arXiv subjects

Frédéric Thévenin

Publications and source records attributed to Frédéric Thévenin.

22 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2006

Deep imaging survey of the environment of Alpha Centauri - II. CCD imaging with the NTT-SUSI2 camera

Context: The nearby pair of solar-type stars Alpha Centauri is a favorable target for an imaging search for extrasolar planets. Indications exist that the gravitational mass of Alpha Cen B could be higher than its modeled mass, the difference being consistent with a substellar companion of a few tens of Jupiter masses. However, Alpha Centauri usually appears in star catalogues surrounded by a large void area, due to the strong diffused light. Aims: We searched for faint comoving companions to Alpha Cen located at angular distances of the order of a few tens of arcseconds, up to 2-3 arcmin. As a secondary objective, we built a catalogue of the detected background sources. Methods: In order to complement our adaptive optics search at small angular distances (Paper I), we used atmosphere limited CCD imaging from the NTT-SUSI2 instrument in the Bessel V, R, I, and Z bands. Results: We present the results of our search in the form of a catalogue of the detected objects inside a 5.5 arcmin box around this star. A total of 4313 sources down to mV~24 and mI~22 were detected from this wide-field survey. We extracted the infrared photometry of part of the detected sources from archive images of the 2MASS survey (JHK bands). We investigate briefly the nature of the detected sources, many of them presenting extremely red color indices (V-K > 14). Conclusions: We did not detect any companion to Alpha Centauri between 100 and 300 AU, down to a maximum mass of ~15 times Jupiter. We also mostly exclude the presence of a companion more massive than 30 MJup between 50 and 100 AU.

astro-ph↗

arXiv2006

Deep imaging survey of the environment of Alpha Centauri - I. Adaptive optics imaging of Alpha Cen B with VLT-NACO

Context: Alpha Centauri is our closest stellar neighbor, at a distance of only 1.3 pc, and its two main components have spectral types comparable to the Sun. This is therefore a favorable target for an imaging search for extrasolar planets. Moreover, indications exist that the gravitational mass of Alpha Cen B is higher than its modeled mass, the difference being consistent with a substellar companion of a few tens of Jupiter masses. Aims: We searched for faint comoving companions to Alpha Cen B. As a secondary objective, we built a catalogue of the detected background sources. Methods: We used the NACO adaptive optics system of the VLT in the J, H, and Ks bands to search for companions to Alpha Cen B. This instrument allowed us to achieve a very high sensitivity to point-like sources, with a limiting magnitude of m\_Ks ~ 18 at 7" from the star. We complemented this data set with archival coronagraphic images from the HST-ACS instrument to obtain an accurate astrometric calibration. Results: Over the observed area, we did not detect any comoving companion to Alpha Cen B down to an absolute magnitude of 19-20 in the H and Ks bands. However, we present a catalogue of 252 background objects within about 15" of the star. This catalogue fills part of the large void area that surrounds Alpha Cen in sky surveys due to the strong diffused light. We also present a model of the diffused light as a function of angular distance for the NACO instrument, that can be used to predict the background level for bright star observations. Conclusions: According to recent numerical models, the limiting magnitude of our search sets the maximum mass of possible companions to 20-30 times Jupiter, between 7 and 20 AU from Alpha Cen B.

astro-ph↗

arXiv2005

A Search for Very Active Stars in the Galaxy

We report the first results of a systematic search near the plane of the Galaxy for the so called very active stars (VAS), which are characterized by a hard X-ray spectrum and activity in the radio domain. Candidates with hard X-ray binary-like spectra have been selected from the Bright ROSAT Source Catalogue in the Zone of Avoidance ($| b | < 20{^o}$) and were tentatively identified in GB6/PMM/NVSS radio surveys. Most of them were observed with the ATCA and VLA. Precise radio coordinates have led to unambiguous optical identification for 60 candidates, and a sub-sample of five of themhas been observed with the VLT. Also some discovery and confirmatory spectra were obtained with the AAT (4-m) and BTA (6-m). Spectroscopy with moderate dispersion, made with the FORS1 spectrograph of the VLT has revealed two stellar objects (one of them, VASC J1628-41, is definitivelya binary VAS), one new AGN and two featureless spectrum sources. One of these objects, VASC J1353-66, shows a marginal evidence of proper motion, which, if confirmed, would imply the discovery of a new type of galactic source.

astro-ph↗

arXiv2005

Seismology and activity of the F type star HD 49933

A 10-night asteroseismic observation programme has been conducted in January 2004 with the spectrometer Harps at the ES0 3.6-m telescope. The selected target, the 6th magnitude F5V star HD 49933, was chosen among the prime candidates of Corot, the European space mission dedicated to characterize stellar oscillations mode with high precision photometry measurements. This star shows important line profiles variations, indicating a surprisingly high activity with respect to its low rotation rate. However, with the help of tools developed for disentangling the signatures of activity and oscillations, we are able to observe its oscillation spectrum in the frequency range [1.2, 2.2 mHz]. We measure the large separation (88.7+-0.4 microHz) and the maximum amplitude (around 0.4+-0.1 m/s rms), respectively in agreement and marginal agreement with the predicted values.

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