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The low-mass star GJ 1151 has been reported to display variable low-frequency radio emission, which has been interpreted as a signpost of coronal star-planet interactions with an unseen exoplanet. Here we report the first X-ray detection of GJ 1151s corona based on XMM-Newton data. We find that the star displays a small flare during the X-ray observation. Averaged over the observation, we detect the star with a low coronal temperature of 1.6~MK and an X-ray luminosity of $L_X = 5.5times 10^{26}$,erg/s. During the quiescent time periods excluding the flare, the star remains undetected with an upper limit of $L_{X,,qui} leq 3.7times 10^{26}$,erg/s. This is compatible with the coronal assumptions used in a recently published model for a star-planet interaction origin of the observed radio signals from this star.
Galactic cosmic rays are energetic particles important in the context of life. Many works have investigated the propagation of Galactic cosmic rays through the Suns heliosphere. However, the cosmic ray fluxes in M dwarf systems are still poorly known. Studying the propagation of Galactic cosmic rays through the astrospheres of M dwarfs is important to understand the effect on their orbiting planets. Here, we focus on the planetary system GJ 436. We perform simulations using a combined 1D cosmic ray transport model and 1D Alfven-wave-driven stellar wind model. We use two stellar wind set-ups: one more magnetically-dominated and the other more thermally-dominated. Although our stellar winds have similar magnetic field and velocity profiles, they have mass-loss rates two orders of magnitude different. Because of this, they give rise to two different astrosphere sizes, one ten times larger than the other. The magnetically-dominated wind modulates the Galactic cosmic rays more at distances < 0.2 au than the thermally-dominated wind due to a higher local wind velocity. Between 0.2 and 1 au the fluxes for both cases start to converge. However, for distances > 10 au, spatial diffusion dominates, and the flux of GeV cosmic rays is almost unmodulated. We find, irrespective of the wind regime, that the flux of Galactic cosmic rays in the habitable zone of GJ 436 (0.2 - 0.4 au) is comparable with intensities observed at Earth. On the other hand, around GJ 436 b (0.028 au), both wind regimes predict Galactic cosmic ray fluxes that are approximately $10^4$ times smaller than the values observed at Earth.
The large number of close-in Jupiter-size exoplanets prompts the question whether star-planet interaction (SPI) effects can be detected. We focused our attention on the system HD 17156, having a Jupiter-mass planet in a very eccentric orbit. Here we present results of the XMM-Newton observations and of a five months coordinated optical campaign with the HARPS-N spectrograph. We observed HD 17156 with XMM-Newton when the planet was approaching the apoastron and then at the following periastron passage, quasi simultaneously with HARPS-N. We obtained a clear ($approx 5.5sigma$) X-ray detection only at the periastron visit, accompanied by a significant increase of the $R_{rm HK}$ chromospheric index. We discuss two possible scenarios for the activity enhancement: magnetic reconnection and flaring or accretion onto the star of material tidally stripped from the planet. In any case, this is possibly the first evidence of a magnetic SPI effect caught in action.
We present L band (3.8 $mu m$) MMT/Clio high-contrast imaging data for the nearby star GJ 758, which was recently reported by Thalmann et al. (2009) to have one -- possibly two-- faint comoving companions (GJ 758B and ``C, respectively). GJ 758B is detected in two distinct datasets. Additionally, we report a textit{possible} detection of the object identified by Thalmann et al as ``GJ 758C in our more sensitive dataset, though it is likely a residual speckle. However, if it is the same object as that reported by Thalmann et al. it cannot be a companion in a bound orbit. GJ 758B has a H-L color redder than nearly all known L--T8 dwarfs. Based on comparisons with the COND evolutionary models, GJ 758B has T$_{e}$ $sim$ 560 K$^{^{+150 K}_{-90K}}$ and a mass ranging from $sim$ 10--20 M$_{J}$ if it is $sim$ 1 Gyr old to $sim$ 25--40 M$_{J}$ if it is 8.7 Gyr old. GJ 758B is likely in a highly eccentric orbit, e $sim$ 0.73$^{^{+0.12}_{-0.21}}$, with a semimajor axis of $sim$ 44 AU$^{^{+32 AU}_{-14 AU}}$. Though GJ 758B is sometimes discussed within the context of exoplanet direct imaging, its mass is likely greater than the deuterium-burning limit and its formation may resemble that of binary stars rather than that of jovian-mass planets.
Apsidal motion is a gradual shift in the position of periastron. The impact of dynamic tides on apsidal motion has long been debated, because the contribution could not be quantified due to the lack of high quality observations. KIC 4544587 with tidally excited oscillations has been observed by textit{Kepler} high-precision photometric data based on long time baseline and short-cadence schema. In this paper, we compute the rate of apsidal motion that arises from the dynamic tides as $19.05pm 1.70$ mrad yr$^{-1}$ via tracking the orbital phase shifts of tidally excited oscillations. We also calculate the procession rate of the orbit due to the Newtonian and general relativistic contribution as $21.49 pm 2.8$ and $2.4 pm 0.06$ mrad yr$^{-1}$, respectively. The sum of these three factors is in excellent agreement with the total observational rate of apsidal motion $42.97 pm 0.18$ mrad yr$^{-1}$ measured by eclipse timing variations. The tidal effect accounts for about 44% of the overall observed apsidal motion and is comparable to that of the Newtonian term. Dynamic tides have a significant contribution to the apsidal motion. The analysis method mentioned in this paper presents an alternative approach to measuring the contribution of the dynamic tides quantitatively.
This paper presents new observations of the planet-hosting, visual binary GJ 86 (HR 637) using the Hubble Space Telescope. Ultraviolet and optical imaging with WFC3 confirms the stellar companion is a degenerate star and indicates the binary semimajor axis is larger than previous estimates, with a > 28 AU. Optical STIS spectroscopy of the secondary reveals a helium-rich white dwarf with C2 absorption bands and Teff = 8180 K, thus making the binary system rather similar to Procyon. Based on the 10.8 pc distance, the companion has 0.59 Msun and descended from a main-sequence A star of 1.9 Msun with an original orbital separation a > 14 AU. If the giant planet is coplanar with the binary, the mass of GJ 86Ab is between 4.4 and 4.7 MJup. The similarity of GJ 86 and Procyon prompted a re-analysis of the white dwarf in the latter system, with the tentative conclusion that Procyon hosts a planetesimal population. The periastron distance in Procyon is 20% smaller than in alpha Cen AB, but the metal-enriched atmosphere of Procyon B indicates that the planet formation process minimally attained 25 km bodies, if not small planets as in alpha Cen.