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Register a new userBroadband stability of the Habitable Zone Planet Finder Fabry-P{e}rot etalon calibration system: evidence for chromatic variation
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The comb-like spectrum of a white light-illuminated Fabry-P{e}rot etalon can serve as a cost-effective and stable reference for precise Doppler measurements. Understanding the stability of these devices across their broad (100s of nm) spectral bandwidths is essential to realize their full potential as Doppler calibrators. However, published descriptions remain limited to small bandwidths or short timespans. We present a $sim6$ month broadband stability monitoring campaign of the Fabry-P{e}rot etalon system deployed with the near-infrared Habitable Zone Planet Finder spectrograph (HPF). We monitor the wavelengths of each of $sim3500$ resonant modes measured in HPF spectra of this Fabry-P{e}rot etalon (free spectral range = 30 GHz, bandwidth = 820 - 1280 nanometers), leveraging the accuracy and precision of an electro-optic frequency comb reference. These results reveal chromatic structure in the Fabry-P{e}rot mode locations and in their evolution with time. We measure an average drift on the order of 2 cm s $^{-1}$ d$^{-1}$, with local departures up to $pm5$ cm s $^{-1}$ d$^{-1}$. We discuss these behaviors in the context of the Fabry-P{e}rot etalon mirror dispersion and other optical properties of the system, and the implications for the use of similar systems for precise Doppler measurements. Our results show that this system supports the wavelength calibration of HPF at the $lesssim10$ cm s $^{-1}$ level over a night and at the $lesssim30$ cm s $^{-1}$ level over $sim10$ d. Our results also highlight the need for long-term and spectrally-resolved study of similar systems that will be deployed to support Doppler measurement precision approaching $sim10$ cm s $^{-1}$.
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Insufficient instrument thermo-mechanical stability is one of the many roadblocks for achieving 10cm/s Doppler radial velocity (RV) precision, the precision needed to detect Earth-twins orbiting Solar-type stars. Highly temperature and pressure stabilized spectrographs allow us to better calibrate out instrumental drifts, thereby helping in distinguishing instrumental noise from astrophysical stellar signals. We present the design and performance of the Environmental Control System (ECS) for the Habitable-zone Planet Finder (HPF), a high-resolution (R=50,000) fiber-fed near infrared (NIR) spectrograph for the 10m Hobby Eberly Telescope at McDonald Observatory. HPF will operate at 180K, driven by the choice of an H2RG NIR detector array with a 1.7micron cutoff. This ECS has demonstrated 0.6mK RMS stability over 15 days at both 180K and 300K, and maintained high quality vacuum (<$10^{-7}$Torr) over months, during long-term stability tests conducted without a planned passive thermal enclosure surrounding the vacuum chamber. This control scheme is versatile and can be applied as a blueprint to stabilize future NIR and optical high precision Doppler instruments over a wide temperature range from ~77K to elevated room temperatures. A similar ECS is being implemented to stabilize NEID, the NASA/NSF NN-EXPLORE spectrograph for the 3.5m WIYN telescope at Kitt Peak, operating at 300K. A full SolidWorks 3D-CAD model and a comprehensive parts list of the HPF ECS are included with this manuscript to facilitate the adaptation of this versatile environmental control scheme in the broader astronomical community.
Young, rapidly-rotating M dwarfs exhibit prominent starspots, which create quasiperiodic signals in their photometric and Doppler spectroscopic measurements. The periodic Doppler signals can mimic radial velocity (RV) changes expected from orbiting exoplanets. Exoplanets can be distinguished from activity-induced false positives by the chromaticity and long-term incoherence of starspot signals, but these qualities are poorly constrained for fully-convective M stars. Coherent photometric starspot signals on M dwarfs may persist for hundreds of rotations, and the wavelength dependence of starspot RV signals may not be consistent between stars due to differences in their magnetic fields and active regions. We obtained precise multi-wavelength RVs of four rapidly-rotating M dwarfs (AD Leo, G 227-22, GJ 1245B, GJ 3959) using the near-infrared (NIR) Habitable-zone Planet Finder, and the optical Keck/HIRES spectrometer. Our RVs are complemented by photometry from Kepler, TESS, and the Las Cumbres Observatory (LCO) network of telescopes. We found that all four stars exhibit large spot-induced Doppler signals at their rotation periods, and investigated the longevity and optical-to-NIR chromaticity for these signals. The phase curves remain coherent much longer than is typical for Sunlike stars. Their chromaticity varies, and one star (GJ 3959) exhibits optical and NIR RV modulation consistent in both phase and amplitude. In general, though, we find that the NIR amplitudes are lower than their optical counterparts. We conclude that starspot modulation for rapidly-rotating M stars frequently remains coherent for hundreds of stellar rotations, and gives rise to Doppler signals that, due to this coherence, may be mistaken for exoplanets.
We present the scientific motivation and conceptual design for the recently funded Habitable-zone Planet Finder (HPF), a stabilized fiber-fed near-infrared (NIR) spectrograph for the 10 meter class Hobby-Eberly Telescope (HET) that will be capable of discovering low mass planets around M dwarfs. The HPF will cover the NIR Y & J bands to enable precise radial velocities to be obtained on mid M dwarfs, and enable the detection of low mass planets around these stars. The conceptual design is comprised of a cryostat cooled to 200K, a dual fiber-feed with a science and calibration fiber, a gold coated mosaic echelle grating, and a Teledyne Hawaii-2RG (H2RG) NIR detector with a 1.7$mu$m cutoff. A uranium-neon hollow-cathode lamp is the baseline wavelength calibration source, and we are actively testing laser frequency combs to enable even higher radial velocity precision. We will present the overall instrument system design and integration with the HET, and discuss major system challenges, key choices, and ongoing research and development projects to mitigate risk. We also discuss the ongoing process of target selection for the HPF survey.
We have used the Habitable Zone Planet Finder (HPF) to gather high resolution, high signal-to-noise near-infrared spectra of 13 field red horizontal-branch (RHB) stars, one open-cluster giant, and one very metal-poor halo red giant. The HPF spectra cover the 0.81$-$1.28 micron wavelength range of the $zyJ$ bands, filling in the gap between the optical (0.4$-$1.0~micron) and infrared (1.5$-$2.4~micron) spectra already available for the program stars. We derive abundances of 17 species from LTE-based computations involving equivalent widths and spectrum syntheses, and estimate abundance corrections for the species that are most affected by departures from LTE in RHB stars. Generally good agreement is found between HPF-based metallicities and abundance ratios and those from the optical and infrared spectral regions. Light element transitions dominate the HPF spectra of these red giants, and HPF data can be used to derive abundances from species with poor or no representation in optical spectra (eg, species{C}{i}, species{P}{i}, species{S}{i}, species{K}{i}). Attention is drawn to the HPF abundances in two field solar-metallicity RHB stars of special interest: one with an extreme carbon isotope ratio, and one with a rare very large lithium content. The latter star is unique in our sample by exhibiting very strong species{He}{i} 10830~AA absorption. The abundances of the open cluster giant concur with those derived from other wavelength regions. Detections of species{C}{i} and species{S}{i} in HD~122563 are reported, yielding the lowest metallicity determination of [S/Fe] from more than one multiplet.
We validate the discovery of a 2 Earth radii sub-Neptune-size planet around the nearby high proper motion M2.5-dwarf G 9-40 (EPIC 212048748), using high-precision near-infrared (NIR) radial velocity (RV) observations with the Habitable-zone Planet Finder (HPF), precision diffuser-assisted ground-based photometry with a custom narrow-band photometric filter, and adaptive optics imaging. At a distance of $d=27.9mathrm{pc}$, G 9-40b is the second closest transiting planet discovered by K2 to date. The planets large transit depth ($sim$3500ppm), combined with the proximity and brightness of the host star at NIR wavelengths (J=10, K=9.2) makes G 9-40b one of the most favorable sub-Neptune-sized planet orbiting an M-dwarf for transmission spectroscopy with JWST, ARIEL, and the upcoming Extremely Large Telescopes. The star is relatively inactive with a rotation period of $sim$29 days determined from the K2 photometry. To estimate spectroscopic stellar parameters, we describe our implementation of an empirical spectral matching algorithm using the high-resolution NIR HPF spectra. Using this algorithm, we obtain an effective temperature of $T_{mathrm{eff}}=3404pm73$K, and metallicity of $mathrm{[Fe/H]}=-0.08pm0.13$. Our RVs, when coupled with the orbital parameters derived from the transit photometry, exclude planet masses above $11.7 M_oplus$ with 99.7% confidence assuming a circular orbit. From its radius, we predict a mass of $M=5.0^{+3.8}_{-1.9} M_oplus$ and an RV semi-amplitude of $K=4.1^{+3.1}_{-1.6}mathrm{m:s^{-1}}$, making its mass measurable with current RV facilities. We urge further RV follow-up observations to precisely measure its mass, to enable precise transmission spectroscopic measurements in the future.
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