Exoplanets: The tip of the iceberg?

Benz, W.; Alibert, Yann; Mordasini, Christoph; Naef, D.

doi:10.1017/s1743921306009008

Cited by 3 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 17 publications

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“…. Recent simulations of the giant planet for-M mation process (Benz et al 2006) produce large populations of low-mass planets whose growth was halted before they could become giant planets. These planets orbit beyond 1 AU of the parent star.…”

Section: Results For Effective Mass Sensitivitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Astrometric Detection of Terrestrial Planets in the Habitable Zones of Nearby Stars withSIM PlanetQuest

Catanzarite¹,

Shao²,

Tanner³

et al. 2006

PUBL ASTRON SOC PAC

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SIM (Space Interferometry Mission) PlanetQuest is a space-borne Michelson interferometer for precision stellar astrometry, with a nine meter baseline, currently slated for launch in 2015. One of the principal science goals is the astrometric detection and orbit characterization of terrestrial planets in the habitable zones of nearby stars. Differential astrometry of the target star against a set of reference stars lying within a degree will allow measurement of the target star's reflex motion with astrometric accuracy of ∼ 1 µas in a single measurement.The purpose of the present paper is to quantitatively assess SIM's capability for detection (as opposed to characterization by orbit determination) of terrestrial planets in the habitable zones of nearby solar-type stars. Note that the orbital periods of these planets are generally shorter than the five-year SIM mission. We formulate a "joint periodogram" as a tool for planet detection from astrometric data. For adequately sampled orbits, i.e., five or more observations per period, over a sampling timespan longer than the orbit period, we find that the joint periodogram is more sensitive than the χ 2 test for the null hypothesis. In our analysis of the problem, we use Monte Carlo simulations of orbit detection, together with realistic observing scenarios, actual target and reference star lists, realistic estimates of SIM instrument performance and plausible distributions of planetary system parameters.Performance is quantified by three metrics: minimum detectable planet mass, number and mass distribution of detected planets, and completeness of detections in each mass range.We compare SIM's performance on target lists optimized for the SIM and Terrestrial Planet Finder Coronograph (TPF-C) missions. Finally, we discuss the issue of confidence in detections and non-detections, and show how information from SIM's planet survey can enable TPF to increase its yield of terrestrial planets.

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Section: Results For Effective Mass Sensitivitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Astrometric Detection of Terrestrial Planets in the Habitable Zones of Nearby Stars withSIM PlanetQuest

Catanzarite¹,

Shao²,

Tanner³

et al. 2006

PUBL ASTRON SOC PAC

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“…Recent simulations of the giant planet-formation process (Benz et al 2006) produce large populations of low-mass planets whose growth was halted before they could become giant planets. These planets orbit beyond 1 AU of the parent star.…”

Section: The Search For Potentially Habitable Planetsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Taking the Measure of the Universe: Precision Astrometry withSIM PlanetQuest

Unwin¹,

Shao²,

Tanner³

et al. 2008

PUBL ASTRON SOC PAC

154

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Precision astrometry at microarcsecond accuracy has application to a wide range of astrophysical problems. This paper is a study of the science questions that can be addressed using an instrument with flexible scheduling that delivers parallaxes at about 4 microarcsec (µas) on targets as faint as V = 20, and differential accuracy of 0.6 µas on bright targets. The science topics are drawn primarily from the Team Key Projects, selected in 2000, for the Space Interferometry Mission PlanetQuest (SIM PlanetQuest). We use the capabilities of this mission to illustrate the importance of the next level of astrometric precision in modern astrophysics.SIM PlanetQuest is currently in the detailed design phase, having completed in 2005 all of the enabling technologies needed for the flight instrument. It will be the first space-based long baseline Michelson interferometer designed for precision astrometry. SIM will contribute strongly to many astronomical fields including stellar and galactic astrophysics, planetary systems around nearby stars, and the study of quasar and AGN nuclei. Using differential astrometry SIM will search for planets with masses as small as an Earth orbiting in the 'habitable zone' around the nearest stars, and could discover many dozen if Earth-like planets are common. It will characterize the multiple-planet systems that are now known to exist, and it will be able to search for terrestrial planets around all of the candidate target stars in the Terrestrial Planet Finder and Darwin mission lists. It will be capable of detecting planets around young stars, thereby providing insights into how planetary systems are born and how they evolve with time. Precision astrometry allows the measurement of accurate dynamical masses for stars in binary systems. SIM will observe significant numbers of very high-and low-mass stars, providing stellar masses to 1%, the accuracy needed to challenge physical models. Using precision proper motion measurements, SIM will probe the Galactic mass distribution, and through studies of tidal tails, the formation and evolution of the Galactic halo. SIM will contribute to cosmology through improved accuracy of the Hubble Constant. With repeated astrometric measurements of the nuclei of active galaxies, SIM will probe the dynamics of accretion disks around supermassive black holes, and the relativistic jets that emerge from them.

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“…The frequency of radial velocity detected planets is known to increase with metallicity ). In the core accretion planet formation model, a high-metallicity environment grows larger cores and enables more objects to reach the critical mass necessary for runaway gas accretion and transformation into a detectable gas giant planet (Ida & Lin 2004;Benz et al 2006). Detailed fits to the mass and radius of the known transiting planets yield a mass estimate for the central refractory element core (Guillot et al 2006;Burrows et al 2007).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

XO‐2b: Transiting Hot Jupiter in a Metal‐rich Common Proper Motion Binary

Burke¹,

McCullough²,

Valenti³

et al. 2007

ApJ

164

183

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We report on a V ¼ 11:2 early K dwarf, , that hosts a R p ¼ 0:98AE 0:03 0:01 R J , M p ¼ 0:57 AE 0:06 M J transiting extrasolar planet, XO-2b, with an orbital period of 2:615857 AE 0:000005 days. XO-2 has high metallicity, ½Fe/H ¼ 0:45 AE 0:02, high proper motion, tot ¼ 157 mas yr À1 , and a common proper motion stellar companion with 31 00 separation. The two stars are nearly identical twins, with very similar spectra and apparent magnitudes. Due to the high metallicity, these early K dwarf stars have a mass and radius close to solar, M ? ¼ 0:98 AE 0:02 M and R ? ¼ 0:97AE 0:02 0:01 R . The high proper motion of XO-2 results from an eccentric orbit (Galactic pericenter, R per < 4 kpc) well confined to the Galactic disk (Z max $ 100 pc). In addition, the phase-space position of XO-2 is near the Hercules dynamical stream, which points to an origin of XO-2 in the metal-rich, inner thin disk and subsequent dynamical scattering into the solar neighborhood. We describe an efficient Markov chain Monte Carlo algorithm for calculating the Bayesian posterior probability of the system parameters from a transit light curve.

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Exoplanets: The tip of the iceberg?

Cited by 3 publications

References 17 publications

Astrometric Detection of Terrestrial Planets in the Habitable Zones of Nearby Stars withSIM PlanetQuest

Astrometric Detection of Terrestrial Planets in the Habitable Zones of Nearby Stars withSIM PlanetQuest

Taking the Measure of the Universe: Precision Astrometry withSIM PlanetQuest

XO‐2b: Transiting Hot Jupiter in a Metal‐rich Common Proper Motion Binary

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