Searcharxiv⌕ Search

arXiv subjects

Andrea K. Dupree

Publications and source records attributed to Andrea K. Dupree.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

A New Look at T Tauri Star Forbidden Lines: MHD Driven Winds from the Inner Disk

Magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) and photoevaporative winds are thought to play an important role in the evolution and dispersal of planet-forming disks. We report the first high-resolution ($Δv\sim$6\kms) analysis of [S II] $λ$4068, [O I] $λ$5577, and [O I] $λ$6300 lines from a sample of 48 T Tauri stars. Following Simon et al. (2016), we decompose them into three kinematic components: a high-velocity component (HVC) associated with jets, and a low-velocity narrow (LVC-NC) and broad (LVC-BC) components. We confirm previous findings that many LVCs are blueshifted by more than 1.5 kms$^{-1}$ thus most likely trace a slow disk wind. We further show that the profiles of individual components are similar in the three lines. We find that most LVC-BC and NC line ratios are explained by thermally excited gas with temperatures between 5,000$-$10,000 K and electron densities $\sim10^{7}-10^{8}$ cm$^{-3}$. The HVC ratios are better reproduced by shock models with a pre-shock H number density of $\sim10^{6}-10^{7}$ cm$^{-3}$. Using these physical properties, we estimate $\dot{M}_{\rm wind}/\dot{M}_{\rm acc}$ for the LVC and $\dot{M}_{\rm jet}/\dot{M}_{\rm acc}$ for the HVC. In agreement with previous work, the mass carried out in jets is modest compared to the accretion rate. With the likely assumption that the NC wind height is larger than the BC, the LVC-BC $\dot{M}_{\rm wind}/\dot{M}_{\rm acc}$ is found to be higher than the LVC-NC. These results suggest that most of the mass loss occurs close to the central star, within a few au, through an MHD driven wind. Depending on the wind height, MHD winds might play a major role in the evolution of the disk mass.

astro-ph.SR↗

Planetary Candidates Observed by Kepler. VIII. A Fully Automated Catalog With Measured Completeness and Reliability Based on Data Release 25

We present the Kepler Object of Interest (KOI) catalog of transiting exoplanets based on searching four years of Kepler time series photometry (Data Release 25, Q1-Q17). The catalog contains 8054 KOIs of which 4034 are planet candidates with periods between 0.25 and 632 days. Of these candidates, 219 are new and include two in multi-planet systems (KOI-82.06 and KOI-2926.05), and ten high-reliability, terrestrial-size, habitable zone candidates. This catalog was created using a tool called the Robovetter which automatically vets the DR25 Threshold Crossing Events (TCEs, Twicken et al. 2016). The Robovetter also vetted simulated data sets and measured how well it was able to separate TCEs caused by noise from those caused by low signal-to-noise transits. We discusses the Robovetter and the metrics it uses to sort TCEs. For orbital periods less than 100 days the Robovetter completeness (the fraction of simulated transits that are determined to be planet candidates) across all observed stars is greater than 85%. For the same period range, the catalog reliability (the fraction of candidates that are not due to instrumental or stellar noise) is greater than 98%. However, for low signal-to-noise candidates between 200 and 500 days around FGK dwarf stars, the Robovetter is 76.7% complete and the catalog is 50.5% reliable. The KOI catalog, the transit fits and all of the simulated data used to characterize this catalog are available at the NASA Exoplanet Archive.

astro-ph.EP↗

Adaptive Optics Images III: 87 Kepler Objects of Interest

The Kepler mission has revolutionized our understanding of exoplanets, but some of the planet candidates identified by Kepler may actually be astrophysical false positives or planets whose transit depths are diluted by the presence of another star. Adaptive optics images made with ARIES at the MMT of 87 Kepler Objects of Interest place limits on the presence of fainter stars in or near the Kepler aperture. We detected visual companions within 1" for five stars, between 1" and 2" for seven stars, and between 2" and 4" for 15 stars. For those systems, we estimate the brightness of companion stars in the Kepler bandpass and provide approximate corrections to the radii of associated planet candidates due to the extra light in the aperture. For all stars observed, we report detection limits on the presence of nearby stars. ARIES is typically sensitive to stars approximately 5.3 Ks magnitudes fainter than the target star within 1" and approximately 5.7 Ks magnitudes fainter within 2", but can detect stars as faint as delta Ks = 7.5 under ideal conditions.

astro-ph.EP↗

Adaptive Optics Images II: 12 Kepler Objects of Interest and 15 Confirmed Transiting Planets

All transiting planet observations are at risk of contamination from nearby, unresolved stars. Blends dilute the transit signal, causing the planet to appear smaller than it really is, or produce a false positive detection when the target star is blended with an eclipsing binary. High spatial resolution adaptive optics images are the best way of resolving undetected contaminants. Here we present companions and detection limits for 12 Kepler candidates, of which 4 have companions within 4 arcsec. One system (KOI 1537) consists of two similar-magnitude stars separated by 0.1 arcsec, while KOI 174 has a companion at 0.5 arcsec. In addition, observations were made of 15 transiting planets that were previously discovered by other surveys. The only companion found within 1 arcsec of a known planet is the previously identified companion to WASP-2b. An additional four systems have companions between 1-4 arcsec: HAT-P-30b (3.7 arcsec, Delta Ks = 2.9), HAT-P-32b (2.9 arcsec, Delta Ks = 3.4), TrES-1b (2.3 arcsec, Delta Ks = 7.7), and WASP-P-33b (1.9 arcsec, Delta Ks = 5.5), some of which have not been reported previously. Depending on the spatial resolution of the transit photometry for these systems, these companion stars may require a reassessment of the planetary parameters derived from transit light curves. For all systems observed, we report the limiting magnitudes of additional objects located 0.1-4 arcsec from the target.

astro-ph.EP↗

A sub-Mercury-sized exoplanet

Since the discovery of the first exoplanet we have known that other planetary systems can look quite unlike our own. However, until recently we have only been able to probe the upper range of the planet size distribution. The high precision of the Kepler space telescope has allowed us to detect planets that are the size of Earth and somewhat smaller, but no previous planets have been found that are smaller than those we see in our own Solar System. Here we report the discovery of a planet significantly smaller than Mercury. This tiny planet is the innermost of three planets that orbit the Sun-like host star, which we have designated Kepler-37. Owing to its extremely small size, similar to that of Earth's Moon, and highly irradiated surface, Kepler-37b is probably a rocky planet with no atmosphere or water, similar to Mercury.

astro-ph.EP↗

The Mass of KOI-94d and a Relation for Planet Radius, Mass, and Incident Flux

We measure the mass of a modestly irradiated giant planet, KOI-94d. We wish to determine whether this planet, which is in a 22-day orbit and receives 2700 times as much incident flux as Jupiter, is as dense as Jupiter or rarefied like inflated hot Jupiters. KOI-94 also hosts 3 smaller transiting planets, all of which were detected by the Kepler Mission. With 26 radial velocities of KOI-94 from the W. M. Keck Observatory and a simultaneous fit to the Kepler light curve, we measure the mass of the giant planet and determine that it is not inflated. Support for the planetary interpretation of the other three candidates comes from gravitational interactions through transit timing variations, the statistical robustness of multi-planet systems against false positives, and several lines of evidence that no other star resides within the photometric aperture. The radial velocity analyses of KOI-94b and KOI-94e offer marginal (>2σ) mass detections, whereas the observations of KOI-94c offer only an upper limit to its mass. Using the KOI-94 system and other planets with published values for both mass and radius (138 exoplanets total, including 35 with M < 150 Earth masses), we establish two fundamental planes for exoplanets that relate their mass, incident flux, and radius from a few Earth masses up to ten Jupiter masses. These equations can be used to predict the radius or mass of a planet.

astro-ph.EP↗

The 10830 He I Absorption Line Among Metal-Poor Subdwarfs

Spectra of the He I 10830 line have been obtained for 23 metal-poor stars, the majority of which are dwarfs ranging in metallicity from [Fe/H] = -2.1 to -0.8. The data were acquired with the NIRSPEC spectrograph on the Keck 2 telescope. Most of these subdwarfs and dwarfs are found to exhibit a He I absorption line indicative of the presence of chromospheres. The equivalent width of the 10830 absorption profile is generally less than 70 mA, and covers a range similar to that found in solar metallicity stars of low activity. Among the subdwarfs the He I equivalent width does not correlate with either [Fe/H] metallicity or (B-V) color. Some evidence for asymmetric profiles is found among metal-poor dwarfs, but not the high-speed blue-shifted absorption displayed by some metal-poor red giants.

astro-ph.SR↗

On the detectability of star-planet interaction

Magnetic (or tidal) interactions between "hot Jupiters" and their host stars can potentially enhance chromospheric and coronal activity. An ideal testbed for investigating this effect is provided by the extreme WASP-18 system, which features a massive (~10 times Jupiter) close-in (~1 day period) transiting planet orbiting a young F6 star. Optical and X-ray observations of WASP-18 were conducted in November 2011. The high-resolution echelle spectrograph MIKE was used on the 6.5m Magellan Clay telescope to obtain 13 spectra spanning planetary orbital phases of 0.7-1.4, while the X-ray Telescope on Swift provided contemporaneous monitoring with a stacked exposure of ~50 ks. The cores of the Ca II H and K lines do not show significant variability over multiple orbits spanning ~8 d, in contrast to the expectation of phase-dependent chromospheric activity enhancements for efficient star-planet interaction. The star is also X-ray faint, with log Lx < 27.6 erg/s (0.3-2 keV), indicating that coronal activity is likewise low. The lack of detectable star-planet interaction in this extreme system requires that any such effect must here be transient, if indeed present. We demonstrate that searches for Ca II H and K variability can potentially mistake a stellar hotspot, if observed over a short segment of the rotation period, for planet-induced activity. Taken together, these results suggest that the utility of star-planet interaction as a robust method of estimating exoplanet magnetic field strengths may be limited.

astro-ph.EP↗

Adaptive Optics Images of Kepler Objects of Interest

All transiting planets are at risk of contamination by blends with nearby, unresolved stars. Blends dilute the transit signal, causing the planet to appear smaller than it really is, or produce a false positive detection when the target star is blended with eclipsing binary stars. This paper reports on high spatial-resolution adaptive optics images of 90 Kepler planetary candidates. Companion stars are detected as close as 0.1 arcsec from the target star. Images were taken in the near-infrared (J and Ks bands) with ARIES on the MMT and PHARO on the Palomar Hale 200-inch. Most objects (60%) have at least one star within 6 arcsec separation and a magnitude difference of 9. Eighteen objects (20%) have at least one companion within 2 arcsec of the target star; 6 companions (7%) are closer than 0.5 arcsec. Most of these companions were previously unknown, and the associated planetary candidates should receive additional scrutiny. Limits are placed on the presence of additional companions for every system observed, which can be used to validate planets statistically using the BLENDER method. Validation is particularly critical for low-mass, potentially Earth-like worlds, which are not detectable with current-generation radial velocity techniques. High-resolution images are thus a crucial component of any transit follow-up program.

astro-ph.EP↗

Planetary Candidates Observed by Kepler, III: Analysis of the First 16 Months of Data

New transiting planet candidates are identified in sixteen months (May 2009 - September 2010) of data from the Kepler spacecraft. Nearly five thousand periodic transit-like signals are vetted against astrophysical and instrumental false positives yielding 1,091 viable new planet candidates, bringing the total count up to over 2,300. Improved vetting metrics are employed, contributing to higher catalog reliability. Most notable is the noise-weighted robust averaging of multi-quarter photo-center offsets derived from difference image analysis which identifies likely background eclipsing binaries. Twenty-two months of photometry are used for the purpose of characterizing each of the new candidates. Ephemerides (transit epoch, T_0, and orbital period, P) are tabulated as well as the products of light curve modeling: reduced radius (Rp/R*), reduced semi-major axis (d/R*), and impact parameter (b). The largest fractional increases are seen for the smallest planet candidates (197% for candidates smaller than 2Re compared to 52% for candidates larger than 2Re) and those at longer orbital periods (123% for candidates outside of 50-day orbits versus 85% for candidates inside of 50-day orbits). The gains are larger than expected from increasing the observing window from thirteen months (Quarter 1-- Quarter 5) to sixteen months (Quarter 1 -- Quarter 6). This demonstrates the benefit of continued development of pipeline analysis software. The fraction of all host stars with multiple candidates has grown from 17% to 20%, and the paucity of short-period giant planets in multiple systems is still evident. The progression toward smaller planets at longer orbital periods with each new catalog release suggests that Earth-size planets in the Habitable Zone are forthcoming if, indeed, such planets are abundant.

astro-ph.EP↗

Kepler-22b: A 2.4 Earth-radius Planet in the Habitable Zone of a Sun-like Star

A search of the time-series photometry from NASA's Kepler spacecraft reveals a transiting planet candidate orbiting the 11th magnitude G5 dwarf KIC 10593626 with a period of 290 days. The characteristics of the host star are well constrained by high-resolution spectroscopy combined with an asteroseismic analysis of the Kepler photometry, leading to an estimated mass and radius of 0.970 +/- 0.060 MSun and 0.979 +/- 0.020 RSun. The depth of 492 +/- 10ppm for the three observed transits yields a radius of 2.38 +/- 0.13 REarth for the planet. The system passes a battery of tests for false positives, including reconnaissance spectroscopy, high-resolution imaging, and centroid motion. A full BLENDER analysis provides further validation of the planet interpretation by showing that contamination of the target by an eclipsing system would rarely mimic the observed shape of the transits. The final validation of the planet is provided by 16 radial velocities obtained with HIRES on Keck 1 over a one year span. Although the velocities do not lead to a reliable orbit and mass determination, they are able to constrain the mass to a 3σ upper limit of 124 MEarth, safely in the regime of planetary masses, thus earning the designation Kepler-22b. The radiative equilibrium temperature is 262K for a planet in Kepler-22b's orbit. Although there is no evidence that Kepler-22b is a rocky planet, it is the first confirmed planet with a measured radius to orbit in the Habitable Zone of any star other than the Sun.

astro-ph.EP↗

Kepler-14b: A massive hot Jupiter transiting an F star in a close visual binary

We present the discovery of a hot Jupiter transiting an F star in a close visual (0.3" sky projected angular separation) binary system. The dilution of the host star's light by the nearly equal magnitude stellar companion (~ 0.5 magnitudes fainter) significantly affects the derived planetary parameters, and if left uncorrected, leads to an underestimate of the radius and mass of the planet by 10% and 60%, respectively. Other published exoplanets, which have not been observed with high-resolution imaging, could similarly have unresolved stellar companions and thus have incorrectly derived planetary parameters. Kepler-14b (KOI-98) has a period of P = 6.790 days and correcting for the dilution, has a mass of Mp = 8.40 +0.19-0.18 MJ and a radius of Rp = 1.136 +0.073-0.054 RJ, yielding a mean density of rho = 7.1 +- 1.1 g cm-3.

astro-ph.EP↗

Spitzer spectra of evolved stars in omega Centauri and their low-metallicity dust production

Dust production is explored around 14 metal-poor ([Fe/H] = -1.91 to -0.98) giant stars in the Galactic globular cluster omega Centauri using new Spitzer IRS spectra. This sample includes the cluster's post-AGB and carbon stars and is thus the first representative spectral study of dust production in a metal-poor ([Fe/H] < -1) population. Only the more metal rich stars V6 and V17 ([Fe/H] = -1.08, -1.06) exhibit silicate emission, while the five other stars with mid-infrared excess show only a featureless continuum which we argue is caused by metallic iron dust grains. We examine the metallicity of V42, and find it is likely part of the metal-rich population ([Fe/H] ~ -0.8). Aside from the post-AGB star V1, we find no star from the cluster's bulk, metal-poor ([Fe/H] < -1.5) population - including the carbon stars - to be producing detectable amounts of dust. We compare the dust production to the stars' H-alpha line profiles obtained at the Magellan/Clay telescope at Las Campanas Observatory, finding pulsation shocking in the strongest pulsators (V6, V17 and V42), but evidence of outflow in all other stars. We conclude that the onset of dust production does not signify a fundamental change in the material leaving the star. Our data add to a growing body of evidence that metallic iron dominates dust production in metal-poor, oxygen-rich stars, but that dust is probably not the primary accelerant of winds in this mass-metallicity regime.

astro-ph.SR↗

The Kepler Cluster Study: Stellar Rotation in NGC6811

We present rotation periods for 71 single dwarf members of the open cluster NGC6811 determined using photometry from NASA's Kepler Mission. The results are the first from The Kepler Cluster Study which combine Kepler's photometry with ground-based spectroscopy for cluster membership and binarity. The rotation periods delineate a tight sequence in the NGC6811 color-period diagram from ~1 day at mid-F to ~11 days at early-K spectral type. This result extends to ~1 Gyr similar prior results in the ~600 Myr Hyades and Praesepe clusters, suggesting that rotation periods for cool dwarf stars delineate a well-defined surface in the 3-dimensional space of color (mass), rotation, and age. It implies that reliable ages can be derived for field dwarf stars with measured colors and rotation periods, and it promises to enable further understanding of various aspects of stellar rotation and activity for cool stars.

astro-ph.SR↗

Characteristics of planetary candidates observed by Kepler, II: Analysis of the first four months of data

On 1 February 2011 the Kepler Mission released data for 156,453 stars observed from the beginning of the science observations on 2 May through 16 September 2009. There are 1235 planetary candidates with transit like signatures detected in this period. These are associated with 997 host stars. Distributions of the characteristics of the planetary candidates are separated into five class-sizes; 68 candidates of approximately Earth-size (radius < 1.25 Earth radii), 288 super-Earth size (1.25 Earth radii < radius < 2 Earth radii), 662 Neptune-size (2 Earth radii < radius < 6 Earth radii), 165 Jupiter-size (6 Earth radii < radius < 15 Earth radii), and 19 up to twice the size of Jupiter (15 Earth radii < radius < 22 Earth radii). In the temperature range appropriate for the habitable zone, 54 candidates are found with sizes ranging from Earth-size to larger than that of Jupiter. Five are less than twice the size of the Earth. Over 74% of the planetary candidates are smaller than Neptune. The observed number versus size distribution of planetary candidates increases to a peak at two to three times Earth-size and then declines inversely proportional to area of the candidate. Our current best estimates of the intrinsic frequencies of planetary candidates, after correcting for geometric and sensitivity biases, are 6% for Earth-size candidates, 7% for super-Earth size candidates, 17% for Neptune-size candidates, and 4% for Jupiter-size candidates. Multi-candidate, transiting systems are frequent; 17% of the host stars have multi-candidate systems, and 33.9% of all the candidates are part of multi-candidate systems.

astro-ph.EP↗

Photometric Variability in Kepler Target Stars. II. An Overview of Amplitude, Periodicity, and Rotation in First Quarter Data

We provide an overview of stellar variability in the first quarter of data from the Kepler mission. The intent of this paper is to examine the entire sample of over 150,000 target stars for periodic behavior in their lightcurves, and relate this to stellar characteristics. These data constitute an unprecedented study of stellar variability given its great precision and complete time coverage (with a half hour cadence). Because the full Kepler pipeline is not currently suitable for a study of stellar variability of this sort, we describe our procedures for treating the "raw" pipeline data. About half of the total sample exhibits convincing periodic variability up to two weeks, with amplitudes ranging from differential intensity changes less than 10^{-4} up to more than 10 percent. K and M dwarfs have a greater fraction of period behavior than G dwarfs. The giants in the sample have distinctive quasi-periodic behavior, but are not periodic in the way we define it. Not all periodicities are due to rotation, and the most significant period is not necessarily the rotation period. We discuss properties of the lightcurves, and in particular look at a sample of very clearly periodic G dwarfs. It is clear that a large number of them do vary because of rotation and starspots, but it will take further analysis to fully exploit this.

astro-ph.SR↗

White-light flares on cool stars in the Kepler Quarter 1 Data

We present the results of a search for white light flares on the ~23,000 cool dwarfs in the Kepler Quarter 1 long cadence data. We have identified 373 flaring stars, some of which flare multiple times during the observation period. We calculate relative flare energies, flare rates and durations, and compare these with the quiescent photometric variability of our sample. We find that M dwarfs tend to flare more frequently but for shorter durations than K dwarfs, and that they emit more energy relative to their quiescent luminosity in a given flare than K dwarfs. Stars that are more photometrically variable in quiescence tend to emit relatively more energy during flares, but variability is only weakly correlated with flare frequency. We estimate distances for our sample of flare stars and find that the flaring fraction agrees well with other observations of flare statistics for stars within 300 pc above the Galactic Plane. These observations provide a more rounded view of stellar flares by sampling stars that have not been pre-selected by their activity, and are informative for understanding the influence of these flares on planetary habitability.

astro-ph.SR↗

Discovery of long-period variable stars in the very-metal-poor globular cluster M15

We present a search for long-period variable (LPV) stars among giant branch stars in M15 which, at [Fe/H] ~ -2.3, is one of the most metal-poor Galactic globular clusters. We use multi-colour optical photometry from the 0.6-m Keele Thornton and 2-m Liverpool Telescopes. Variability of delta-V ~ 0.15 mag is detected in K757 and K825 over unusually-long timescales of nearly a year, making them the most metal-poor LPVs found in a Galactic globular cluster. K825 is placed on the long secondary period sequence, identified for metal-rich LPVs, though no primary period is detectable. We discuss this variability in the context of dust production and stellar evolution at low metallicity, using additional spectra from the 6.5-m Magellan (Las Campanas) telescope. A lack of dust production, despite the presence of gaseous mass loss raises questions about the production of dust and the intra-cluster medium of this cluster.

astro-ph.SR↗