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Register a new userStellar activity mimics a habitable-zone planet around Kapteyns star
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Kapteyns star is an old M subdwarf believed to be a member of the Galactic halo population of stars. A recent study has claimed the existence of two super-Earth planets around the star based on radial velocity (RV) observations. The innermost of these candidate planets--Kapteyn b (P = 48 days)--resides within the circumstellar habitable zone. Given recent progress in understanding the impact of stellar activity in detecting planetary signals, we have analyzed the observed HARPS data for signatures of stellar activity. We find that while Kapteyns star is photometrically very stable, a suite of spectral activity indices reveals a large-amplitude rotation signal, and we determine the stellar rotation period to be 143 days. The spectral activity tracers are strongly correlated with the purported RV signal of planet b, and the 48-day period is an integer fraction (1/3) of the stellar rotation period. We conclude that Kapteyn b is not a planet in the Habitable Zone, but an artifact of stellar activity.
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The bright star 55 Cancri is known to host five planets, including a transiting super-Earth. The study presented here yields directly determined values for 55 Cncs stellar astrophysical parameters based on improved interferometry: $R=0.943 pm 0.010 R_{odot}$, $T_{rm EFF} = 5196 pm 24$ K. We use isochrone fitting to determine 55 Cncs age to be 10.2 $pm$ 2.5 Gyr, implying a stellar mass of $0.905 pm 0.015 M_{odot}$. Our analysis of the location and extent of the systems habitable zone (0.67--1.32 AU) shows that planet f, with period $sim$ 260 days and $M sin i = 0.155 M_{Jupiter}$, spends the majority of the duration of its elliptical orbit in the circumstellar habitable zone. Though planet f is too massive to harbor liquid water on any planetary surface, we elaborate on the potential of alternative low-mass objects in planet fs vicinity: a large moon, and a low-mass planet on a dynamically stable orbit within the habitable zone. Finally, our direct value for 55 Cancris stellar radius allows for a model-independent calculation of the physical diameter of the transiting super-Earth 55 Cnc e ($sim 2.05 pm 0.15 R_{earth}$), which, depending on the planetary mass assumed, implies a bulk density of 0.76 $rho_{earth}$ or 1.07 $rho_{earth}$.
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