Exoplanets and Stellar Physics

Abstract:

We compare stellar photometric variability, as measured from Kepler light curves by Basri et al., with measurements of radial velocity (RV) rms variations of all California Planet Search overlap stars. We newly derive rotation periods from the Kepler light curves for all of the stars in our study sample. The RV variations reported herein range from less than 4 to 135 m s-1, yet the stars all have amplitudes of photometric variability less than 3 mmag, reflecting the preference of the RV program for chromospherically "quiet" stars. Despite the small size of our sample, we find with high statistical significance that the RV rms manifests strongly in the Fourier power spectrum of the light curve: stars that are noisier in RV have a greater number of frequency components in the light curve. We also find that spot models of the observed light curves systematically underpredict the observed RV variations by factors of ;2-1000, likely because the low-level photometric variations in our sample are driven by processes not included in simple spot models. The stars best fit by these models tend to have simpler light curves, dominated by a single relatively high-amplitude component of variability. Finally, we demonstrate that the RV rms behavior of our sample can be explained in the context of the photometric variability evolutionary diagram introduced by Bastien et al. We use this diagram to derive the surface gravities of the stars in our sample, revealing many of them to have moved off the main sequence. More generally, we find that the stars with the largest RV rms are those that have evolved onto the "flicker floor" sequence in that diagram, characterized by relatively low amplitude but highly complex photometric variations which grow as the stars evolve to become subgiants. © 2014. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved.

Abstract:

Aims. We report the discovery of a massive and dense transiting planet CoRoT-27b on a 3.58-day orbit around a 4.2 Gyr-old G2 star. The planet candidate was identified from the CoRoT photometry, and was confirmed as a planet with ground-based spectroscopy. Methods. The confirmation of the planet candidate is based on radial velocity observations combined with imaging to rule out blends. The characterisation of the planet and its host star was carried out using a Bayesian approach where all the data (CoRoT photometry, radial velocities, and spectroscopic characterisation of the star) are used jointly. The Bayesian analysis included a study whether the assumption of white normally distributed noise holds for the CoRoT photometry and whether the use of a non-normal noise distribution offers advantages in parameter estimation and model selection. Results. CoRoT-27b has a mass of 10.39 ± 0.55MJup, a radius of 1.01 ± 0.04RJup, a mean density of $12.6 -1.67+1.92$g cm-3, and an effective temperature of 1500 ± 130 K. The planet orbits around its host star, a 4.2 Gyr-old G2-star with a mass M† = 1.06M™ and a radius R† = 1.05R™, on a 0.048 ± 0.007 AU orbit of 3.58 days. The radial velocity observations allow us to exclude highly eccentric orbits, namely, e < 0.065 with 99% confidence. Given its high mass and density, theoretical modelling of CoRoT-27b is demanding. We identify two solutions with heavy element mass fractions of 0.11 ± 0.08M⊕ and 0.07 ± 0.06M ⊕, but even solutions void of heavy elements cannot be excluded. We carry out a secondary eclipse search from the CoRoT photometry using a method based on Bayesian model selection, but conclude that the noise level is too high to detect eclipses shallower than 9% of the transit depth. Using a non-normal noise model was shown not to affect the parameter estimation results, but led to significant improvement in the sensitivity of the model selection process. © 2014 ESO .

Abstract:

More than a thousand exoplanets have been discovered over the last decade. Perhaps more excitingly, probing their atmospheres has become possible. With current data we have glimpsed the diversity of exoplanet atmospheres that will be revealed over the coming decade. However, numerous questions concerning their chemical composition, thermal structure, and atmospheric dynamics remain to be answered. More observations of higher quality are needed. In the next years, the selection of a space-based mission dedicated to the spectroscopic characterization of exoplanets would revolutionize our understanding of the physics of planetary atmospheres. Such a mission was proposed to the ESA cosmic vision program in 2014. Our paper is therefore based on the planned capabilities of the Exoplanet Characterization Observatory (EChO), but it should equally apply to any future mission with similar characteristics. With its large spectral coverage ($4-16\, \rm{\mu m}$), high spectral resolution ($\Delta\lambda/\lambda>300$ below $5\,\rm{\mu m}$ and $\Delta\lambda/\lambda>30$ above $5\,\rm{\mu m}$) and $1.5\rm{m}$ mirror, a future mission such as EChO will provide spectrally resolved transit lightcurves, secondary eclipses lightcurves, and full phase curves of numerous exoplanets with an unprecedented signal-to-noise ratio. In this paper, we review some of today's main scientific questions about gas giant exoplanets atmospheres, for which a future mission such as EChO will bring a decisive contribution.