arXiv subjects

Avi Shporer

Publications and source records attributed to Avi Shporer.

At least 271 records · Page 15Linked to original sources

arXiv2011

Measurement of the Spin-Orbit Misalignment of KOI-13.01 from its Gravity-Darkened Kepler Transit Lightcurve

We model the asymmetry of the KOI-13.01 transit lightcurve assuming a gravity-darkened rapidly-rotating host star in order to constrain the system's spin-orbit alignment and transit parameters. We find that our model can reproduce the Kepler lightcurve for KOI-13.01 with a sky-projected alignment of λ = $23 \pm 4$ degrees and with the star's north pole tilted away from the observer by $48 \pm 4$ degrees (assuming $M_* = 2.05 M_\odot$). With both these determinations, we calculate that the net misalignment between this planet's orbit normal and its star's rotational pole is $56 \pm 4$ degrees. Degeneracies in our geometric interpretation also allow a retrograde spin-orbit angle of $124 \pm 4$ degrees. This is the first spin-orbit measurement to come from gravity darkening, and is one of only a few measurements of the full (not just the sky-projected) spin-orbit misalignment of an extrasolar planet. We also measure accurate transit parameters incorporating stellar oblateness and gravity darkening: $R_* = 1.756 \pm 0.014 R_\odot$, $R_p = 1.445 \pm 0.016 R_{Jup}$, and $i = 85.9 \pm 0.4$ degrees. The new lower planetary radius falls within the planetary mass regime for plausible interior models for the transiting body. A simple initial calculation shows that KOI-13.01's circular orbit is apparently inconsistent with the Kozai mechanism having driven its spin-orbit misalignment; planet-planet scattering and stellar spin migration remain viable mechanisms. Future Kepler data will improve the precision of the KOI-13.01 transit lightcurve, allowing more precise determination of transit parameters and the opportunity to use the Photometric Rossiter-McLaughlin effect to resolve the prograde/retrograde orbit determination degeneracy.

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arXiv2011

Spin-Orbit Alignment for the Circumbinary Planet Host Kepler-16A

Kepler-16 is an eccentric low-mass eclipsing binary with a circumbinary transiting planet. Here we investigate the angular momentum of the primary star, based on Kepler photometry and Keck spectroscopy. The primary star's rotation period is 35.1 +/- 1.0 days, and its projected obliquity with respect to the stellar binary orbit is 1.6 +/- 2.4 degrees. Therefore the three largest sources of angular momentum---the stellar orbit, the planetary orbit, and the primary's rotation---are all closely aligned. This finding supports a formation scenario involving accretion from a single disk. Alternatively, tides may have realigned the stars despite their relatively wide separation (0.2 AU), a hypothesis that is supported by the agreement between the measured rotation period and the "pseudosynchronous" period of tidal evolution theory. The rotation period, chromospheric activity level, and fractional light variations suggest a main-sequence age of 2-4 Gyr. Evolutionary models of low-mass stars can match the observed masses and radii of the primary and secondary stars to within about 3%.

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arXiv2011

Kepler-16: A Transiting Circumbinary Planet

We report the detection of a planet whose orbit surrounds a pair of low-mass stars. Data from the Kepler spacecraft reveal transits of the planet across both stars, in addition to the mutual eclipses of the stars, giving precise constraints on the absolute dimensions of all three bodies. The planet is comparable to Saturn in mass and size, and is on a nearly circular 229-day orbit around its two parent stars. The eclipsing stars are 20% and 69% as massive as the sun, and have an eccentric 41-day orbit. The motions of all three bodies are confined to within 0.5 degree of a single plane, suggesting that the planet formed within a circumbinary disk.

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arXiv2011

On using the beaming effect to measure spin-orbit alignment in stellar binaries with Sun-like components

The beaming effect (aka Doppler boosting) induces a variation in the observed flux of a luminous object, following its observed radial velocity variation. We describe a photometric signal induced by the beaming effect during eclipse of binary systems, where the stellar components are late type Sun-like stars. The shape of this signal is sensitive to the angle between the eclipsed star's spin axis and the orbital angular momentum axis, thereby allowing its measurement. We show that during eclipse there are in fact two effects, superimposed on the known eclipse light curve. One effect is produced by the rotation of the eclipsed star, and is the photometric analog of the spectroscopic Rossiter-McLaughlin effect, thereby it contains information about the sky-projected spin-orbit angle. The other effect is produced by the varying weighted difference, during eclipse, between the beaming signals of the two stars. We give approximated analytic expressions for the amplitudes of the two effects, and present a numerical simulation where we show the light curves for the two effects for various orbital orientations, for a low mass ratio stellar eclipsing binary system. We show that although the overall signal is small, it can be detected in the primary eclipse when using Kepler Long Cadence data of bright systems accumulated over the mission lifetime.

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arXiv2011

Architecture and Dynamics of Kepler's Candidate Multiple Transiting Planet Systems

About one-third of the ~1200 transiting planet candidates detected in the first four months of \ik data are members of multiple candidate systems. There are 115 target stars with two candidate transiting planets, 45 with three, 8 with four, and one each with five and six. We characterize the dynamical properties of these candidate multi-planet systems. The distribution of observed period ratios shows that the vast majority of candidate pairs are neither in nor near low-order mean motion resonances. Nonetheless, there are small but statistically significant excesses of candidate pairs both in resonance and spaced slightly too far apart to be in resonance, particularly near the 2:1 resonance. We find that virtually all candidate systems are stable, as tested by numerical integrations that assume a nominal mass-radius relationship. Several considerations strongly suggest that the vast majority of these multi-candidate systems are true planetary systems. Using the observed multiplicity frequencies, we find that a single population of planetary systems that matches the higher multiplicities underpredicts the number of singly-transiting systems. We provide constraints on the true multiplicity and mutual inclination distribution of the multi-candidate systems, revealing a population of systems with multiple super-Earth-size and Neptune-size planets with low to moderate mutual inclinations.

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arXiv2011

PTF1 J071912.13+485834.0: An outbursting AM CVn system discovered by a synoptic survey

We present extensive photometric and spectroscopic observations of PTF1 J071912.13+485834.0, an outbursting AM CVn system discovered by the Palomar Transient Factory (PTF). AM CVn systems are stellar binaries with some of the smallest separations known and orbital periods ranging from 5 to 65 minutes. They are believed to be composed of a white dwarf accretor and a (semi)-degenerate He-rich donor and are considered to be the helium equivalents of Cataclysmic Variables. We have spectroscopically and photometrically identified an orbital period of 26.77 \pm 0.02 minutes for PTF1 J071912.13+485834.0 and found a super-outburst recurrence time of greater than 65 days along with the presence of "normal" outbursts - rarely seen in AM CVn systems but well known in super-outbursting Cataclysmic Variables. We present a long-term light curve over two super-cycles as well as high cadence photometry of both outburst and quiescent stages, both of which show clear variability. We also compare both the outburst and quiescent spectra of PTF1 J071912.13+485834.0 to other known AM CVn systems, and use the quiescent phase-resolved spectroscopy to determine the origin of the photometric variability. Finally, we draw parallels between the different subclasses of SU UMa-type Cataclysmic Variables and outbursting AM CVn systems. We conclude by predicting that the Palomar Transient Factory may more than double the number of outbursting AM CVn systems known, which would greatly increase our understanding of AM CVn systems.

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arXiv2011

A First Comparison of Kepler Planet Candidates in Single and Multiple Systems

In this letter we present an overview of the rich population of systems with multiple candidate transiting planets found in the first four months of Kepler data. The census of multiples includes 115 targets that show 2 candidate planets, 45 with 3, 8 with 4, and 1 each with 5 and 6, for a total of 170 systems with 408 candidates. When compared to the 827 systems with only one candidate, the multiples account for 17 percent of the total number of systems, and a third of all the planet candidates. We compare the characteristics of candidates found in multiples with those found in singles. False positives due to eclipsing binaries are much less common for the multiples, as expected. Singles and multiples are both dominated by planets smaller than Neptune; 69 +2/-3 percent for singles and 86 +2/-5 percent for multiples. This result, that systems with multiple transiting planets are less likely to include a transiting giant planet, suggests that close-in giant planets tend to disrupt the orbital inclinations of small planets in flat systems, or maybe even to prevent the formation of such systems in the first place.

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arXiv2011

The Impact of the Convective Blueshift Effect on Spectroscopic Planetary Transits

We present here a small anomalous radial velocity (RV) signal expected to be present in RV curves measured during planetary transits. This signal is induced by the convective blueshift (CB) effect --- a net blueshift emanating from the stellar surface, resulting from a larger contribution of rising hot and bright gas relative to the colder and darker sinking gas. Since the CB radial component varies across the stellar surface, the light blocked by the planet during a transit will have a varying RV component, resulting in a small shift of the measured RVs. The CB-induced anomalous RV curve is different than, and independent of, the well known Rossiter-McLaughlin (RM) effect, where the latter is used for determining the sky-projected angle between the host star rotation axis and the planet's orbital angular momentum axis. The observed RV curve is the sum of the CB and RM signals, and they are both superposed on the orbital Keplerian curve. If not accounted for, the presence of the CB RV signal in the spectroscopic transit RV curve may bias the estimate of the spin-orbit angle. In addition, future very high precision RVs will allow the use of transiting planets to study the CB of their host stars.

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arXiv2011

Planet Occurrence within 0.25 AU of Solar-type Stars from Kepler

We report the distribution of planets as a function of planet radius (R_p), orbital period (P), and stellar effective temperature (Teff) for P < 50 day orbits around GK stars. These results are based on the 1,235 planets (formally "planet candidates") from the Kepler mission that include a nearly complete set of detected planets as small as 2 Earth radii (Re). For each of the 156,000 target stars we assess the detectability of planets as a function of R_p and P. We also correct for the geometric probability of transit, R*/a. We consider first stars within the "solar subset" having Teff = 4100-6100 K, logg = 4.0-4.9, and Kepler magnitude Kp < 15 mag. We include only those stars having noise low enough to permit detection of planets down to 2 Re. We count planets in small domains of R_p and P and divide by the included target stars to calculate planet occurrence in each domain. Occurrence of planets varies by more than three orders of magnitude and increases substantially down to the smallest radius (2 Re) and out to the longest orbital period (50 days, ~0.25 AU) in our study. For P < 50 days, the radius distribution is given by a power law, df/dlogR= k R^α. This rapid increase in planet occurrence with decreasing planet size agrees with core-accretion, but disagrees with population synthesis models. We fit occurrence as a function of P to a power law model with an exponential cutoff below a critical period P_0. For smaller planets, P_0 has larger values, suggesting that the "parking distance" for migrating planets moves outward with decreasing planet size. We also measured planet occurrence over Teff = 3600-7100 K, spanning M0 to F2 dwarfs. The occurrence of 2-4 Re planets in the Kepler field increases with decreasing Teff, making these small planets seven times more abundant around cool stars than the hottest stars in our sample. [abridged]

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arXiv2011

Characteristics of planetary candidates observed by Kepler, II: Analysis of the first four months of data

On 1 February 2011 the Kepler Mission released data for 156,453 stars observed from the beginning of the science observations on 2 May through 16 September 2009. There are 1235 planetary candidates with transit like signatures detected in this period. These are associated with 997 host stars. Distributions of the characteristics of the planetary candidates are separated into five class-sizes; 68 candidates of approximately Earth-size (radius < 1.25 Earth radii), 288 super-Earth size (1.25 Earth radii < radius < 2 Earth radii), 662 Neptune-size (2 Earth radii < radius < 6 Earth radii), 165 Jupiter-size (6 Earth radii < radius < 15 Earth radii), and 19 up to twice the size of Jupiter (15 Earth radii < radius < 22 Earth radii). In the temperature range appropriate for the habitable zone, 54 candidates are found with sizes ranging from Earth-size to larger than that of Jupiter. Five are less than twice the size of the Earth. Over 74% of the planetary candidates are smaller than Neptune. The observed number versus size distribution of planetary candidates increases to a peak at two to three times Earth-size and then declines inversely proportional to area of the candidate. Our current best estimates of the intrinsic frequencies of planetary candidates, after correcting for geometric and sensitivity biases, are 6% for Earth-size candidates, 7% for super-Earth size candidates, 17% for Neptune-size candidates, and 4% for Jupiter-size candidates. Multi-candidate, transiting systems are frequent; 17% of the host stars have multi-candidate systems, and 33.9% of all the candidates are part of multi-candidate systems.

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arXiv2011

The Distribution of Transit Durations for Kepler Planet Candidates and Implications for their Orbital Eccentricities

Doppler planet searches have discovered that giant planets follow orbits with a wide range of orbital eccentricities, revolutionizing theories of planet formation. The discovery of hundreds of exoplanet candidates by NASA's Kepler mission enables astronomers to characterize the eccentricity distribution of small exoplanets. Measuring the eccentricity of individual planets is only practical in favorable cases that are amenable to complementary techniques (e.g., radial velocities, transit timing variations, occultation photometry). Yet even in the absence of individual eccentricities, it is possible to study the distribution of eccentricities based on the distribution of transit durations (relative to the maximum transit duration for a circular orbit). We analyze the transit duration distribution of Kepler planet candidates. We find that for host stars with T_eff > 5100 K we cannot invert this to infer the eccentricity distribution at this time due to uncertainties and possible systematics in the host star densities. With this limitation in mind, we compare the observed transit duration distribution with models to rule out extreme distributions. If we assume a Rayleigh eccentricity distribution for Kepler planet candidates, then we find best-fits with a mean eccentricity of 0.1-0.25 for host stars with T_eff < 5100 K. We compare the transit duration distribution for different subsets of Kepler planet candidates and discuss tentative trends with planetary radius and multiplicity. High-precision spectroscopic follow-up observations for a large sample of host stars will be required to confirm which trends are real and which are the results of systematic errors in stellar radii. Finally, we identify planet candidates that must be eccentric or have a significantly underestimated stellar radius.

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arXiv2011

PTF/M-dwarfs: A Large New M-dwarf Planetary Transit Survey

PTF/M-dwarfs is a 100,000-target M-dwarf planetary transit survey, a Key Project of the Palomar Transient Factory (PTF) collaboration. The survey is sensitive to Jupiter-radius planets around all of the target stars, and has sufficient precision to reach Neptunes and super-Earths for the best targets. The Palomar Transient Factory is a fully-automated, wide-field survey aimed at a systematic exploration of the optical transient sky. The survey is performed using a new 7.26 square degree camera installed on the 48 inch Samuel Oschin telescope at Palomar Observatory. Each 92-megapixel R-band exposure contains about 3,000 M-dwarfs usable for planet detection. In each PTF observational season PTF/M-dwarfs searches for Jupiter-radius planets around almost 30,000 M-dwarfs, Neptune-radius planets around approximately 500 M-dwarfs, and super-Earths around 100 targets. The full survey is expected to cover more than 100,000 targets over the next several years. Photometric and spectroscopic followup operations are performed on the Palomar 60-inch, LCOGT, Palomar 200-inch, MDM and Keck telescopes. The survey has been running since mid-2009. We detail the survey design, the survey's data analysis pipeline and the performance of the first year of operations.

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arXiv2010

Orbital Orientations of Exoplanets: HAT-P-4b is Prograde and HAT-P-14b is Retrograde

We present observations of the Rossiter-McLaughlin effect for two exoplanetary systems, revealing the orientations of their orbits relative to the rotation axes of their parent stars. HAT-P-4b is prograde, with a sky-projected spin-orbit angle of lambda = -4.9 +/- 11.9 degrees. In contrast, HAT-P-14b is retrograde, with lambda = 189.1 +/- 5.1 degrees. These results conform with a previously noted pattern among the stellar hosts of close-in giant planets: hotter stars have a wide range of obliquities and cooler stars have low obliquities. This, in turn, suggests that three-body dynamics and tidal dissipation are responsible for the short-period orbits of many exoplanets. In addition, our data revealed a third body in the HAT-P-4 system, which could be a second planet or a companion star.

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arXiv2010

A ground-based measurement of the relativistic beaming effect in a detached double WD binary

We report on the first ground-based measurement of the relativistic beaming effect (aka Doppler boosting). We observed the beaming effect in the detached, non-interacting eclipsing double white dwarf (WD) binary NLTT 11748. Our observations were motivated by the system's high mass ratio and low luminosity ratio, leading to a large beaming-induced variability amplitude at the orbital period of 5.6 hr. We observed the system during 3 nights at the 2.0m Faulkes Telescope North with the SDSS-g' filter, and fitted the data simultaneously for the beaming, ellipsoidal and reflection effects. Our fitted relative beaming amplitude is (3.0 +/- 0.4) x 10^(-3), consistent with the expected amplitude from a blackbody spectrum given the photometric primary radial velocity amplitude and effective temperature. This result is a first step in testing the relation between the photometric beaming amplitude and the spectroscopic radial velocity amplitude in NLTT 11748 and similar systems. We did not identify any variability due to the ellipsoidal or reflection effects, consistent with their expected undetectable amplitude for this system. Low-mass, helium-core WDs are expected to reside in binary systems where in some of those systems the binary companion is a faint C/O WD and the two stars are detached and non-interacting, as in the case of NLTT 11748. The beaming effect can be used to search for the faint binary companion in those systems using wide-band photometry.

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arXiv2010

The Oblique Orbit of the Super-Neptune HAT-P-11b

We find the orbit of the Neptune-sized exoplanet HAT-P-11b to be highly inclined relative to the equatorial plane of its host star. This conclusion is based on spectroscopic observations of two transits, which allowed the Rossiter-McLaughlin effect to be detected with an amplitude of 1.5 m/s. The sky-projected obliquity is 103_{-10}^{+26} degrees. This is the smallest exoplanet for which spin-orbit alignment has been measured. The result favors a migration scenario involving few-body interactions followed by tidal dissipation. This finding also conforms with the pattern that the systems with the weakest tidal interactions have the widest spread in obliquities. We predict that the high obliquity of HAT-P-11 will be manifest in transit light curves from the Kepler spacecraft: starspot-crossing anomalies will recur at most once per stellar rotation period, rather than once per orbital period as they would for a well-aligned system.

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arXiv2010

A Possible Tilted Orbit of the Super-Neptune HAT-P-11b

We report the detection of the Rossiter-McLaughlin effect for the eccentric, super-Neptune exoplanet HAT-P-11b, based on radial velocity measurements taken with HDS mounted on the Subaru 8.2m telescope, and simultaneous photometry with the FTN 2.0m telescope, both located in Hawai'i. The observed radial velocities during a planetary transit of HAT-P-11b show a persistent blue-shift, suggesting a spin-orbit misalignment in the system. The best-fit value for the projected spin-orbit misalignment angle is $λ= 103_{-19}^{+23}$ deg. Our result supports the notion that eccentric exoplanetary systems are likely to have significant spin-orbit misalignment (e.g., HD 80606, WASP-8, WASP-14, WASP-17, and XO-3). This fact suggests that not only hot-Jupiters but also super-Neptunes like HAT-P-11b had once experienced dynamical processes such as planet-planet scattering or the Kozai migration.

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arXiv2010

Discovery of the Eclipsing Detached Double White Dwarf Binary NLTT 11748

We report the discovery of the first eclipsing detached double white dwarf (WD) binary. In a pulsation search, the low-mass helium core WD NLTT 11748 was targeted for fast (approx 1 minute) differential photometry with the Las Cumbres Observatory's Faulkes Telescope North. Rather than pulsations, we discovered approx 180 s 3%-6% dips in the photometry. Subsequent radial velocity measurements of the primary white dwarf from the Keck telescope found variations with a semi-amplitude K_1 = 271 +/- 3 km/s, and confirmed the dips as eclipses caused by an orbiting WD with a mass M_2 = 0.648-0.771 M_sun for M_1 = 0.1-0.2 M_sun. We detect both the primary and secondary eclipses during the P_orb = 5.64 hr orbit and measure the secondary's brightness to be 3.5% +/- 0.3% of the primary at SDSS-g'. Assuming that the secondary follows the mass-radius relation of a cold C/O WD and including the effects of microlensing in the binary, the primary eclipse yields a primary radius of R_1 = 0.043-0.039 R_sun for M_1 = 0.1-0.2 M_sun, consistent with the theoretically expected values for a helium core WD with a thick, stably burning hydrogen envelope. Though nearby (at approx 150 pc), the gravitational wave strain from NLTT 11748 is likely not adequate for direct detection by the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna. Future observational efforts will determine M_1, yielding accurate WD mass-radius measurement of both components, as well as a clearer indication of the binary's fate once contact is reached.

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arXiv2010

Orbital eccentricity of WASP-12 and WASP-14 from new radial-velocity monitoring with SOPHIE

As part of the long-term radial velocity monitoring of known transiting planets -- designed to measure orbital eccentricities, spin-orbit alignments and further planetary companions -- we have acquired radial velocity data for the two transiting systems WASP-12 and WASP-14, each harbouring gas giants on close orbits (orbital period of 1.09 and 2.24 days respectively). In both cases, the initial orbital solution suggested a significant orbital eccentricity, 0.049+-0.015 for WASP-12 and 0.091+-0.003 for WASP-14. Since then, measurements of the secondary eclipse of WASP-12 in the infrared have indicated that one projection of the eccentricity (e cos w) was very close to zero, casting doubt on the eccentricity from the initial radial velocity orbit. Our measurements confirm that the initial eccentricity detection could be spurious, and show that the radial velocity data is compatible with a circular orbit. A MCMC analysis taking into account the presence of correlated systematic noise in both the radial velocity and photometric data gives e=0.017 (+0.015-0.011). By contrast, we confirm the orbital eccentricity of WASP-14, and refine its value to e=0.088+-0.003. WASP-14 is thus the closest presently known planet with a confirmed eccentric orbit.

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