arXiv subjects

C. Gourvès

Publications and source records attributed to C. Gourvès.

3 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2025

Detecting and characterising the magnetic field of exoplanets

Magnetic fields play a crucial role in planetary evolution and habitability. While the intrinsic magnetic fields of solar system planets are relatively well understood, the magnetic properties of exoplanets remain largely unconstrained, despite their potential ubiquity. Detecting exoplanetary magnetic fields is essential to advancing our understanding of planetary habitability beyond the solar system. This paper focuses on two promising spectropolarimetric techniques for detecting magnetic fields in hot exoplanets: direct detection through polarization signatures in the He I 1083 nm triplet and indirect detection via star-planet magnetic interactions manifesting as stellar hot spots. The direct method is particularly suited to close-in gas giants, leveraging the Hanle and Zeeman effects to detect low-amplitude magnetic fields. The indirect method can apply to both giant and low-mass planets by identifying magnetic connectivity-induced features in the stellar atmosphere. Although the interpretation of current detections remain tentative, upcoming high-resolution spectropolarimetric capabilities in the UV and near-infrared, particularly with future missions like HWO, promise to enable definitive measurements of exoplanetary magnetic fields. These advancements will open new avenues for probing the magnetic environments of exoplanets and their implications for atmospheric retention and habitability.

astro-ph.IM↗

arXiv2025

Non-transiting exoplanets as a means of understanding star-planet interactions in close-in systems

Previous studies showed evidence of a dearth of close-in exoplanets around fast rotators, which can be explained by the combined action of intense tidal and magnetic interactions between planets and their host star. Detecting more exoplanets experiencing such interactions, with orbits evolving on short timescales, is therefore crucial to improve our understanding of the underlying physical mechanisms. For this purpose, we performed a new search for close-in non-transiting substellar companions in the Kepler data, focusing on orbital periods below 2.3 days. We focused on main-sequence solar-type stars and subgiant stars for which a surface rotation period was measured. For each star, we looked for an excess in the power spectral density of the light curve, which could correspond to the signature of a close-in non-transiting companion. We compared our candidates with existing catalogues to eliminate potential contaminants in our sample, and we visually inspected the phase-folded light curve and its wavelet decomposition. We identify 88 stars exhibiting a signature consistent with the presence of a close non-transiting substellar companion. We show that the objects in our sample are located mostly within the dearth zone, emphasising the importance of performing follow-up of such systems in order to gather observational evidence of star-planet interactions.

astro-ph.EP↗

arXiv2023

Stellar spectral-type (mass) dependence of the dearth of close-in planets around fast-rotating stars. Architecture of Kepler confirmed single-exoplanet systems compared to star-planet evolution models

In 2013 a dearth of close-in planets around fast-rotating host stars was found using statistical tests on Kepler data. The addition of more Kepler and Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) systems in 2022 filled this region of the diagram of stellar rotation period (Prot) versus the planet orbital period (Porb). We revisited the Prot extraction of Kepler planet-host stars, we classify the stars by their spectral type, and we studied their Prot-Porb relations. We only used confirmed exoplanet systems to minimize biases. In order to learn about the physical processes at work, we used the star-planet evolution code ESPEM (French acronym for Evolution of Planetary Systems and Magnetism) to compute a realistic population synthesis of exoplanet systems and compared them with observations. Because ESPEM works with a single planet orbiting around a single main-sequence star, we limit our study to this population of Kepler observed systems filtering out binaries, evolved stars, and multi-planets. We find in both, observations and simulations, the existence of a dearth in close-in planets orbiting around fast-rotating stars, with a dependence on the stellar spectral type (F, G, and K), which is a proxy of the mass in our sample of stars. There is a change in the edge of the dearth as a function of the spectral type (and mass). It moves towards shorter Prot as temperature (and mass) increases, making the dearth look smaller. Realistic formation hypotheses included in the model and the proper treatment of tidal and magnetic migration are enough to qualitatively explain the dearth of hot planets around fast-rotating stars and the uncovered trend with spectral type.

astro-ph.EP↗