arXiv subjects

Keivan G. Stassun

Publications and source records attributed to Keivan G. Stassun.

At least 397 records · Page 22Linked to original sources

arXiv2015

HII 2407: A Low-Mass Eclipsing Binary Revealed by K2 Observations of the Pleiades

The star HII 2407 is a member of the relatively young Pleiades star cluster and was previously discovered to be a single-lined spectroscopic binary. It is newly identified here within $Kepler$/$K2$ photometric time series data as an eclipsing binary system. Mutual fitting of the radial velocity and photometric data leads to an orbital solution and constraints on fundamental stellar parameters. While the primary has arrived on the main sequence, the secondary is still pre-main-sequence and we compare our results for the $M/M_\odot$ and $R/R_\odot$ values with stellar evolutionary models. We also demonstrate that the system is likely to be tidally synchronized. Follow-up infrared spectroscopy is likely to reveal the lines of the secondary, allowing for dynamically measured masses and elevating the system to benchmark eclipsing binary status.

astro-ph.SR↗

arXiv2015

Impact of Declining Proposal Success Rates on Scientific Productivity

Over the last decade proposal success rates in the fundamental sciences have dropped significantly. Astronomy and related fields funded by NASA and NSF are no exception. Data across agencies show that this is not principally the result of a decline in proposal merit (the proportion of proposals receiving high rankings is largely unchanged), nor of a shift in proposer demographics (seniority, gender, and institutional affiliation have all remained unchanged), nor of an increase (beyond inflation) in the average requested funding per proposal, nor of an increase in the number of proposals per investigator in any one year. Rather, the statistics are consistent with a scenario in which agency budgets for competed research are flat or decreasing in inflation-adjusted dollars, the overall population of investigators has grown, and a larger proportion of these investigators are resubmitting meritorious but unfunded proposals. This White Paper presents statistics which support this conclusion, as well as recent research on the time cost of proposal writing versus that of producing publishable results. We conclude that an aspirational proposal success rate of 30-35% would still provide a healthily competitive environment for researchers, would more fully utilize the scientific capacity of the community's facilities and missions, and provide relief to the funding agencies who face the logistics of ever-increasing volumes of proposals.

physics.soc-ph↗

arXiv2015

KELT-4Ab: An inflated Hot Jupiter transiting the bright (V~10) component of a hierarchical triple

We report the discovery of KELT-4Ab, an inflated, transiting Hot Jupiter orbiting the brightest component of a hierarchical triple stellar system. The host star is an F star with $T_{\rm eff}=6206\pm75$ K, $\log g=4.108\pm0.014$, $\left[{\rm Fe}/{\rm H}\right]=-0.116_{-0.069}^{+0.065}$, ${\rm M_*}=1.201_{-0.061}^{+0.067} \ {\rm M}_{\odot}$, and ${\rm R_*}=1.610_{-0.068}^{+0.078} \ {\rm R}_{\odot}$. The best-fit linear ephemeris is $\rm {BJD_{TDB}} = 2456193.29157 \pm 0.00021 + E\left(2.9895936 \pm 0.0000048\right)$. With a magnitude of $V\sim10$, a planetary radius of $1.699_{-0.045}^{+0.046} \ {\rm R_J}$, and a mass of $0.902_{-0.059}^{+0.060} \ {\rm M_J}$, it is the brightest host among the population of inflated Hot Jupiters ($R_P > 1.5R_J$), making it a valuable discovery for probing the nature of inflated planets. In addition, its existence within a hierarchical triple and its proximity to Earth ($210$ pc) provides a unique opportunity for dynamical studies with continued monitoring with high resolution imaging and precision radial velocities. In particular, the motion of the binary stars around each other and of both stars around the primary star relative to the measured epoch in this work should be detectable when it rises in October 2015.

astro-ph.EP↗

arXiv2015

KELT-8b: A highly inflated transiting hot Jupiter and a new technique for extracting high-precision radial velocities from noisy spectra

We announce the discovery of a highly inflated transiting hot Jupiter discovered by the KELT-North survey. A global analysis including constraints from isochrones indicates that the V = 10.8 host star (HD 343246) is a mildly evolved, G dwarf with $T_{\rm eff} = 5754_{-55}^{+54}$ K, $\log{g} = 4.078_{-0.054}^{+0.049}$, $[Fe/H] = 0.272\pm0.038$, an inferred mass $M_{*}=1.211_{-0.066}^{+0.078}$ M$_{\odot}$, and radius $R_{*}=1.67_{-0.12}^{+0.14}$ R$_{\odot}$. The planetary companion has mass $M_P = 0.867_{-0.061}^{+0.065}$ $M_{J}$, radius $R_P = 1.86_{-0.16}^{+0.18}$ $R_{J}$, surface gravity $\log{g_{P}} = 2.793_{-0.075}^{+0.072}$, and density $ρ_P = 0.167_{-0.038}^{+0.047}$ g cm$^{-3}$. The planet is on a roughly circular orbit with semimajor axis $a = 0.04571_{-0.00084}^{+0.00096}$ AU and eccentricity $e = 0.035_{-0.025}^{+0.050}$. The best-fit linear ephemeris is $T_0 = 2456883.4803 \pm 0.0007$ BJD$_{\rm TDB}$ and $P = 3.24406 \pm 0.00016$ days. This planet is one of the most inflated of all known transiting exoplanets, making it one of the few members of a class of extremely low density, highly-irradiated gas giants. The low stellar $\log{g}$ and large implied radius are supported by stellar density constraints from follow-up light curves, plus an evolutionary and space motion analysis. We also develop a new technique to extract high precision radial velocities from noisy spectra that reduces the observing time needed to confirm transiting planet candidates. This planet boasts deep transits of a bright star, a large inferred atmospheric scale height, and a high equilibrium temperature of $T_{eq}=1675^{+61}_{-55}$ K, assuming zero albedo and perfect heat redistribution, making it one of the best targets for future atmospheric characterization studies.

astro-ph.EP↗

arXiv2015

First Results from the Disk Eclipse Search with KELT (DESK) Survey

Using time-series photometry from the Kilodegree Extremely Little Telescope (KELT) exoplanet survey, we are looking for eclipses of stars by their protoplanetary disks, specifically in young stellar associations. To date, we have discovered two previously unknown, large dimming events around the young stars RW Aurigae and V409 Tau. We attribute the dimming of RW Aurigae to an occultation by its tidally disrupted disk, with the disruption perhaps resulting from a recent flyby of its binary companion. Even with the dynamical environment of RW Aurigae, the distorted disk material remains very compact and presumably capable of forming planets. This system also shows that strong binary interactions with disks can also influence planet and core composition by stirring up and mixing materials during planet formation. We interpret the dimming of V409 Tau to be due to a feature, possibly a warp or perturbation, lying at least 10 AU from the host star in its nearly edge-on circumstellar disk.

astro-ph.SR↗

arXiv2015

Metrics for Optimization of Large Synoptic Survey Telescope Observations of Stellar Variables and Transients

The Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST) will be the largest time-domain photometric survey ever. In order to maximize the LSST science yield for a broad array of transient stellar phenomena, it is necessary to optimize the survey cadence, coverage, and depth via quantitative metrics that are specifically designed to characterize the time-domain behavior of various types of stellar transients. In this paper we present three such metrics built on the LSST Metric Analysis Framework (MAF) model (Jones et al. 2014). Two of the metrics quantify the ability of LSST to detect non-periodic and/or non-recurring transient events, and the ability of LSST to reliably measure periodic signals of various timescales. The third metric provides a way to quantify the range of stellar parameters in the stellar populations that LSST will probe. We provide example uses of these metrics and discuss some implications based on these metrics for optimization of the LSST survey for observations of stellar variables and transients.

astro-ph.IM↗

arXiv2015

Transiting Planets with LSST II. Period Detection of Planets Orbiting 1 Solar Mass Hosts

The Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST) will photometrically monitor approximately 1 billion stars for ten years. The resulting light curves can be used to detect transiting exoplanets. In particular, as demonstrated by Lund et al. (2015), LSST will probe stellar populations currently undersampled in most exoplanet transit surveys, including out to extragalactic distances. In this paper we test the efficiency of the box-fitting least-squares (BLS) algorithm for accurately recovering the periods of transiting exoplanets using simulated LSST data. We model planets with a range of radii orbiting a solar-mass star at a distance of 7 kpc, with orbital periods ranging from 0.5 to 20 days. We find that standard-cadence LSST observations will be able to reliably recover the periods of Hot Jupiters with periods shorter than approximately 3 days, however it will remain a challenge to confidently distinguish these transiting planets from false positives. At the same time, we find that the LSST deep drilling cadence is extremely powerful: the BLS algorithm successfully recovers at least 30% of sub-Saturn-size exoplanets with orbital periods as long as 20 days, and a simple BLS power criterion robustly distinguishes approximately 98% of these from photometric (i.e. statistical) false positives.

astro-ph.EP↗

arXiv2015

Kepler Eclipsing Binary Stars. VI. Identification of Eclipsing Binaries in the K2 Campaign 0 Data-set

The original {\it Kepler} mission observed and characterized over 2400 eclipsing binaries in addition to its prolific exoplanet detections. Despite the mechanical malfunction and subsequent non-recovery of two reaction wheels used to stabilize the instrument, the {\it Kepler} satellite continues collecting data in its repurposed {\it K2} mission surveying a series of fields along the ecliptic plane. Here we present an analysis of the first full baseline {\it K2} data release: the Campaign 0 data-set. In the 7761 light curves, we have identified a total of 207 eclipsing binaries. Of these, 97 are new discoveries that were not previously identified. Our pixel-level analysis of these objects has also resulted in identification of several false positives (observed targets contaminated by neighboring eclipsing binaries), as well as the serendipitous discovery of two short period exoplanet candidates. We provide catalog cross-matched source identifications, orbital periods, morphologies and ephemerides for these eclipsing systems. We also describe the incorporation of the K2 sample into the Kepler Eclipsing Binary Catalog\footnote{\url{keplerebs.villanova.edu/k2}}, present spectroscopic follow-up observations for a limited selection of nine systems, and discuss prospects for upcoming {\it K2} campaigns.

astro-ph.SR↗

arXiv2015

V409 Tau As Another AA Tau: Photometric Observations of Stellar Occultations by the Circumstellar Disk

AA Tau is a well studied young stellar object that presents many of the photometric characteristics of a Classical T Tauri star (CTTS), including short-timescale stochastic variability attributed to spots and/or accretion as well as long duration dimming events attributed to occultations by vertical features (e.g., warps) in its circumstellar disk. We present new photometric observations of AA Tau from the Kilodegree Extremely Little Telescope North (KELT-North) which reveal a deep, extended dimming event in 2011, which we show supports the interpretation by Bouvier et al. (2013) of an occultation by a high-density feature in the circumstellar disk located >8 AU from the star. We also present KELT-North observations of V409 Tau, a relatively unstudied young stellar object also in Taurus-Auriga, showing short timescale erratic variability, along with two separate long and deep dimming events, one from January 2009 through late October 2010, and the other from March 2012 until at least September 2013. We interpret both dimming events to have lasted more than 600 days, each with a depth of ~1.4 mag. From a spectral energy distribution analysis, we propose that V409 Tau is most likely surrounded by a circumstellar disk viewed nearly edge-on, and using Keplerian timescale arguments we interpret the deep dimmings of V409 Tau as occultations from one or more features within this disk >10 AU from the star. In both AA Tau and V409 Tau, the usual CTTS short-timescale variations associated with accretion processes close to the stars continue during the occultations, further supporting the distant occulting material interpretation. Like AA Tau, V409 Tau serves as a laboratory for studying the detailed structure of the protoplanetary environments of T Tauri disks, specifically disk structures that may be signposts of planet formation at many AU out in the disk.

astro-ph.SR↗

arXiv2015

KELT-7b: A hot Jupiter transiting a bright V=8.54 rapidly rotating F-star

We report the discovery of KELT-7b, a transiting hot Jupiter with a mass of $1.28 \pm 0.18$ MJ, radius of $1.53_{-0.047}^{+0.046}$ RJ, and an orbital period of $2.7347749 \pm 0.0000039$ days. The bright host star (HD33643; KELT-7) is an F-star with $V=8.54$, Teff $=6789_{-49}^{+50}$ K, [Fe/H] $=0.139_{-0.081}^{+0.075}$, and $\log{g}=4.149 \pm 0.019$. It has a mass of $1.535_{-0.054}^{+0.066}$ Msun, a radius of $1.732_{-0.045}^{+0.043}$ Rsun, and is the fifth most massive, fifth hottest, and the ninth brightest star known to host a transiting planet. It is also the brightest star around which KELT has discovered a transiting planet. Thus, KELT-7b is an ideal target for detailed characterization given its relatively low surface gravity, high equilibrium temperature, and bright host star. The rapid rotation of the star ($73 \pm 0.5$ km/s) results in a Rossiter-McLaughlin effect with an unusually large amplitude of several hundred m/s. We find that the orbit normal of the planet is likely to be well-aligned with the stellar spin axis, with a projected spin-orbit alignment of $λ=9.7 \pm 5.2$ degrees. This is currently the second most rapidly rotating star to have a reflex signal (and thus mass determination) due to a planetary companion measured.

astro-ph.EP↗

arXiv2015

Target Selection for the SDSS-III MARVELS Survey

We present the target selection process for the Multi-object APO Radial Velocity Exoplanets Large-area Survey (MARVELS), which is part of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) III. MARVELS is a medium-resolution ($R \sim 11000$) multi-fiber spectrograph capable of obtaining radial velocities for 60 objects at a time in order to find brown dwarfs and giant planets. The survey was configured to target dwarf stars with effective temperatures approximately between $4500$ and $6250 \, \mbox{K}$. For the first 2 years MARVELS relied on low-resolution spectroscopic pre-observations to estimate the effective temperature and $\log(g)$ for candidate stars and then selected suitable dwarf stars from this pool. Ultimately, the pre-observation spectra proved ineffective at filtering out giant stars; many giants were incorrectly classified as dwarfs, resulting in a giant contamination rate of $\sim$30\% for the first phase of the MARVELS survey. Thereafter, the survey instead applied a reduced proper motion cut to eliminate giants and used the Infrared Flux Method to estimate effective temperatures, using only extant photometric and proper-motion catalog information. The target selection method introduced here may be useful for other surveys that need to rely on extant catalog data for selection of specific stellar populations.

astro-ph.SR↗

arXiv2015

A Disk-based Dynamical Mass Estimate for the Young Binary AK Sco

We present spatially and spectrally resolved Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) observations of gas and dust in the disk orbiting the pre-main sequence binary AK Sco. By forward-modeling the disk velocity field traced by CO J=2-1 line emission, we infer the mass of the central binary, $M_\ast = 2.49 \pm 0.10~M_\odot$, a new dynamical measurement that is independent of stellar evolutionary models. Assuming the disk and binary are co-planar within $\sim$2°, this disk-based binary mass measurement is in excellent agreement with constraints from radial velocity monitoring of the combined stellar spectra. These ALMA results are also compared with the standard approach of estimating masses from the location of the binary in the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram, using several common pre-main sequence model grids. These models predict stellar masses that are marginally consistent with our dynamical measurement (at $\sim 2\,σ$), but are systematically high (by $\sim$10%). These same models consistently predict an age of $18\pm1$ Myr for AK Sco, in line with its membership in the Upper Centaurus-Lupus association but surprisingly old for it to still host a gas-rich disk. As ALMA accumulates comparable data for large samples of pre-main sequence stars, the methodology employed here to extract a dynamical mass from the disk rotation curve should prove extraordinarily useful for efforts to characterize the fundamental parameters of early stellar evolution.

astro-ph.SR↗

arXiv2015

SLoWPoKES-II: 100,000 Wide Binaries Identified in SDSS without Proper Motions

We present the SLoWPoKES-II catalog of low-mass visual binaries identified from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey by matching photometric distances. The candidate pairs are vetted by comparing the stellar density at their respective Galactic positions to Monte Carlo realizations of a simulated Milky Way. In this way, we are able to identify large numbers of bona fide wide binaries without the need of proper motions. 105,537 visual binaries with angular separations of $\sim$1-20", are identified, each with a probability of chance alignment of $\lesssim$5%. This is the largest catalog of bona fide wide binaries to date, and it contains a diversity of systems---in mass, mass ratios, binary separations, metallicity, and evolutionary states---that should facilitate follow-up studies to characterize the properties of M dwarfs and white dwarfs. There is a subtle but definitive suggestion of multiple populations in the physical separation distribution, supporting earlier findings. We suggest that wide binaries are comprised of multiple populations, most likely representing different formation modes. There are 141 M7 or later wide binary candidates, representing a 7-fold increase in the number currently known. These binaries are too wide to have been formed via the ejection mechanism. Finally, we find that ~6% of spectroscopically confirmed M dwarfs are not included in the SDSS STAR catalog; they are misclassified as extended sources due to the presence of a nearby or partially resolved companion. The SLoWPoKES-II catalog is publicly available to the entire community on the world wide web via the Filtergraph data visualization portal.

astro-ph.SR↗

arXiv2015

The APOGEE Spectroscopic Survey of Kepler Planet Hosts: Feasibility, Efficiency, and First Results

The Kepler mission has yielded a large number of planet candidates from among the Kepler Objects of Interest (KOIs), but spectroscopic follow-up of these relatively faint stars is a serious bottleneck in confirming and characterizing these systems. We present motivation and survey design for an ongoing project with the SDSS-III multiplexed APOGEE near-infrared spectrograph to monitor hundreds of KOI host stars. We report some of our first results using representative targets from our sample, which include current planet candidates that we find to be false positives, as well as candidates listed as false positives that we do not find to be spectroscopic binaries. With this survey, KOI hosts are observed over ~20 epochs at a radial velocity precision of 100-200 m/s. These observations can easily identify a majority of false positives caused by physically-associated stellar or substellar binaries, and in many cases, fully characterize their orbits. We demonstrate that APOGEE is capable of achieving RV precision at the 100-200 m/s level over long time baselines, and that APOGEE's multiplexing capability makes it substantially more efficient at identifying false positives due to binaries than other single-object spectrographs working to confirm KOIs as planets. These APOGEE RVs enable ancillary science projects, such as studies of fundamental stellar astrophysics or intrinsically rare substellar companions. The coadded APOGEE spectra can be used to derive stellar properties (T_eff, log(g)) and chemical abundances of over a dozen elements to probe correlations of planet properties with individual elemental abundances.

astro-ph.EP↗

arXiv2015

The Puzzling Li-rich Red Giant Associated with NGC 6819

A Li-rich red giant star (2M19411367+4003382) recently discovered in the direction of NGC 6819 belongs to the rare subset of Li-rich stars that have not yet evolved to the luminosity bump, an evolutionary stage where models predict Li can be replenished. The currently favored model to explain Li enhancement in first-ascent red giants like 2M19411367+4003382 requires deep mixing into the stellar interior. Testing this model requires a measurement of 12C/13C, which is possible to obtain from APOGEE spectra. However, the Li-rich star also has abnormal asteroseismic properties that call into question its membership in the cluster, even though its radial velocity and location on color-magnitude diagrams are consistent with membership. To address these puzzles, we have measured a wide array of abundances in the Li-rich star and three comparison stars using spectra taken as part of the APOGEE survey to determine the degree of stellar mixing, address the question of membership, and measure the surface gravity. We confirm that the Li-rich star is a red giant with the same overall chemistry as the other cluster giants. However, its log g is significantly lower, consistent with the asteroseismology results and suggestive of a very low mass if the star is indeed a cluster member. Regardless of the cluster membership, the 12C/13C and C/N ratios of the Li-rich star are consistent with standard first dredge-up, indicating that Li dilution has already occurred, and inconsistent with internal Li enrichment scenarios that require deep mixing.

astro-ph.SR↗

arXiv2014

IN-SYNC II: Virial Stars from Sub-Virial Cores -- The Velocity Dispersion of Embedded Pre-Main-Sequence Stars in NGC 1333

The initial velocity dispersion of newborn stars is a major unconstrained aspect of star formation theory. Using near-infrared spectra obtained with the APOGEE spectrograph, we show that the velocity dispersion of young (1-2 Myr) stars in NGC 1333 is 0.92+/-0.12 km/s after correcting for measurement uncertainties and the effect of binaries. This velocity dispersion is consistent with the virial velocity of the region and the diffuse gas velocity dispersion, but significantly larger than the velocity dispersion of the dense, star-forming cores, which have a sub-virial velocity dispersion of 0.5 km/s. Since the NGC 1333 cluster is dynamically young and deeply embedded, this measurement provides a strong constraint on the initial velocity dispersion of newly-formed stars. We propose that the difference in velocity dispersion between stars and dense cores may be due to the influence of a 70 micro-Gauss magnetic field acting on the dense cores, or be the signature of a cluster with initial sub-structure undergoing global collapse.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2014

Observations of the M82 SN 2014J with the Kilodegree Extremely Little Telescope

We report observations of the bright M82 supernova 2014J serendipitously obtained with the Kilodegree Extremely Little Telescope (KELT). The SN was observed at high cadence for over 100 days, from pre-explosion, to early rise and peak times, through the secondary bump. The high cadence KELT data with high S/N is completely unique for SN 2014J and for any other SNIa, with the exception of the (yet) unpublished Kepler data. Here, we report determinations of the SN explosion time and peak time. We also report measures of the "smoothness" of the light curve on timescales of minutes/hours never before probed, and we use this to place limits on energy produced from short-lived isotopes or inhomogeneities in the explosion or the circumstellar medium. From the non-observation of significant perturbations of the light curves, we derive a 3sigma upper-limit corresponding to 8.7 x 10^36 erg/s for any such extra sources of luminosity at optical wavelengths.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2014

Sodium and Oxygen Abundances in the Open Cluster NGC 6791 from APOGEE H-Band Spectroscopy

The open cluster NGC 6791 is among the oldest, most massive and metal-rich open clusters in the Galaxy. High-resolution $H$-band spectra from the Apache Point Observatory Galactic Evolution Experiment (APOGEE) of 11 red giants in NGC 6791 are analyzed for their chemical abundances of iron, oxygen, and sodium. The abundances of these three elements are found to be homogeneous (with abundance dispersions at the level of $\sim$ 0.05 - 0.07 dex) in these cluster red giants, which span much of the red-giant branch (T$_{\rm eff}$ $\sim$ 3500K - 4600K), and include two red-clump giants. From the infrared spectra, this cluster is confirmed to be among the most metal-rich clusters in the Galaxy ($<$[Fe/H]$>$ = 0.34 $\pm$ 0.06), and is found to have a roughly solar value of [O/Fe] and slightly enhanced [Na/Fe]. Non-LTE calculations for the studied Na I lines in the APOGEE spectral region ($λ$16373.86Å and $λ$16388.85Å) indicate only small departures from LTE ($\leq$ 0.04 dex) for the parameter range and metallicity of the studied stars. The previously reported double population of cluster members with different Na abundances is not found among the studied sample.

astro-ph.SR↗