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Register a new userThe metallicity distribution and hot Jupiter rate of the Kepler field: Hectochelle High-resolution spectroscopy for 776 Kepler target stars
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The occurrence rate of hot Jupiters from the Kepler transit survey is roughly half that of radial velocity surveys targeting solar neighborhood stars. One hypothesis to explain this difference is that the two surveys target stars with different stellar metallicity distributions. To test this hypothesis, we measure the metallicity distribution of the Kepler targets using the Hectochelle multi-fiber, high-resolution spectrograph. Limiting our spectroscopic analysis to 610 dwarf stars in our sample with log(g)>3.5, we measure a metallicity distribution characterized by a mean of [M/H]_{mean} = -0.045 +/- 0.00, in agreement with previous studies of the Kepler field target stars. In comparison, the metallicity distribution of the California Planet Search radial velocity sample has a mean of [M/H]_{CPS, mean} = -0.005 +/- 0.006, and the samples come from different parent populations according to a Kolmogorov-Smirnov test. We refit the exponential relation between the fraction of stars hosting a close-in giant planet and the host star metallicity using a sample of dwarf stars from the California Planet Search with updated metallicities. The best-fit relation tells us that the difference in metallicity between the two samples is insufficient to explain the discrepant Hot Jupiter occurrence rates; the metallicity difference would need to be $simeq$0.2-0.3 dex for perfect agreement. We also show that (sub)giant contamination in the Kepler sample cannot reconcile the two occurrence calculations. We conclude that other factors, such as binary contamination and imperfect stellar properties, must also be at play.
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Hot Jupiters are expected to be dark from both observations (albedo upper limits) and theory (alkali metals and/or TiO and VO absorption). However, only a handful of hot Jupiters have been observed with high enough photometric precision at visible wavelengths to investigate these expectations. The NASA Kepler mission provides a means to widen the sample and to assess the extent to which hot Jupiter albedos are low. We present a global analysis of Kepler-7b based on Q0-Q4 data, published radial velocities, and asteroseismology constraints. We measure an occultation depth in the Kepler bandpass of 44+-5 ppm. If directly related to the albedo, this translates to a Kepler geometric albedo of 0.32+-0.03, the most precise value measured so far for an exoplanet. We also characterize the planetary orbital phase lightcurve with an amplitude of 42+-4 ppm. Using atmospheric models, we find it unlikely that the high albedo is due to a dominant thermal component and propose two solutions to explain the observed planetary flux. Firstly, we interpret the Kepler-7b albedo as resulting from an excess reflection over what can be explained solely by Rayleigh scattering, along with a nominal thermal component. This excess reflection might indicate the presence of a cloud or haze layer in the atmosphere, motivating new modeling and observational efforts. Alternatively, the albedo can be explained by Rayleigh scattering alone if Na and K are depleted in the atmosphere by a factor of 10-100 below solar abundances.
We present results from spectroscopic follow-up observations of stars identified in the Kepler field and carried out by teams of the Kepler Follow-Up Observation Program. Two samples of stars were observed over six years (2009-2015): 614 standard stars (divided into platinum and gold categories) selected based on their asteroseismic detections and 2667 host stars of Kepler Objects of Interest (KOIs), most of them planet candidates. Four data analysis pipelines were used to derive stellar parameters for the observed stars. We compare the $T_{mathrm{eff}}$, $log$(g), and [Fe/H] values derived for the same stars by different pipelines; from the average of the standard deviations of the differences in these parameter values, we derive error floors of $sim$ 100 K, 0.2 dex, and 0.1 dex for $T_{mathrm{eff}}$, $log$(g), and [Fe/H], respectively. Noticeable disagreements are seen mostly at the largest and smallest parameter values (e.g., in the giant star regime). Most of the $log$(g) values derived from spectra for the platinum stars agree on average within 0.025 dex (but with a spread of 0.1-0.2 dex) with the asteroseismic $log$(g) values. Compared to the Kepler Input Catalog (KIC), the spectroscopically derived stellar parameters agree within the uncertainties of the KIC, but are more precise and are thus an important contribution towards deriving more reliable planetary radii.
Using population synthesis tools we create a synthetic Kepler Input Catalogue (KIC) and subject it to the Kepler Stellar Classification Program (SCP) method for determining stellar parameters such as the effective temperature Teff and surface gravity g. We achieve a satisfactory match between the synthetic KIC and the real KIC in the log g vs log Teff diagram, while there is a significant difference between the actual physical stellar parameters and those derived by the SCP of the stars in the synthetic sample. We find a median difference Delta Teff=+500K and Delta log g =-0.2dex for main-sequence stars, and Delta Teff=+50K and Delta log g =-0.5dex for giants, although there is a large variation across parameter space. For a MS star the median difference in g would equate to a ~3% increase in stellar radius and a consequent ~3% overestimate of the radius for any transiting exoplanet. We find no significant difference between Delta Teff and Delta log g for single stars and the primary star in a binary system. We also re-created the Kepler target selection method and found that the binary fraction is unchanged by the target selection. Binaries are selected in similar proportions to single star systems; the fraction of MS dwarfs in the sample increases from about 75% to 80%, and the giant star fraction decreases from 25% to 20%.
The stellar magnetic field plays a crucial role in the star internal mechanisms, as in the interactions with its environment. The study of starspots provides information about the stellar magnetic field, and can characterise the cycle. Moreover, the analysis of solar-type stars is also useful to shed light onto the origin of the solar magnetic field. The objective of this work is to characterise the magnetic activity of stars. Here, we studied two solar-type stars Kepler-17 and Kepler-63 using two methods to estimate the magnetic cycle length. The first one characterises the spots (radius, intensity, and location) by fitting the small variations in the light curve of a star caused by the occultation of a spot during a planetary transit. This approach yields the number of spots present in the stellar surface and the flux deficit subtracted from the star by their presence during each transit. The second method estimates the activity from the excess in the residuals of the transit lightcurves. This excess is obtained by subtracting a spotless model transit from the lightcurve, and then integrating all the residuals during the transit. The presence of long term periodicity is estimated in both time series. With the first method, we obtained $P_{rm cycle}$ = 1.12 $pm$ 0.16 yr (Kepler-17) and $P_{rm cycle}$ = 1.27 $pm$ 0.16 yr (Kepler-63), and for the second approach the values are 1.35 $pm$ 0.27 yr and 1.27 $pm$ 0.12 yr, respectively. The results of both methods agree with each other and confirm their robustness.
We confirm and characterize the exoplanetary systems Kepler-445 and Kepler-446: two mid-M dwarf stars, each with multiple, small, short-period transiting planets. Kepler-445 is a metal-rich ([Fe/H]=+0.25 $pm$ 0.10) M4 dwarf with three transiting planets, and Kepler-446 is a metal-poor ([Fe/H]=-0.30 $pm$ 0.10) M4 dwarf also with three transiting planets. Kepler-445c is similar to GJ 1214b: both in planetary radius and the properties of the host star. The Kepler-446 system is similar to the Kepler-42 system: both are metal-poor with large galactic space velocities and three short-period, likely-rocky transiting planets that were initially assigned erroneously large planet-to-star radius ratios. We independently determined stellar parameters from spectroscopy and searched for and fitted the transit light curves for the planets, imposing a strict prior on stellar density in order to remove correlations between the fitted impact parameter and planet-to-star radius ratio for short-duration transits. Combining Kepler-445, Kepler-446 and Kepler-42, and isolating all mid-M dwarf stars observed by Kepler with the precision necessary to detect similar systems, we calculate that 21 $^{+7}_{-5}$ % of mid-M dwarf stars host compact multiples (multiple planets with periods of less than 10 days) for a wide range of metallicities. We suggest that the inferred planet masses for these systems support highly efficient accretion of protoplanetary disk metals by mid-M dwarf protoplanets.
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