1,403 research outputs found
Occurrence and core-envelope structure of 1--4x Earth-size planets around Sun-like stars
Small planets, 1-4x the size of Earth, are extremely common around Sun-like
stars, and surprisingly so, as they are missing in our solar system. Recent
detections have yielded enough information about this class of exoplanets to
begin characterizing their occurrence rates, orbits, masses, densities, and
internal structures. The Kepler mission finds the smallest planets to be most
common, as 26% of Sun-like stars have small, 1-2 R_e planets with orbital
periods under 100 days, and 11% have 1-2 R_e planets that receive 1-4x the
incident stellar flux that warms our Earth. These Earth-size planets are
sprinkled uniformly with orbital distance (logarithmically) out to 0.4 AU, and
probably beyond. Mass measurements for 33 transiting planets of 1-4 R_e show
that the smallest of them, R < 1.5 R_e, have the density expected for rocky
planets. Their densities increase with increasing radius, likely caused by
gravitational compression. Including solar system planets yields a relation:
rho = 2.32 + 3.19 R/R_e [g/cc]. Larger planets, in the radius range 1.5-4.0
R_e, have densities that decline with increasing radius, revealing increasing
amounts of low-density material in an envelope surrounding a rocky core,
befitting the appellation "mini-Neptunes." Planets of ~1.5 R_e have the highest
densities, averaging near 10 g/cc. The gas giant planets occur preferentially
around stars that are rich in heavy elements, while rocky planets occur around
stars having a range of heavy element abundances. One explanation is that the
fast formation of rocky cores in protoplanetary disks enriched in heavy
elements permits the gravitational accumulation of gas before it vanishes,
forming giant planets. But models of the formation of 1-4 R_e planets remain
uncertain. Defining habitable zones remains difficult, without benefit of
either detections of life elsewhere or an understanding of life's biochemical
origins.Comment: 11 pages, 6 figures, accepted for publication Proc. Natl. Acad. Sc
Random walks of molecular motors arising from diffusional encounters with immobilized filaments
Movements of molecular motors on cytoskeletal filaments are described by
directed walks on a line. Detachment from this line is allowed to occur with a
small probability. Motion in the surrounding fluid is described by symmetric
random walks. Effects of detachment and reattachment are calculated by an
analytical solution of the master equation in two and three dimensions. Results
are obtained for the fraction of bound motors, their average velocity and
displacement. The diffusion coefficient parallel to the filament becomes
anomalously large since detachment and subsequent reattachment, in the presence
of directed motion of the bound motors, leads to a broadening of the density
distribution.
The occurrence of protofilaments on a microtubule is modeled by internal
states of the binding sites. After a transient time all protofilaments become
equally populated.Comment: 20 pages Phys Rev E format + 11 figure
Long-Period Giant Companions to Three Compact, Multiplanet Systems
Understanding the relationship between long-period giant planets and multiple smaller short-period planets is critical for formulating a complete picture of planet formation. This work characterizes three such systems. We present Kepler-65, a system with an eccentric (e = 0.28 ± 0.07) giant planet companion discovered via radial velocities (RVs) exterior to a compact, multiply transiting system of sub-Neptune planets. We also use precision RVs to improve mass and radius constraints on two other systems with similar architectures, Kepler-25 and Kepler-68. In Kepler-68 we propose a second exterior giant planet candidate. Finally, we consider the implications of these systems for planet formation models, particularly that the moderate eccentricity in Kepler-65\u27s exterior giant planet did not disrupt its inner system
Three Super-Earths Orbiting HD 7924
We report the discovery of two super-Earth mass planets orbiting the nearby
K0.5 dwarf HD 7924 which was previously known to host one small planet. The new
companions have masses of 7.9 and 6.4 M, and orbital periods of 15.3
and 24.5 days. We perform a joint analysis of high-precision radial velocity
data from Keck/HIRES and the new Automated Planet Finder Telescope (APF) to
robustly detect three total planets in the system. We refine the ephemeris of
the previously known planet using five years of new Keck data and high-cadence
observations over the last 1.3 years with the APF. With this new ephemeris, we
show that a previous transit search for the inner-most planet would have
covered 70% of the predicted ingress or egress times. Photometric data
collected over the last eight years using the Automated Photometric Telescope
shows no evidence for transits of any of the planets, which would be detectable
if the planets transit and their compositions are hydrogen-dominated. We detect
a long-period signal that we interpret as the stellar magnetic activity cycle
since it is strongly correlated with the Ca II H and K activity index. We also
detect two additional short-period signals that we attribute to
rotationally-modulated starspots and a one month alias. The high-cadence APF
data help to distinguish between the true orbital periods and aliases caused by
the window function of the Keck data. The planets orbiting HD 7924 are a local
example of the compact, multi-planet systems that the Kepler Mission found in
great abundance.Comment: Accepted to ApJ on 4/7/201
The California-Kepler Survey. IV. Metal-rich Stars Host a Greater Diversity of Planets
Probing the connection between a star's metallicity and the presence and
properties of any associated planets offers an observational link between
conditions during the epoch of planet formation and mature planetary systems.
We explore this connection by analyzing the metallicities of Kepler target
stars and the subset of stars found to host transiting planets. After
correcting for survey incompleteness, we measure planet occurrence: the number
of planets per 100 stars with a given metallicity . Planet occurrence
correlates with metallicity for some, but not all, planet sizes and orbital
periods. For warm super-Earths having days and , planet occurrence is nearly constant over metallicities spanning
0.4 dex to +0.4 dex. We find 20 warm super-Earths per 100 stars, regardless
of metallicity. In contrast, the occurrence of warm sub-Neptunes () doubles over that same metallicity interval, from 20 to 40
planets per 100 stars. We model the distribution of planets as , where characterizes the strength of any metallicity
correlation. This correlation steepens with decreasing orbital period and
increasing planet size. For warm super-Earths ,
while for hot Jupiters . High metallicities in
protoplanetary disks may increase the mass of the largest rocky cores or the
speed at which they are assembled, enhancing the production of planets larger
than 1.7 . The association between high metallicity and short-period
planets may reflect disk density profiles that facilitate the inward migration
of solids or higher rates of planet-planet scattering.Comment: 32 pages, 15 figures, 9 tables, accepted for publication in The
Astronomical Journa
CKS VIII: Eccentricities of Kepler Planets and Tentative Evidence of a High Metallicity Preference for Small Eccentric Planets
Characterizing the dependence of the orbital architectures and formation
environments on the eccentricity distribution of planets is vital for
understanding planet formation. In this work, we perform statistical
eccentricity studies of transiting exoplanets using transit durations measured
via Kepler combined with precise and accurate stellar radii from the
California-Kepler Survey and Gaia. Compared to previous works that
characterized the eccentricity distribution from transit durations, our
analysis benefits from both high precision stellar radii (3%) and a large
sample of 1000 planets. We observe that that systems with only a single
observed transiting planet have a higher mean eccentricity () than systems with multiple transiting planets (), in
agreement with previous studies. We confirm the preference for high and low
eccentricity subpopulations among the singly transiting systems. Finally, we
show suggestive new evidence that high planets in the Kepler sample are
preferentially found around high metallicity ([Fe/H] ) stars. We conclude
by discussing the implications on planetary formation theories
Constraints on the Obliquities of Kepler Planet-Hosting Stars
Stars with hot Jupiters have obliquities ranging from 0-180 degrees, but
relatively little is known about the obliquities of stars with smaller planets.
Using data from the California-Kepler Survey, we investigate the obliquities of
stars with planets spanning a wide range of sizes, most of which are smaller
than Neptune. First, we identify 156 planet hosts for which measurements of the
projected rotation velocity (vsini) and rotation period are both available. By
combining estimates of v and vsini, we find nearly all the stars to be
compatible with high inclination, and hence, low obliquity (less than about 20
degrees). Second, we focus on a sample of 159 hot stars (> 6000K) for which
vsini is available but not necessarily the rotation period. We find 6 stars for
which vsini is anomalously low, an indicator of high obliquity. Half of these
have hot Jupiters, even though only 3% of the stars that were searched have hot
Jupiters. We also compare the vsini distribution of the hot stars with planets
to that of 83 control stars selected without prior knowledge of planets. The
mean vsini of the control stars is lower than that of the planet hosts by a
factor of approximately pi/4, as one would expect if the planet hosts have low
obliquities. All these findings suggest that the Kepler planet-hosting stars
generally have low obliquities, with the exception of hot stars with hot
Jupiters.Comment: AJ, in pres
The California-Kepler Survey. III. A Gap in the Radius Distribution of Small Planets
The size of a planet is an observable property directly connected to the
physics of its formation and evolution. We used precise radius measurements
from the California-Kepler Survey (CKS) to study the size distribution of 2025
planets in fine detail. We detect a factor of 2 deficit
in the occurrence rate distribution at 1.5-2.0 R. This gap splits
the population of close-in ( < 100 d) small planets into two size regimes:
R < 1.5 R and R = 2.0-3.0 R, with few planets in
between. Planets in these two regimes have nearly the same intrinsic frequency
based on occurrence measurements that account for planet detection
efficiencies. The paucity of planets between 1.5 and 2.0 R supports
the emerging picture that close-in planets smaller than Neptune are composed of
rocky cores measuring 1.5 R or smaller with varying amounts of
low-density gas that determine their total sizes.Comment: Paper III in the California-Kepler Survey series, accepted to the
Astronomical Journa
Molecular Spiders with Memory
Synthetic bio-molecular spiders with "legs" made of single-stranded segments
of DNA can move on a surface which is also covered by single-stranded segments
of DNA complementary to the leg DNA. In experimental realizations, when a leg
detaches from a segment of the surface for the first time it alters that
segment, and legs subsequently bound to these altered segments more weakly.
Inspired by these experiments we investigate spiders moving along a
one-dimensional substrate, whose legs leave newly visited sites at a slower
rate than revisited sites. For a random walk (one-leg spider) the slowdown does
not effect the long time behavior. For a bipedal spider, however, the slowdown
generates an effective bias towards unvisited sites, and the spider behaves
similarly to the excited walk. Surprisingly, the slowing down of the spider at
new sites increases the diffusion coefficient and accelerates the growth of the
number of visited sites.Comment: 10 pages, 3 figure
Walks of molecular motors in two and three dimensions
Molecular motors interacting with cytoskeletal filaments undergo peculiar
random walks consisting of alternating sequences of directed movements along
the filaments and diffusive motion in the surrounding solution. An ensemble of
motors is studied which interacts with a single filament in two and three
dimensions. The time evolution of the probability distribution for the bound
and unbound motors is determined analytically. The diffusion of the motors is
strongly enhanced parallel to the filament. The analytical expressions are in
excellent agreement with the results of Monte Carlo simulations.Comment: 7 pages, 2 figures, to be published in Europhys. Let
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