arXiv subjects

B. F. Burke

Publications and source records attributed to B. F. Burke.

5 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2006

Limits to Tertiary Astrometric Companions in Binary Systems

The Palomar High-precision Astrometric Search for Exoplanet Systems (PHASES) has monitored 37 sub-arcsecond binary systems to determine whether their Keplerian orbits are perturbed by faint astrometric companions to either star. Software has been developed to evaluate the regions in a companion mass-period phase space in which the PHASES observations can exclude the possibility of face-on orbit perturbations. We present results for 8 systems for which astrometric companions with masses as small as those of giant planets can be excluded.

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arXiv2006

Scientific Results from High-precision Astrometry at the Palomar Testbed Interferometer

A new observing mode for the Palomar Testbed Interferometer was developed in2002-2003 which enables differential astrometry at the level of 20 micro-arcseconds for binary systems with separations of several hundred milli-arcseconds (mas). This phase-referenced mode is the basis of the Palomar High-precision Astrometric Search for Exoplanet Systems (PHASES), a search for giant planets orbiting either the primary or secondary star in fifty binary systems. We present the first science results from the PHASES search. The properties of the stars comprising binary systems are determined to high precision. The mutual inclinations of several hierarchical triple star systems have been determined. We will present upper limits constraining the the existence of giant planets in a few of the target systems.

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arXiv2004

Initial Scientific Results from Phase-Referenced Astrometry of Sub-Arcsecond Binaries

The Palomar Testbed Interferometer has observed several binary star systems whose separations fall between the interferometric coherence length (a few hundredths of an arcsecond) and the typical atmospheric seeing limit of one arcsecond. Using phase-referencing techniques we measure the relative separations of the systems to precisions of a few tens of micro-arcseconds. We present the first scientific results of these observations, including the astrometric detection of the faint third stellar component of the kappa Pegasi system.

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arXiv1997

Low Surface Brightness Radio Structure in the Field of Gravitational Lens 0957+561

We have produced deep radio maps of the double quasar 0957+561 from multiple-epoch VLA observations. To achieve high sensitivity to extended structure we have re-reduced the best available 1.6 GHz observations and have combined 5 GHz data from multiple array configurations. Regions of faint emission approximately 15 arcsec north and south of the radio source G are probably lobes associated with the lensing galaxy. An arc 5 arcsec to the east of G may be a stretched image of emission in the background quasar's environment. 1.4 arcsec southwest of G we detect a source that we interpret as an image of emission from the quasar's western lobe, which could provide a constraint on the slope of the gravitational potential in the central region of the lens. We explore the consequences of these new constraints with simple lens models of the system.

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arXiv1997

The Gravitationally-Lensed Radio Source MG0751+2716

We report the discovery of a new gravitationally lensed radio source. Radio maps of MG0751+2716 show four lensed images, which, at higher resolution, are resolved into long arcs of emission. A group of galaxies is present in optical images, including the principal lensing galaxy, with a much brighter galaxy just a few arcseconds away. We have measured the redshift of this brighter galaxy. No optical counterpart to the background source has been detected. Lens models that can readily reproduce the lensed image positions all require a substantial shear component. However, neither the very elongated lens nor the bright nearby galaxy are correctly positioned to explain the shear. Lens models which associate the mass with the light of galaxies in the group can produce an acceptable fit, but only with an extreme mass-to-light ratio in one of the minor group members.

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