these systems also plays an important role in the precise determination of their physical parameters