Planet formation and dynamics

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Four ultra-short-period eclipsing M-dwarf binaries in the WFCAM Transit Survey

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society Oxford University Press (OUP) 425:2 (2012) 950-968

Authors:

SV Nefs, JL Birkby, IAG Snellen, ST Hodgkin, DJ Pinfield, B Sipőcz, G Kovacs, D Mislis, RP Saglia, J Koppenhoefer, P Cruz, D Barrado, EL Martin, N Goulding, H Stoev, J Zendejas, C del Burgo, M Cappetta, YV Pavlenko
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The signature of orbital motion from the dayside of the planet tau Bootis b

(2012)

Authors:

M Brogi, IAG Snellen, RJ de Kok, S Albrecht, J Birkby, EJW de Mooij
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Discovery and characterisation of detached M-dwarf eclipsing binaries in the WFCAM Transit Survey

(2012)

Authors:

JL Birkby, SV Nefs, ST Hodgkin, G Kovács, B Sipöcz, DJ Pinfield, IAG Snellen, D Mislis, F Murgas, N Lodieu, EJW de Mooij, N Goulding, P Cruz, H Stoev, M Cappetta, E Pallé, D Barrado, R Saglia, EL Martín, Y Pavlenko
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Four ultra-short period eclipsing M-dwarf binaries in the WFCAM Transit Survey

(2012)

Authors:

SV Nefs, JL Birkby, IAG Snellen, ST Hodgkin, DJ Pinfield, B Sipocz, G Kovacs, D Mislis, RP Saglia, J Koppenhofer, P Cruz, D Barrado, EL Martin, N Goulding, H Stoev, J Zendejas, C del Burgo, M Cappetta, YV Pavlenko
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The signature of orbital motion from the dayside of the planet τ Boötis b.

Nature 486:7404 (2012) 502-504

Authors:

Matteo Brogi, Ignas AG Snellen, Remco J de Kok, Simon Albrecht, Jayne Birkby, Ernst JW de Mooij

Abstract:

The giant planet orbiting τ Boötis (named τ Boötis b) was amongst the first extrasolar planets to be discovered. It is one of the brightest exoplanets and one of the nearest to us, with an orbital period of just a few days. Over the course of more than a decade, measurements of its orbital inclination have been announced and refuted, and have hitherto remained elusive. Here we report the detection of carbon monoxide absorption in the thermal dayside spectrum of τ Boötis b. At a spectral resolution of ∼100,000, we trace the change in the radial velocity of the planet over a large range in phase, determining an orbital inclination of 44.5° ± 1.5° and a mass 5.95 ± 0.28 times that of Jupiter, demonstrating that atmospheric characterization is possible for non-transiting planets. The strong absorption signal points to an atmosphere with a temperature that is decreasing towards higher altitudes, in contrast to the temperature inversion inferred for other highly irradiated planets. This supports the hypothesis that the absorbing compounds believed to cause such atmospheric inversions are destroyed in τ Boötis b by the ultraviolet emission from the active host star.
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