No Arabic abstract
The architecture of many exoplanetary systems is different from the solar system, with exoplanets being in close orbits around their host stars and having orbital periods of only a few days. We can expect interactions between the star and the exoplanet for such systems that are similar to the tidal interactions observed in close stellar binary systems. For the exoplanet, tidal interaction can lead to circularization of its orbit and the synchronization of its rotational and orbital period. For the host star, it has long been speculated if significant angular momentum transfer can take place between the planetary orbit and the stellar rotation. In the case of the Earth-Moon system, such tidal interaction has led to an increasing distance between Earth and Moon. For stars with Hot Jupiters, where the orbital period of the exoplanet is typically shorter than the stellar rotation period, one expects a decreasing semimajor axis for the planet and enhanced stellar rotation, leading to increased stellar activity. Also excess turbulence in the stellar convective zone due to rising and subsiding tidal bulges may change the magnetic activity we observe for the host star. Here I review recent observational results on stellar activity and tidal interaction in the presence of close-in exoplanets, and discuss the effects of enhanced stellar activity on the exoplanets in such systems.
We introduce two new features to REBOUNDx, an extended library for the N-body integrator REBOUND. The first is a convenient parameter interpolator for coupling different physics and integrators using numerical splitting schemes. The second implements a constant time lag model for tides (without evolving spins) from Hut (1981). We demonstrate various examples of these features using post-main sequence stellar evolution data from MESA (Modules for Experiments in Stellar Astrophysics). These additional effects are publicly available as of REBOUNDxs latest release.
We present an in-depth analysis of stellar activity and its effects on radial velocity (RV) for the M2 dwarf GJ 176 based on spectra taken over 10 years from the High Resolution Spectrograph on the Hobby-Eberly Telescope. These data are supplemented with spectra from previous observations with the HIRES and HARPS spectrographs, and V- and R-band photometry taken over 6 years at the Dyer and Fairborn observatories. Previous studies of GJ 176 revealed a super-Earth exoplanet in an 8.8-day orbit. However, the velocities of this star are also known to be contaminated by activity, particularly at the 39-day stellar rotation period. We have examined the magnetic activity of GJ 176 using the sodium I D lines, which have been shown to be a sensitive activity tracer in cool stars. In addition to rotational modulation, we see evidence of a long-term trend in our Na I D index, which may be part of a long-period activity cycle. The sodium index is well correlated with our RVs, and we show that this activity trend drives a corresponding slope in RV. Interestingly, the rotation signal remains in phase in photometry, but not in the spectral activity indicators. We interpret this phenomenon as the result of one or more large spot complexes or active regions which dominate the photometric variability, while the spectral indices are driven by the overall magnetic activity across the stellar surface. In light of these results, we discuss the potential for correcting activity signals in the RVs of M dwarfs.
Long-term stellar activity variations can affect the detectability of long-period and Earth-analogue extrasolar planets. We have, for 54 stars, analysed the long-term trend of five activity indicators: log$R_mathrm{{HK}}$, the cross-correlation function (CCF) bisector span, CCF full-width-at-half-maximum, CCF contrast, and the area of the Gaussian fit to the CCF; and studied their correlation with the RVs. The sign of the correlations appears to vary as a function of stellar spectral type, and the transition in sign signals a noteworthy change in the stellar activity properties where earlier type stars appear more plage dominated. These transitions become more clearly defined when considered as a function of the convective zone depth. Therefore, it is the convective zone depth (which can be altered by stellar metallicity) that appears to be the underlying fundamental parameter driving the observed activity correlations. In addition, for most of the stars, we find that the RVs become increasingly red-shifted as activity levels increase, which can be explained by the increase in the suppression of convective blue-shift. However, we also find a minority of stars where the RVs become increasingly blue-shifted as activity levels increase. Finally, using the correlation found between activity indicators and RVs, we removed RV signals generated by long-term changes in stellar activity. We find that performing simple cleaning of such long-term signals enables improved planet detection at longer orbital periods.
Turbulent friction in convective regions in stars and planets is one of the key physical mechanisms that drive the dissipation of the kinetic energy of tidal flows in their interiors and the evolution of their systems. This friction acts both on the equilibrium/non-wave like tide and on tidal inertial waves in these layers. It is thus necessary to obtain a robust prescription for this friction. In the current state-of-the-art, it is modeled by a turbulent eddy-viscosity coefficient, based on mixing-length theory, applied on velocities of tides. However, none of the current prescriptions take into account the action of rotation that can strongly affects turbulent convection. Therefore, we use theoretical scaling laws for convective velocities and characteristic lengthscales in rotating stars and planets that have been recently confirmed by 3-D high-resolution nonlinear Cartesian numerical simulations to derive a new prescription. A corresponding local model of tidal waves is used to understand the consequences for the linear tidal dissipation. Finally, new grids of rotating stellar models and published values of planetary convective Rossby numbers are used to discuss astrophysical consequences. The action of rotation on convection deeply modifies the turbulent friction applied on tides. In the regime of rapid rotation (with a convective Rossby number below 0.25), the eddy-viscosity may be decreased by several ordres of magnitude. It may lead to a loss of efficiency of the viscous dissipation of the equilibrium tide and to a more efficient complex and resonant dissipation of tidal inertial waves in the bulk of convective regions. Therefore, it is necessary to have a completely coupled treatment of the tidal/rotational evolution of star-planet systems and multiple stars with a coherent treatment of the variations of tidal flows and of their dissipation as a function of rotation.
2MASSJ05352184-0546085 (2M0535-05) is the only known eclipsing brown dwarf (BD) binary, and so may serve as an important benchmark for models of BD formation and evolution. However, theoretical predictions of the systems properties seem inconsistent with observations: i. The more massive (primary) component is observed to be cooler than the less massive (secondary) one. ii. The secondary is more luminous (by roughly 10^{24} W) than expected. We study the impact of tidal heating to the energy budget of both components. We also compare various plausible tidal models to determine a range of predicted properties. We apply t