No Arabic abstract
We present the results of a precise near-infrared (NIR) radial velocity (RV) survey of 32 low-mass stars with spectral types K2-M4 using CSHELL at the NASA IRTF in the $K$-band with an isotopologue methane gas cell to achieve wavelength calibration and a novel iterative RV extraction method. We surveyed 14 members of young ($approx$ 25-150 Myr) moving groups, the young field star $varepsilon$ Eridani as well as 18 nearby ($<$ 25 pc) low-mass stars and achieved typical single-measurement precisions of 8-15 m s$^{-1}$ with a long-term stability of 15-50 m s$^{-1}$. We obtain the best NIR RV constraints to date on 27 targets in our sample, 19 of which were never followed by high-precision RV surveys. Our results indicate that very active stars can display long-term RV variations as low as $sim$ 25-50 m s$^{-1}$ at $approx$ 2.3125 $mu$m, thus constraining the effect of jitter at these wavelengths. We provide the first multi-wavelength confirmation of GJ 876 bc and independently retrieve orbital parameters consistent with previous studies. We recovered RV variability for HD 160934 AB and GJ 725 AB that are consistent with their known binary orbits, and nine other targets are candidate RV variables with a statistical significance of 3-5$sigma$. Our method combined with the new iSHELL spectrograph will yield long-term RV precisions of $lesssim$ 5 m s$^{-1}$ in the NIR, which will allow the detection of Super-Earths near the habitable zone of mid-M dwarfs.
We use a suite of SPH simulations to investigate the susceptibility of protoplanetary discs to the effects of self-gravity as a function of star-disc properties. We also include passive irradiation from the host star using different models for the stellar luminosities. The critical disc-to-star mass ratio for axisymmetry (for which we produce criteria) increases significantly for low-mass stars. This could have important consequences for increasing the potential mass reservoir in a proto Trappist-1 system, since even the efficient Ormel et al. (2017) formation model will be influenced by processes like external photoevaporation, which can rapidly and dramatically deplete the dust reservoir. The aforementioned scaling of the critical $M_d/M_*$ for axisymmetry occurs in part because the Toomre $Q$ parameter has a linear dependence on surface density (which promotes instability) and only an $M_*^{1/2}$ dependence on shear (which reduces instability), but also occurs because, for a given $M_d/M_*$, the thermal evolution depends on the host star mass. The early phase stellar irradiation of the disc (for which the luminosity is much higher than at the zero age main sequence, particularly at low stellar masses) can also play a key role in significantly reducing the role of self-gravity, meaning that even Solar mass stars could support axisymmetric discs a factor two higher in mass than usually considered possible. We apply our criteria to the DSHARP discs with spirals, finding that self-gravity can explain the observed spirals so long as the discs are optically thick to the host star irradiation.
SPIRou is a near-infrared (nIR) spectropolarimeter / velocimeter proposed as a new-generation instrument for CFHT. SPIRou aims in particular at becoming world-leader on two forefront science topics, (i) the quest for habitable Earth-like planets around very- low-mass stars, and (ii) the study of low-mass star and planet formation in the presence of magnetic fields. In addition to these two main goals, SPIRou will be able to tackle many key programs, from weather patterns on brown dwarf to solar-system planet atmospheres, to dynamo processes in fully-convective bodies and planet habitability. The science programs that SPIRou proposes to tackle are forefront (identified as first priorities by most research agencies worldwide), ambitious (competitive and complementary with science programs carried out on much larger facilities, such as ALMA and JWST) and timely (ideally phased with complementary space missions like TESS and CHEOPS). SPIRou is designed to carry out its science mission with maximum efficiency and optimum precision. More specifically, SPIRou will be able to cover a very wide single-shot nIR spectral domain (0.98-2.35 mu m) at a resolving power of 73.5K, providing unpolarized and polarized spectra of low-mass stars with a ~15% average throughput and a radial velocity (RV) precision of 1 m/s.
We report the discovery of four transiting F-M binary systems with companions between 0.1-0.2 Msun in mass by the HATSouth survey. These systems have been characterised via a global analysis of the HATSouth discovery data, combined with high-resolution radial velocities and accurate transit photometry observations. We determined the masses and radii of the component stars using a combination of two methods: isochrone fitting of spectroscopic primary star parameters, and equating spectroscopic primary star rotation velocity with spin-orbit synchronisation. These new very low mass companions are HATS550-016B (0.110 -0.006/+0.005 Msun, 0.147 -0.004/+0.003 Rsun), HATS551-019B (0.17 -0.01/+0.01 Msun, 0.18 -0.01/+0.01 Rsun), HATS551-021B (0.132 -0.005/+0.014 Msun, 0.154 -0.008/+0.006 Rsun), HATS553-001B (0.20 -0.02/+0.01 Msun, 0.22 -0.01/+0.01 Rsun). We examine our sample in the context of the radius anomaly for fully-convective low mass stars. Combining our sample with the 13 other well-studied very low mass stars, we find a tentative 5% systematic deviation between the measured radii and theoretical isochrone models.
We are entering an era of unprecedented quantities of data from current and planned survey telescopes. To maximise the potential of such surveys, automated data analysis techniques are required. Here we implement a new methodology for variable star classification, through the combination of Kohonen Self Organising Maps (SOM, an unsupervised machine learning algorithm) and the more common Random Forest (RF) supervised machine learning technique. We apply this method to data from the K2 mission fields 0-4, finding 154 ab-type RR Lyraes (10 newly discovered), 377 Delta Scuti pulsators, 133 Gamma Doradus pulsators, 183 detached eclipsing binaries, 290 semi-detached or contact eclipsing binaries and 9399 other periodic (mostly spot-modulated) sources, once class significance cuts are taken into account. We present lightcurve features for all K2 stellar targets, including their three strongest detected frequencies, which can be used to study stellar rotation periods where the observed variability arises from spot modulation. The resulting catalogue of variable stars, classes, and associated data features are made available online. We publish our SOM code in Python as part of the open source PyMVPA package, which in combination with already available RF modules can be easily used to recreate the method.
We report the direct imaging discovery of a low-mass companion to the nearby accelerating A star, HIP 109427, with the Subaru Coronagraphic Extreme Adaptive Optics (SCExAO) instrument coupled with the MKID Exoplanet Camera (MEC) and CHARIS integral field spectrograph. CHARIS data reduced with reference star PSF subtraction yield 1.1-2.4 $mu$m spectra. MEC reveals the companion in $Y$ and $J$ band at a comparable signal-to-noise ratio using stochastic speckle discrimination, with no PSF subtraction techniques. Combined with complementary follow-up $L_{rm p}$ photometry from Keck/NIRC2, the SCExAO data favors a spectral type, effective temperature, and luminosity of M4-M5.5, 3000-3200 $K$, and $log_{10}(L/L_{rm odot}) = -2.28^{+0.04}_{-0.04}$, respectively. Relative astrometry of HIP 109427 B from SCExAO/CHARIS and Keck/NIRC2, and complementary Gaia-Hipparcos absolute astrometry of the primary favor a semimajor axis of $6.55^{+3.0}_{-0.48}$ au, an eccentricity of $0.54^{+0.28}_{-0.15}$, an inclination of $66.7^{+8.5}_{-14}$ degrees, and a dynamical mass of $0.280^{+0.18}_{-0.059}$ $M_{odot}$. This work shows the potential for extreme AO systems to utilize speckle statistics in addition to widely-used post-processing methods to directly image faint companions to nearby stars near the telescope diffraction limit.