arXiv subjects

Stephen R. Kane

Publications and source records attributed to Stephen R. Kane.

At least 307 records · Page 17Linked to original sources

arXiv2014

Habitable Zone Dependence on Stellar Parameter Uncertainties

An important property of exoplanetary systems is the extent of the Habitable Zone (HZ), defined as that region where water can exist in a liquid state on the surface of a planet with sufficient atmospheric pressure. Both ground and space-based observations have revealed a plethora of confirmed exoplanets and exoplanetary candidates, most notably from the Kepler mission using the transit detection technique. Many of these detected planets lie within the predicted HZ of their host star. However, as is the case with the derived properties of the planets themselves, the HZ boundaries depend on how well we understand the host star. Here we quantify the uncertainties of HZ boundaries on the parameter uncertainties of the host star. We examine the distribution of stellar parameter uncertainties from confirmed exoplanet hosts and Kepler candidate hosts and translate these into HZ boundary uncertainties. We apply this to several known systems with a HZ planet to determine the uncertainty in their HZ status.

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arXiv2013

Stellar Diameters and Temperatures V. Eleven Newly Characterized Exoplanet Host Stars

We use near-infrared interferometric data coupled with trigonometric parallax values and spectral energy distribution fitting to directly determine stellar radii, effective temperatures, and luminosities for the exoplanet host stars 61 Vir, $ρ$ CrB, GJ 176, GJ 614, GJ 649, GJ 876, HD 1461, HD 7924, HD 33564, HD 107383, and HD 210702. Three of these targets are M dwarfs. Statistical uncertainties in the stellar radii and effective temperatures range from 0.5% -- 5% and from 0.2% -- 2%, respectively. For eight of these targets, this work presents the first directly determined values of radius and temperature; for the other three, we provide updates to their properties. The stellar fundamental parameters are used to estimate stellar mass and calculate the location and extent of each system's circumstellar habitable zone. Two of these systems have planets that spend at least parts of their respective orbits in the system habitable zone: two of GJ 876's four planets and the planet that orbits HD 33564. We find that our value for GJ 876's stellar radius is more than 20% larger than previous estimates and frequently used values in the astronomical literature.

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arXiv2013

Solar System Moons as Analogs for Compact Exoplanetary Systems

The field of exoplanetary science has experienced a recent surge of new systems that is largely due to the precision photometry provided by the Kepler mission. The latest discoveries have included compact planetary systems in which the orbits of the planets all lie relatively close to the host star, which presents interesting challenges in terms of formation and dynamical evolution. The compact exoplanetary systems are analogous to the moons orbiting the giant planets in our Solar System, in terms of their relative sizes and semi-major axes. We present a study that quantifies the scaled sizes and separations of the Solar System moons with respect to their hosts. We perform a similar study for a large sample of confirmed Kepler planets in multi-planet systems. We show that a comparison between the two samples leads to a similar correlation between their scaled sizes and separation distributions. The different gradients of the correlations may be indicative of differences in the formation and/or long-term dynamics of moon and planetary systems.

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arXiv2013

Habitability of Exomoons at the Hill or Tidal Locking Radius

Moons orbiting extrasolar planets are the next class of object to be observed and characterized for possible habitability. Like the host-planets to their host-star, exomoons have a limiting radius at which they may be gravitationally bound, or the Hill radius. In addition, they also have a distance at which they will become tidally locked and therefore in synchronous rotation with the planet. We have examined the flux phase profile of a simulated, hypothetical moon orbiting at a distant radius around the confirmed exoplanets mu Ara b, HD 28185 b, BD +14 4559 b, and HD 73534 b. The irradiated flux on a moon at it's furthest, stable distance from the planet achieves it's largest flux gradient, which places a limit on the flux ranges expected for subsequent (observed) moons closer in orbit to the planet. We have also analyzed the effect of planetary eccentricity on the flux on the moon, examining planets that traverse the habitable zone either fully or partially during their orbit. Looking solely at the stellar contributions, we find that moons around planets that are totally within the habitable zone experience thermal equilibrium temperatures above the runaway greenhouse limit, requiring a small heat redistribution efficiency. In contrast, exomoons orbiting planets that only spend a fraction of their time within the habitable zone require a heat redistribution efficiency near 100% in order to achieve temperatures suitable for habitability. Meaning, a planet does not need to spend its entire orbit within the habitable zone in order for the exomoon to be habitable. Because the applied systems are comprised of giant planets around bright stars, we believe that the transit detection method is most likely to yield an exomoon discovery.

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arXiv2013

Very Low Mass Stellar and Substellar Companions to Solar-like Stars From MARVELS IV: A Candidate Brown Dwarf or Low-Mass Stellar Companion to HIP 67526

We report the discovery of a candidate brown dwarf or a very low mass stellar companion (MARVELS-5b) to the star HIP 67526 from the Multi-object APO Radial Velocity Exoplanet Large-area Survey (MARVELS). The radial velocity curve for this object contains 31 epochs spread over 2.5 years. Our Keplerian fit using a Markov Chain Monte Carlo approach, reveals that the companion has an orbital period of $90.2695^{+0.0188}_{-0.0187}$ days, an eccentricity of $0.4375 \pm 0.0040$ and a semi-amplitude of $2948.14^{+16.65}_{-16.55}$ m s$^{-1}$. Using additional high-resolution spectroscopy, we find the host star has an effective temperature $T_{\rm{eff}}=6004 \pm 34$ K, a surface gravity $\log g$ [cgs] $=4.55 \pm 0.17$ and a metallicity [Fe/H] $=+0.04 \pm 0.06$. The stellar mass and radius determined through the empirical relationship of Torres et al. (2010), yields 1.10$\pm$0.09 $M_{\sun}$ and 0.92$\pm$0.19 $R_{\sun}$. The minimum mass of MARVELS-5b is $65.0 \pm 2.9 M_{Jup}$, indicating that it is likely to be either a brown dwarf or a very low mass star, thus occupying a relatively sparsely-populated region of the mass function of companions to solar-type stars. The distance to this system is 101$\pm$10 pc from the astrometric measurements of Hipparcos. No stellar tertiary is detected in the high-contrast images taken by either FastCam lucky imaging or Keck adaptive optics imaging, ruling out any star with mass greater than 0.2$M_{\sun}$ at a separation larger than 40 AU.

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arXiv2013

A Cautionary Tale: MARVELS Brown Dwarf Candidate Reveals Itself To Be A Very Long Period, Highly Eccentric Spectroscopic Stellar Binary

We report the discovery of a highly eccentric, double-lined spectroscopic binary star system (TYC 3010-1494-1), comprising two solar-type stars that we had initially identified as a single star with a brown dwarf companion. At the moderate resolving power of the MARVELS spectrograph and the spectrographs used for subsequent radial-velocity (RV) measurements (R ~ <30,000), this particular stellar binary mimics a single-lined binary with an RV signal that would be induced by a brown dwarf companion (Msin(i)~50 M_Jup) to a solar-type primary. At least three properties of this system allow it to masquerade as a single star with a very low-mass companion: its large eccentricity (e~0.8), its relatively long period (P~238 days), and the approximately perpendicular orientation of the semi-major axis with respect to the line of sight (omega~189 degrees). As a result of these properties, for ~95% of the orbit the two sets of stellar spectral lines are completely blended, and the RV measurements based on centroiding on the apparently single-lined spectrum is very well fit by an orbit solution indicative of a brown dwarf companion on a more circular orbit (e~0.3). Only during the ~5% of the orbit near periastron passage does the true, double-lined nature and large RV amplitude of ~15 km/s reveal itself. The discovery of this binary system is an important lesson for RV surveys searching for substellar companions; at a given resolution and observing cadence, a survey will be susceptible to these kinds of astrophysical false positives for a range of orbital parameters. Finally, for surveys like MARVELS that lack the resolution for a useful line bisector analysis, it is imperative to monitor the peak of the cross-correlation function for suspicious changes in width or shape, so that such false positives can be flagged during the candidate vetting process.

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arXiv2013

The PTF Orion Project: a Possible Planet Transiting a T-Tauri Star

We report observations of a possible young transiting planet orbiting a previously known weak-lined T-Tauri star in the 7-10 Myr old Orion-OB1a/25-Ori region. The candidate was found as part of the Palomar Transient Factory (PTF) Orion project. It has a photometric transit period of 0.448413 +- 0.000040 days, and appears in both 2009 and 2010 PTF data. Follow-up low-precision radial velocity (RV) observations and adaptive optics imaging suggest that the star is not an eclipsing binary, and that it is unlikely that a background source is blended with the target and mimicking the observed transit. RV observations with the Hobby-Eberly and Keck telescopes yield an RV that has the same period as the photometric event, but is offset in phase from the transit center by approximately -0.22 periods. The amplitude (half range) of the RV variations is 2.4 km/s and is comparable with the expected RV amplitude that stellar spots could induce. The RV curve is likely dominated by stellar spot modulation and provides an upper limit to the projected companion mass of M_p sin i_orb < 4.8 +- 1.2 M_Jup; when combined with the orbital inclination, i orb, of the candidate planet from modeling of the transit light curve, we find an upper limit on the mass of the planetary candidate of M_p < 5.5 +- 1.4 M_Jup. This limit implies that the planet is orbiting close to, if not inside, its Roche limiting orbital radius, so that it may be undergoing active mass loss and evaporation.

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arXiv2013

A Potential Super-Venus in the Kepler-69 System

Transiting planets have greatly expanded and diversified the exoplanet field. These planets provide greater access to characterization of exoplanet atmospheres and structure. The Kepler mission has been particularly successful in expanding the exoplanet inventory, even to planets smaller than the Earth. The orbital period sensitivity of the Kepler data is now extending into the Habitable Zones of their host stars, and several planets larger than the Earth have been found to lie therein. Here we examine one such proposed planet, Kepler-69c. We provide new orbital parameters for this planet and an in-depth analysis of the Habitable Zone. We find that, even under optimistic conditions, this 1.7 R$_\oplus$ planet is unlikely to be within the Habitable Zone of Kepler-69. Furthermore, the planet receives an incident flux of 1.91 times the solar constant, which is similar to that received by Venus. We thus suggest that this planet is likely a super-Venus rather than a super-Earth in terms of atmospheric properties and habitability, and we propose follow-up observations to disentangle the ambiguity.

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arXiv2013

Implications of the spectroscopic abundances in α Centauri A and B

Regardless of their close proximity, abundance measurements for both stars in α Centauri by different groups have led to varying results. We have chosen to combine the abundance ratios from five similar data sets in order to reduce systematic effects that may have caused inconsistencies. With these collated relative abundance measurements, we find that the α Cen system and the Sun were likely formed from the same material, despite the [Fe/H] enrichment observed in the α Cen binaries: 0.28 and 0.31 dex, respectively. Both α Centauri A and B exhibit relative abundance ratios that are generally solar, with the mean at 0.002 and 0.03 dex, respectively. The refractory elements (condensation temperature > 900 K) in each have a mean of -0.02 and 0.01 dex and a 1σ uncertainty of 0.09 and 0.11 dex, respectively. Given the trends seen when analyzing the refractory abundances [X/Fe] with condensation temperature, we find it possible that α Centauri A may host a yet undiscovered planet.

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arXiv2013

Host Star Properties and Transit Exclusion for the HD 38529 Planetary System

The transit signature of exoplanets provides an avenue through which characterization of exoplanetary properties may be undertaken, such as studies of mean density, structure, and atmospheric composition. The Transit Ephemeris Refinement and Monitoring Survey (TERMS) is a program to expand the catalog of transiting planets around bright host stars by refining the orbits of known planets discovered with the radial velocity technique. Here we present results for the HD 38529 system. We determine fundamental properties of the host star through direct interferometric measurements of the radius and through spectroscopic analysis. We provide new radial velocity measurements that are used to improve the Keplerian solution for the two known planets, and we find no evidence for a previously postulated third planet. We also present 12 years of precision robotic photometry of HD 38529 that demonstrate the inner planet does not transit and the host star exhibits cyclic variations in seasonal mean brightness with a timescale of approximately six years.

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arXiv2013

Completeness of Imaging Surveys for Eccentric Exoplanets

The detection of exoplanets through direct imaging has produced numerous new positive identifications in recent years. The technique is biased towards planets at wide separations due to the difficulty in removing the stellar signature at small angular separations. Planets in eccentric orbits will thus move in and out of the detectable region around a star as a function of time. Here we use the known diversity of orbital eccentricities to determine the range of orbits which may lie beneath the detection threshold of current surveys. We quantify the percentage of the orbit which yields a detectable signature as a function of semi-major axis, eccentricity, and orbital inclination and estimate the fraction of planets which likely remain hidden by the flux of the host star.

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arXiv2012

Very Low-mass Stellar and Substellar Companions to Solar-like Stars from Marvels III: A Short-Period Brown Dwarf Candidate Around An Active G0Iv Subgiant

We present an eccentric, short-period brown dwarf candidate orbiting the active, slightly evolved subgiant star TYC 2087-00255-1, which has effective temperature T_eff = 5903+/-42 K, surface gravity log (g) = 4.07+/-0.16 (cgs), and metallicity [Fe/H] = -0.23+/-0.07. This candidate was discovered using data from the first two years of the Multi-object APO Radial Velocity Exoplanets Large-area Survey (MARVELS), which is part of the third phase of Sloan Digital Sky Survey. From our 38 radial velocity measurements spread over a two-year time baseline, we derive a Keplerian orbital fit with semi-amplitude K=3.571+/-0.041 km/s, period P=9.0090+/-0.0004 days, and eccentricity e=0.226+/-0.011. Adopting a mass of 1.16+/-0.11 Msun for the subgiant host star, we infer that the companion has a minimum mass of 40.0+/-2.5 M_Jup. Assuming an edge-on orbit, the semimajor axis is 0.090+/-0.003 AU. The host star is photometrically variable at the \sim1% level with a period of \sim13.16+/-0.01 days, indicating that the host star spin and companion orbit are not synchronized. Through adaptive optics imaging we also found a point source 643+/-10 mas away from TYC 2087-00255-1, which would have a mass of 0.13 Msun if it is physically associated with TYC 2087-00255-1 and has the same age. Future proper motion observation should be able to resolve if this tertiary object is physically associated with TYC 2087-00255-1 and make TYC 2087-00255-1 a triple body system. Core Ca II H and K line emission indicate that the host is chromospherically active, at a level that is consistent with the inferred spin period and measured v_{rot}*sin i, but unusual for a subgiant of this T_eff. This activity could be explained by ongoing tidal spin-up of the host star by the companion.

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arXiv2012

Decoupling Phase Variations in Multi-Planet Systems

Due to the exquisite photometric precision, transiting exoplanet discoveries from the Kepler mission are enabling several new techniques of confirmation and characterization. One of these newly accessible techniques analyzes the phase variations of planets as they orbit their stars. The predicted phase variation for multi-planet systems can become rapidly complicated and depends upon the period, radius, and albedo distributions for planets in the system. Here we describe the confusion which may occur due to short-period terrestrial planets and/or non-transiting planets in a system, which can add high-frequency correlated noise or low-frequency trends to the data stream. We describe these sources of ambiguity with several examples, including that of our Solar System. We further show how decoupling of these signals may be achieved with application to the Kepler-20 and Kepler-33 multi-planet systems.

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arXiv2012

On the Habitable Zones of Circumbinary Planetary Systems

The effect of the stellar flux on exoplanetary systems is becoming an increasingly important property as more planets are discovered in the Habitable Zone (HZ). The Kepler mission has recently uncovered circumbinary planets with relatively complex HZs due to the combined flux from the binary host stars. Here we derive HZ boundaries for circumbinary systems and show their dependence on the stellar masses, separation, and time while accounting for binary orbital motion and the orbit of the planet. We include stability regimes for planetary orbits in binary systems with respect to the HZ. These methods are applied to several of the known circumbinary planetary systems such as Kepler-16, 34, 35, and 47. We also quantitatively show the circumstances under which single-star approximations break down for HZ calculations.

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arXiv2012

The Discovery of HD 37605c and a Dispositive Null Detection of Transits of HD 37605b

We report the radial-velocity discovery of a second planetary mass companion to the K0 V star HD 37605, which was already known to host an eccentric, P~55 days Jovian planet, HD 37605b. This second planet, HD 37605c, has a period of ~7.5 years with a low eccentricity and an Msini of ~3.4 MJup. Our discovery was made with the nearly 8 years of radial velocity follow-up at the Hobby-Eberly Telescope and Keck Observatory, including observations made as part of the Transit Ephemeris Refinement and Monitoring Survey (TERMS) effort to provide precise ephemerides to long-period planets for transit follow-up. With a total of 137 radial velocity observations covering almost eight years, we provide a good orbital solution of the HD 37605 system, and a precise transit ephemeris for HD 37605b. Our dynamic analysis reveals very minimal planet-planet interaction and an insignificant transit time variation. Using the predicted ephemeris, we performed a transit search for HD 37605b with the photometric data taken by the T12 0.8-m Automatic Photoelectric Telescope (APT) and the Microvariability and Oscillations of Stars (MOST) satellite. Though the APT photometry did not capture the transit window, it characterized the stellar activity of HD 37605, which is consistent of it being an old, inactive star, with a tentative rotation period of 57.67 days. The MOST photometry enabled us to report a dispositive null detection of a non-grazing transit for this planet. Within the predicted transit window, we exclude an edge-on predicted depth of 1.9% at >>10sigma, and exclude any transit with an impact parameter b>0.951 at greater than 5sigma. We present the BOOTTRAN package for calculating Keplerian orbital parameter uncertainties via bootstrapping. We found consistency between our orbital parameters calculated by the RVLIN package and error bars by BOOTTRAN with those produced by a Bayesian analysis using MCMC.

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arXiv2012

Cyclic Transit Probabilities of Long-Period Eccentric Planets Due to Periastron Precession

The observed properties of transiting exoplanets are an exceptionally rich source of information that allows us to understand and characterize their physical properties. Unfortunately, only a relatively small fraction of the known exoplanets discovered using the radial velocity technique are known to transit their host, due to the stringent orbital geometry requirements. For each target, the transit probability and predicted transit time can be calculated to great accuracy with refinement of the orbital parameters. However, the transit probability of short period and eccentric orbits can have a reasonable time dependence due to the effects of apsidal and nodal precession, thus altering their transit potential and predicted transit time. Here we investigate the magnitude of these precession effects on transit probabilities and apply this to the known radial velocity exoplanets. We assess the refinement of orbital parameters as a path to measuring these precessions and cyclic transit probabilities.

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arXiv2012

Stellar Diameters and Temperatures II. Main Sequence K & M Stars

We present interferometric diameter measurements of 21 K- and M- dwarfs made with the CHARA Array. This sample is enhanced by literature radii measurements to form a data set of 33 K-M dwarfs with diameters measured to better than 5%. For all 33 stars, we compute absolute luminosities, linear radii, and effective temperatures (Teff). We develop empirical relations for \simK0 to M4 main- sequence stars between the stellar Teff, radius, and luminosity to broad-band color indices and metallicity. These relations are valid for metallicities between [Fe/H] = -0.5 and +0.1 dex, and are accurate to ~2%, ~5%, and ~4% for Teff, radius, and luminosity, respectively. Our results show that it is necessary to use metallicity dependent transformations to convert colors into stellar Teffs, radii, and luminosities. We find no sensitivity to metallicity on relations between global stellar properties, e.g., Teff-radius and Teff-luminosity. Robust examinations of single star Teffs and radii compared to evolutionary model predictions on the luminosity-Teff and luminosity-radius planes reveals that models overestimate the Teffs of stars with Teff < 5000 K by ~3%, and underestimate the radii of stars with radii < 0.7 R\odot by ~5%. These conclusions additionally suggest that the models overestimate the effects that the stellar metallicity may have on the astrophysical properties of an object. By comparing the interferometrically measured radii for single stars to those of eclipsing binaries, we find that single and binary star radii are consistent. However, the literature Teffs for binary stars are systematically lower compared to Teffs of single stars by ~ 200 to 300 K. Lastly, we present a empirically determined HR diagram for a total of 74 nearby, main-sequence, A- to M-type stars, and define regions of habitability for the potential existence of sub-stellar mass companions in each system. [abridged]

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arXiv2012

The Exoplanet Eccentricity Distribution from Kepler Planet Candidates

The eccentricity distribution of exoplanets is known from radial velocity surveys to be divergent from circular orbits beyond 0.1 AU. This is particularly the case for large planets where the radial velocity technique is most sensitive. The eccentricity of planetary orbits can have a large effect on the transit probability and subsequently the planet yield of transit surveys. The Kepler mission is the first transit survey that probes deep enough into period-space to allow this effect to be seen via the variation in transit durations. We use the Kepler planet candidates to show that the eccentricity distribution is consistent with that found from radial velocity surveys to a high degree of confidence. We further show that the mean eccentricity of the Kepler candidates decreases with decreasing planet size indicating that smaller planets are preferentially found in low-eccentricity orbits.

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