65 research outputs found
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
Planetary Candidates Observed by Kepler V: Planet Sample from Q1-Q12 (36 Months)
The Kepler mission discovered 2842 exoplanet candidates with 2 years of data.
We provide updates to the Kepler planet candidate sample based upon 3 years
(Q1-Q12) of data. Through a series of tests to exclude false-positives,
primarily caused by eclipsing binary stars and instrumental systematics, 855
additional planetary candidates have been discovered, bringing the total number
known to 3697. We provide revised transit parameters and accompanying posterior
distributions based on a Markov Chain Monte Carlo algorithm for the cumulative
catalogue of Kepler Objects of Interest. There are now 130 candidates in the
cumulative catalogue that receive less than twice the flux the Earth receives
and more than 1100 have a radius less than 1.5 Rearth. There are now a dozen
candidates meeting both criteria, roughly doubling the number of candidate
Earth analogs. A majority of planetary candidates have a high probability of
being bonafide planets, however, there are populations of likely
false-positives. We discuss and suggest additional cuts that can be easily
applied to the catalogue to produce a set of planetary candidates with good
fidelity. The full catalogue is publicly available at the NASA Exoplanet
Archive.Comment: Accepted for publication, ApJ
Planetary Candidates Observed by Kepler VI: Planet Sample from Q1-Q16 (47 Months)
\We present the sixth catalog of Kepler candidate planets based on nearly 4
years of high precision photometry. This catalog builds on the legacy of
previous catalogs released by the Kepler project and includes 1493 new Kepler
Objects of Interest (KOIs) of which 554 are planet candidates, and 131 of these
candidates have best fit radii <1.5 R_earth. This brings the total number of
KOIs and planet candidates to 7305 and 4173 respectively. We suspect that many
of these new candidates at the low signal-to-noise limit may be false alarms
created by instrumental noise, and discuss our efforts to identify such
objects. We re-evaluate all previously published KOIs with orbital periods of
>50 days to provide a consistently vetted sample that can be used to improve
planet occurrence rate calculations. We discuss the performance of our planet
detection algorithms, and the consistency of our vetting products. The full
catalog is publicly available at the NASA Exoplanet Archive.Comment: 18 pages, to be published in the Astrophysical Journal Supplement
Serie
Comparing the efficacy of a web-assisted calprotectin-based treatment algorithm (IBD-live) with usual practices in teenagers with inflammatory bowel disease:study protocol for a randomized controlled trial
Background: To prevent clinical relapse in teenagers with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) there is a need to monitor disease activity continuously. Timely optimisation of medical treatment may nip a preclinical relapse in the bud and change the natural course of IBD. Traditionally, disease monitoring is done during scheduled visits, but this is when most teenagers report full control. IBD care could be more efficient if patients were seen at times of clinical need. This study aims to examine the effectiveness of a web-assisted calprotectin-based treatment algorithm (IBD-live) compared with usual practices in teenagers with IBD. Methods/design: A randomized trial of web-based disease monitoring versus usual care is conducted at 10 Dutch IBD care centers. We plan to recruit 180 patients between 10-and 19-years old with quiescent IBD at baseline. Teenagers assigned to IBD-live will use the flarometer -an automatic cumulation of disease activity and fecal calprotectin measurements-to estimate probability of relapse. In case the flarometer indicates high risk the patient requires treatment intensification in accordance with national guidelines; low risk means that maintenance therapy is unchanged; and intermediate risk requires optimisation of drug adherence. Patients assigned to usual practice get the best accepted medical care with regular health checks. Primary outcome is the frequency of relapse at 52 weeks of follow-up. The diagnosis of relapse is based on a clinical activity index score >10 points necessitating remission induction therapy. Secondary outcomes include quality of life and cost-effectiveness. Discussion: Web-assisted monitoring of disease activity with rapid access for those with acute relapse may allow teenagers to develop skills that are required of adult patients (including communication and self-determination). Similar monitoring systems have been introduced for teenagers with asthma and diabetes, with a positive effect on disease control, but the intervention has not been evaluated in teenagers with IBD. A randomized trial in adult patients with ulcerative colitis showed that a web-assisted treatment algorithm is feasible, safe and cost-effective. Results of the current trial are expected to have important implications for teenagers with IBD that incurs substantial health burdens and economic costs
Knee disorders in primary care: design and patient selection of the HONEUR knee cohort.
BACKGROUND: Knee complaints are a frequent reason for consultation in general practice. These patients constitute a specific population compared to secondary care patients. However, information to base treatment decisions on is generally derived from specialistic settings. Our cohort study is aimed at collecting knowledge about prognosis and prognostic factors of knee complaints presented in a primary care setting. This paper describes the methods used for data collection, and discusses potential selectiveness of patient recruitment. METHODS: This is a descriptive prospective cohort study with one-year follow-up. 40 Dutch GPs recruited consecutive patients with incident knee complaints aged 12 years and above from October 2001 to October 2003. Patients were assessed with questionnaires and standardised physical examinations. Additional measurements of subgroups included MRI for recent knee traumas and device assessed function measurements for non-traumatic patients. After the inclusion period we retrospectively searched the computerized medical files of participating GPs to obtain a sample to determine possible selective recruitment. We assessed differences in proportions of gender, traumatic onset of injury and age groups between participants and non-participants using Odds Ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals. RESULTS: We recruited 1068 patients. In a sample of 310 patients visiting the GP, we detected some selective recruitment, indicating an underrepresentation of patients aged 12 to 35 years (OR 1.70; 1.15-2.77), especially among men (OR 2.16; 1.12-4.18). The underrepresentation of patients with traumatic onset of injury was not statistically significant. CONCLUSION: This cohort is unique in its size, setting, and its range of both age and type of knee complaints. We believe the detected selective recruitment is unlikely to introduce significant bias, as the cohort will be divided into subgroups according to age group or traumatic onset of injury for future analyses. However, the underrepresentation of men in the age group of 12 to 35 years of age warrants caution. Based on the available data, we believe our cohort is an acceptable representation of patients with new knee complaints consulting the GP, and we expect no problems with extrapolation of the results to the general Dutch population
Accretion of Planetary Material onto Host Stars
Accretion of planetary material onto host stars may occur throughout a star's
life. Especially prone to accretion, extrasolar planets in short-period orbits,
while relatively rare, constitute a significant fraction of the known
population, and these planets are subject to dynamical and atmospheric
influences that can drive significant mass loss. Theoretical models frame
expectations regarding the rates and extent of this planetary accretion. For
instance, tidal interactions between planets and stars may drive complete
orbital decay during the main sequence. Many planets that survive their stars'
main sequence lifetime will still be engulfed when the host stars become red
giant stars. There is some observational evidence supporting these predictions,
such as a dearth of close-in planets around fast stellar rotators, which is
consistent with tidal spin-up and planet accretion. There remains no clear
chemical evidence for pollution of the atmospheres of main sequence or red
giant stars by planetary materials, but a wealth of evidence points to active
accretion by white dwarfs. In this article, we review the current understanding
of accretion of planetary material, from the pre- to the post-main sequence and
beyond. The review begins with the astrophysical framework for that process and
then considers accretion during various phases of a host star's life, during
which the details of accretion vary, and the observational evidence for
accretion during these phases.Comment: 18 pages, 5 figures (with some redacted), invited revie
The Canada-France Ecliptic Plane Survey - Full Data Release: The orbital structure of the Kuiper belt
We report the orbital distribution of the trans-neptunian objects (TNOs)
discovered during the Canada-France Ecliptic Plane Survey, whose discovery
phase ran from early 2003 until early 2007. The follow-up observations started
just after the first discoveries and extended until late 2009. We obtained
characterized observations of 321 sq.deg. of sky to depths in the range g ~
23.5--24.4 AB mag. We provide a database of 169 TNOs with high-precision
dynamical classification and known discovery efficiency. Using this database,
we find that the classical belt is a complex region with sub-structures that go
beyond the usual splitting of inner (interior to 3:2 mean-motion resonance
[MMR]), outer (exterior to 2:1 MMR), and main (in between). The main classical
belt (a=40--47 AU) needs to be modeled with at least three components: the
`hot' component with a wide inclination distribution and two `cold' components
(stirred and kernel) with much narrower inclination distributions. The hot
component must have a significantly shallower absolute magnitude (Hg)
distribution than the other two components. With 95% confidence, there are
8000+1800-1600 objects in the main belt with Hg <= 8.0, of which 50% are from
the hot component, 40% from the stirred component and 10% from the kernel; the
hot component's fraction drops rapidly with increasing Hg. Because of this, the
apparent population fractions depend on the depth and ecliptic latitude of a
trans-neptunian survey. The stirred and kernel components are limited to only a
portion of the main belt, while we find that the hot component is consistent
with a smooth extension throughout the inner, main and outer regions of the
classical belt; the inner and outer belts are consistent with containing only
hot-component objects. The Hg <= 8.0 TNO population estimates are 400 for the
inner belt and 10,000 for the outer belt within a factor of two.Comment: 59 pages, 9 figures, 7 table
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