Publication:
The CARMENES search for exoplanets around M dwarfs: Convective shift and starspot constraints from chromatic radial velocities

Loading...
Thumbnail Image
Full text at PDC
Publication Date
2020-09-10
Advisors (or tutors)
Editors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
EDP Sciencies
Citations
Google Scholar
Research Projects
Organizational Units
Journal Issue
Abstract
Context. Variability caused by stellar activity represents a challenge to the discovery and characterization of terrestrial exoplanets and complicates the interpretation of atmospheric planetary signals. Aims. We aim to use a detailed modeling tool to reproduce the effect of active regions on radial velocity measurements, which aids the identification of the key parameters that have an impact on the induced variability. Methods. We analyzed the effect of stellar activity on radial velocities as a function of wavelength by simulating the impact of the properties of spots, shifts induced by convective motions, and rotation. We focused our modeling effort on the active star YZ CMi (GJ 285), which was photometrically and spectroscopically monitored with CARMENES and the Telescopi Joan Oró. Results. We demonstrate that radial velocity curves at different wavelengths yield determinations of key properties of active regions, including spot-filling factor, temperature contrast, and location, thus solving the degeneracy between them. Most notably, our model is also sensitive to convective motions. Results indicate a reduced convective shift for M dwarfs when compared to solar-type stars (in agreement with theoretical extrapolations) and points to a small global convective redshift instead of blueshift. Conclusions. Using a novel approach based on simultaneous chromatic radial velocities and light curves, we can set strong constraints on stellar activity, including an elusive parameter such as the net convective motion effect.
Description
© ESO 2020. Artículo firmado por 29 autores. Based on observations collected at the Centro Astronómico Hispano Alemán (CAHA) at Calar Alto, operated jointly by the Junta de Andalucía and the Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía (CSIC). CARMENES is funded by the German Max-Planck-Gesellschaft (MPG), the Spanish Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC), the European Union through FEDER/ERF FICTS-2011-02 funds, and the members of the CARMENES Consortium (Max-Planck-Institut für Astronomie, Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía, Landessternwarte Königstuhl, Institut de Ciències de l’Espai, Insitut für Astrophysik Göttingen, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Thüringer Landessternwarte Tautenburg, Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias, Hamburger Sternwarte, Centro de Astrobiología and Centro Astronómico Hispano-Alemán), with additional contributions by the Spanish Ministry of Economy, the German Science Foundation through the Major Research Instrumentation Programme and DFG Research Unit FOR2544 “Blue Planets around Red Stars”, the Klaus Tschira Stiftung, the states of Baden-Württemberg and Niedersachsen, and by the Junta de Andalucía. We acknowledge financial support from the Spanish Agencia Estatal de Investigación of the Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación and the European FEDER/ERF funds through projects AYA2016-79425-C3-1/2/3-P, PGC2018-098153-B-C33, BES-2017-080769 and the Centre of Excellence “Severo Ochoa” and “María de Maeztu” awards to the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (SEV-2015-0548), Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía (SEV-2017-0709), and Centro de Astrobiología (MDM-2017-0737), the Secretaria d’Universitats i Recerca del Departament d’Empresa i Coneixement de la Generalitat de Catalunya and the Agència de Gestió d’Ajuts Universitaris i de Recerca of the Generalitat de Catalunya, with additional funding from the European FEDER/ERF funds, L’FSE inverteix en el teu futur, the Generalitat de Catalunya/CERCA programme, and from NASA Grant NNX17AG24G. This work makes use of data from the 80 cm Telescopi Joan Oró (TJO) of the Montsec Astronomical Observatory (OAdM), owned by the Generalitat de Catalunya and operated by the Institut d’Estudis Espacials de Catalunya (IEEC), and includes data collected by the TESS mission. Funding for the TESS mission is provided by the NASA Explorer Program.
Unesco subjects
Keywords
Citation
Collections