42,503 research outputs found
Line-profile variations in radial-velocity measurements: Two alternative indicators for planetary searches
Aims. We introduce two methods to identify false-positive planetary signals
in the context of radial-velocity exoplanet searches. The first is the
bi-Gaussian cross-correlation function fitting, and the second is the
measurement of asymmetry in radial-velocity spectral line information content,
Vasy.
Methods. We make a systematic analysis of the most used common line profile
diagnosis, Bisector Inverse Slope and Velocity Span, along with the two
proposed ones. We evaluate all these diagnosis methods following a set of
well-defined common criteria and using both simulated and real data. We apply
them to simulated cross-correlation functions created with the program SOAP and
which are affected by the presence of stellar spots, and to real
cross-correlation functions, calculated from HARPS spectra, for stars with a
signal originating both in activity and created by a planet.
Results. We demonstrate that the bi-Gaussian method allows a more precise
characterization of the deformation of line profiles than the standard bisector
inverse slope. The calculation of the deformation indicator is simpler and its
interpretation more straightforward. More importantly, its amplitude can be up
to 30% larger than that of the bisector span, allowing the detection of
smaller-amplitude correlations with radial-velocity variations. However, a
particular parametrization of the bisector inverse slope is shown to be more
efficient on high-signal-to-noise data than both the standard bisector and the
bi-Gaussian. The results of the Vasy method show that this indicator is more
effective than any of the previous ones, being correlated with the
radial-velocity with more significance for signals resulting from a line
deformation. Moreover, it provides a qualitative advantage over the bisector,
showing significant correlations with RV for active stars for which bisector
analysis is inconclusive. (abridged)Comment: 12 pages, 7 figures, accepted for publication in Astronomy and
Astrophysics, comments welcom
Elodie metallicity-biased search for transiting Hot Jupiters I. Two Hot Jupiters orbiting the slightly evolved stars HD118203 and HD149143
We report the discovery of a new planet candidate orbiting the subgiant star
HD118203 with a period of P=6.1335 days. The best Keplerian solution yields an
eccentricity e=0.31 and a minimum mass m2sin(i)=2.1MJup for the planet. This
star has been observed with the ELODIE fiber-fed spectrograph as one of the
targets in our planet-search programme biased toward high-metallicity stars,
on-going since March 2004 at the Haute-Provence Observatory. An analysis of the
spectroscopic line profiles using line bisectors revealed no correlation
between the radial velocities and the line-bisector orientations, indicating
that the periodic radial-velocity signal is best explained by the presence of a
planet-mass companion. A linear trend is observed in the residuals around the
orbital solution that could be explained by the presence of a second companion
in a longer-period orbit. We also present here our orbital solution for another
slightly evolved star in our metal-rich sample, HD149143, recently proposed to
host a 4-d period Hot Jupiter by the N2K consortium. Our solution yields a
period P=4.09 days, a marginally significant eccentricity e=0.08 and a
planetary minimum mass of 1.36MJup. We checked that the shape of the spectral
lines does not vary for this star as well.Comment: Accepted in A&A (6 pages, 6 figures
Dark Matter directional detection: comparison of the track direction determination
Several directional techniques have been proposed for a directional detection
of Dark matter, among others anisotropic crystal detectors, nuclear emulsion
plates, and low-pressure gaseous TPCs. The key point is to get access to the
initial direction of the nucleus recoiling due to the elastic scattering by a
WIMP. In this article, we aim at estimating, for each method, how the
information of the recoil track initial direction is preserved in different
detector materials. We use the SRIM simulation code to emulate the motion of
the first recoiling nucleus in each material. We propose the use of a new
observable, D, to quantify the preservation of the initial direction of the
recoiling nucleus in the detector. We show that in an emulsion mix and an
anisotropic crystal, the initial direction is lost very early, while in a
typical TPC gas mix, the direction is well preserved.Comment: 9 pages, 5 figure
The contribution of secondary eclipses as astrophysical false positives to exoplanet transit surveys
We investigate in this paper the astrophysical false-positive configuration
in exoplanet-transit surveys that involves eclipsing binaries and giant planets
which present only a secondary eclipse, as seen from the Earth. To test how an
eclipsing binary configuration can mimic a planetary transit, we generate
synthetic light curve of three examples of secondary-only eclipsing binary
systems that we fit with a circular planetary model. Then, to evaluate its
occurrence we model a population of binaries in double and triple system based
on binary statistics and occurrence. We find that 0.061% +/- 0.017% of
main-sequence binary stars are secondary-only eclipsing binaries mimicking a
planetary transit candidate down to the size of the Earth. We then evaluate the
occurrence that an occulting-only giant planet can mimic an Earth-like planet
or even smaller planet. We find that 0.009% +/- 0.002% of stars harbor a giant
planet that present only the secondary transit. Occulting-only giant planets
mimic planets smaller than the Earth that are in the scope of space missions
like Kepler and PLATO. We estimate that up to 43.1 +/- 5.6 Kepler Objects of
Interest can be mimicked by this new configuration of false positives,
re-evaluating the global false-positive rate of the Kepler mission from 9.4%
+/- 0.9% to 11.3% +/- 1.1%. We note however that this new false-positive
scenario occurs at relatively long orbital period compared with the median
period of Kepler candidates.Comment: 9 pages, 4 figures, accepted for publication in A&
Entropy inequalities and Bell inequalities for two-qubit systems
Sufficient conditions for (the non-violation of) the Bell-CHSH inequalities
in a mixed state of a two-qubit system are: 1) The linear entropy of the state
is not smaller than 0.5, 2) The sum of the conditional linear entropies is
non-negative, 3) The von Neumann entropy is not smaller than 0.833, 4) The sum
of the conditional von Neumann entropies is not smaller than 0.280.Comment: Errors corrected. See L. Jakobcyk, quant-ph/040908
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