Andrew W. Mann

Revised stellar properties of Kepler targets for the quarter 1-16 transit detection run

We present revised properties for 196,468 stars observed by the NASA Kepler mission and used in the analysis of Quarter 1-16 (Q1-Q16) data to detect and characterize transiting planets. The catalog is based on a compilation of literature values for atmospheric properties (temperature, surface gravity, and metallicity) derived from different observational techniques (photometry, spectroscopy, asteroseismology, and exoplanet transits), which were then homogeneously fitted to a grid of Dartmouth stellar isochrones. We use broadband photometry and asteroseismology to characterize 11,532 Kepler targets which were previously unclassified in the Kepler Input Catalog (KIC). We report the detection of oscillations in 2762 of these targets, classifying them as giant stars and increasing the number of known oscillating giant stars observed by Kepler by ~20% to a total of ~15,500 stars. Typical uncertainties in derived radii and masses are ~40% and ~20%, respectively, for stars with photometric constraints only, and 5%-15% and ~10% for stars based on spectroscopy and/or asteroseismology, although these uncertainties vary strongly with spectral type and luminosity class. A comparison with the Q1-Q12 catalog shows a systematic decrease in radii of M dwarfs, while radii for K dwarfs decrease or increase depending on the Q1-Q12 provenance (KIC or Yonsei-Yale isochrones). Radii of F-G dwarfs are on average unchanged, with the exception of newly identified giants. The Q1-Q16 star properties catalog is a first step toward an improved characterization of all Kepler targets to support planet-occurrence studies.

X-ray–optical classification of cluster mergers and the evolution of the cluster merger fraction

We present the results of a simple but robust morphological classification of a statistically complete sample of 108 of the most X-ray-luminous clusters at 0.15 ≤z≤ 0.7 observed with Chandra. Our aims are to (a) identify the most disturbed massive clusters to be used as gravitational lenses for studies of the distant Universe and as probes of particle acceleration mechanisms resulting in non-thermal radio emission; (b) find cluster mergers featuring subcluster trajectories that make them suitable for quantitative analyses of cluster collisions; and (c) constrain the evolution with redshift of the cluster merger fraction. Finally, (d) this paper represents the third public release of clusters from the MAssive Cluster Survey sample, adding 24 clusters to the 46 published previously. To classify clusters by the degree of relaxation, we use the projected offset of the brightest cluster galaxy from the peak (or the global centroid) of the X-ray emission as a measure of the segregation between the intracluster gas and dark matter, and also perform a visual assessment of the optical and X-ray morphology on all scales. Regarding (a), we identify 10 complex systems likely to have undergone multiple merger events in the recent past. Regarding (b), we identify 11 systems likely to be post-collision, binary, head-on mergers (BHOMs), as well as another six mergers that are possible BHOMs but probably harder to interpret because of non-negligible impact parameters and merger axes closer to our line of sight. Regarding (c), we find a highly significant increase with redshift in the fraction of morphologically disturbed clusters (and thus a clear decrease in the number of fully relaxed systems) starting at z∼ 0.4, in spite of a detection bias in our sample against very disturbed systems at high redshift. Since our morphological diagnostics are all based on imaging data and thus sensitive to projection effects, the measured merger fractions should be considered lower limits and our list of mergers incomplete, as we are likely to miss systems forming along axes close to our line of sight. A larger sample of clusters with high-quality X-ray data in particular at high redshift will be needed to trace the evolutionary history of cluster growth and relaxation closer to the primary epoch of cluster formation z∼ 1.

They Might be Giants: Luminosity Class, Planet Occurrence, and Planet–Metallicity Relation of the Coolest Kepler Target Stars

We estimate the stellar parameters of late K- and early M-type Kepler target stars. We obtain medium-resolution visible spectra of 382 stars with KP ? J > 2 (K5 and later spectral type). We determine luminosity class by comparing the strength of gravity-sensitive indices (CaH, K I, Ca II, and Na I) to their strength in a sample of stars of known luminosity class. We find that giants constitute 96% ? 1% of the bright (KP 14) stars, significantly higher than fractions based on the stellar parameters quoted in the Kepler Input Catalog (KIC). The KIC effective temperatures are systematically (110+15 ? 35?K) higher than temperatures we determine from fitting our spectra to PHOENIX stellar models. Through Monte Carlo simulations of the Kepler exoplanet candidate population, we find a planet occurrence of 0.36 ? 0.08 when giant stars are properly removed, somewhat higher than when a KIC log g > 4 criterion is used (0.27 ? 0.05). Last, we show that there is no significant difference in g ? r color (a probe of metallicity) between late-type Kepler stars with transiting Earth-to-Neptune-size exoplanet candidates and dwarf stars with no detected transits. We show that a previous claimed offset between these two populations is most likely an artifact of including a large number of misidentified giants.

Spectro-thermometry of M Dwarfs and Their Candidate Planets: Too Hot, Too Cool, or Just Right?

We use moderate-resolution spectra of nearby late K and M dwarf stars with parallaxes and interferometrically determined radii to refine their effective temperatures, luminosities, and metallicities. We use these revised values to calibrate spectroscopic techniques to infer the fundamental parameters of more distant late-type dwarf stars. We demonstrate that, after masking out poorly modeled regions, the newest version of the PHOENIX atmosphere models accurately reproduce temperatures derived bolometrically. We apply methods to late-type hosts of transiting planet candidates in the Kepler field, and calculate effective temperature, radius, mass, and luminosity with typical errors of 57?K, 7%, 11%, and 13%, respectively. We find systematic offsets between our values and those from previous analyses of the same stars, which we attribute to differences in atmospheric models utilized for each study. We investigate which of the planets in this sample are likely to orbit in the circumstellar habitable zone. We determine that four candidate planets (KOI 854.01, 1298.02, 1686.01, and 2992.01) are inside of or within 1? of a conservative definition of the habitable zone, but that several planets identified by previous analyses are not (e.g., KOI 1422.02 and KOI 2626.01). Only one of the four habitable-zone planets is Earth sized, suggesting a downward revision in the occurrence of such planets around M dwarfs. These findings highlight the importance of measuring accurate stellar parameters when deriving parameters of their orbiting planets.

PROSPECTING IN LATE-TYPE DWARFS: A CALIBRATION OF INFRARED AND VISIBLE SPECTROSCOPIC METALLICITIES OF LATE K AND M DWARFS SPANNING 1.5 dex

Knowledge of late K and M dwarf metallicities can be used to guide planet searches and constrain planet formation models. However, the determination of metallicities of late-type stars is difficult because visible wavelength spectra of their cool atmospheres contain many overlapping absorption lines, preventing the measurement of equivalent widths. We present new methods, and improved calibrations of existing methods, to determine metallicities of late K and M dwarfs from moderate resolution (1300 –0.5, but are less useful for more metal-poor stars.

Transit Analysis Package: An IDL Graphical User Interface for Exoplanet Transit Photometry

We present an IDL graphical user-interface-driven software package designed for the analysis of exoplanet transit light curves. The Transit Analysis Package (TAP) software uses Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) techniques to fit light curves using the analytic model of Mandal and Agol (2002). The package incorporates a wavelet-based likelihood function developed by Carter and Winn (2009), which allows the MCMC to assess parameter uncertainties more robustly than classic X^2 methods by parameterizing uncorrelated “white” and correlated “red” noise. The software is able to simultaneously analyze multiple transits observed in different conditions (instrument, filter, weather, etc.). The graphical interface allows for the simple execution and interpretation of Bayesian MCMC analysis tailored to a user’s specific data set and has been thoroughly tested on ground-based and Kepler photometry. This paper describes the software release and provides applications to new and existing data. Reanalysis of ground-based observations of TrES-1b, WASP-4b, and WASP-10b (Winn et al., 2007, 2009; Johnson et al., 2009; resp.) and space-based Kepler 4b–8b (Kipping and Bakos 2010) show good agreement between TAP and those publications. We also present new multi-filter light curves of WASP-10b and we find excellent agreement with previously published values for a smaller radius.

Trumpeting M dwarfs with CONCH-SHELL: a catalogue of nearby cool host-stars for habitable exoplanets and life

We present an all-sky catalog of 2970 nearby (d . 50 pc), bright (J < 9) M- or late Ktype dwarf stars, 86% of which have been confirmed by spectroscopy. This catalog will be useful for searches for Earth-size and possibly Earth-like planets by future spacebased transit missions and ground-based infrared Doppler radial velocity surveys. Stars were selected from the SUPERBLINK proper motion catalog according to absolute magnitudes, spectra, or a combination of reduced proper motions and photometric colors. From our spectra we determined gravity-sensitive indices, and identified and removed 0.2% of these as interloping hotter or evolved stars. Thirteen percent of the stars exhibit Hα emission, an indication of stellar magnetic activity and possible youth. The mean metallicity is [Fe/H] = -0.07 with a standard deviation of 0.22 dex, similar to nearby solar-type stars. We determined stellar effective temperatures by least-squares fitting of spectra to model predictions calibrated by fits to stars with established bolometric temperatures, and estimated radii, luminosities, and masses using empirical relations. Six percent of stars with images from integral field spectra are resolved doubles. We inferred the planet population around M dwarfs using Kepler data and applied this to our catalog to predict detections by future exoplanet surveys.

A Disk around the Planetary-mass Companion GSC?06214-00210?b: Clues about the Formation of Gas Giants on Wide Orbits

We present Keck OSIRIS 1.1-1.8 ?m adaptive optics integral field spectroscopy of the planetary-mass companion to GSC 06214-00210, a member of the ~5?Myr Upper Scorpius OB association. We infer a spectral type of L0 ? 1, and our spectrum exhibits multiple signs of youth. The most notable feature is exceptionally strong Pa? emission (EW = ?11.4 ? 0.3 ?), which signals the presence of a circumplanetary accretion disk. The luminosity of GSC?06214-00210?b combined with its age yields a model-dependent mass of 14 ? 2 M Jup, making it the lowest-mass companion to show evidence of a disk. With a projected separation of 320?AU, the formation of GSC?06214-00210?b and other very low mass companions on similarly wide orbits is unclear. One proposed mechanism is formation at close separations followed by planet-planet scattering to much larger orbits. Since that scenario involves a close encounter with another massive body, which is probably destructive to circumplanetary disks, it is unlikely that GSC?06214-00210?b underwent a scattering event in the past. This implies that planet-planet scattering is not solely responsible for the population of gas giants on wide orbits. More generally, the identification of disks around young planetary companions on wide orbits offers a novel method to constrain the formation pathway of these objects, which is otherwise notoriously difficult to do for individual systems. We also refine the spectral type of the primary from M1 to K7 and detect a mild (2?) excess at 22 ?m using Wide-Field Infrared Survey Explorer photometry.

76 T dwarfs from the UKIDSS LAS: benchmarks, kinematics and an updated space density

We report the discovery of 76 new T dwarfs from the UKIRT Infrared Deep Sky Survey (UKIDSS) Large Area Survey (LAS). Near-infrared broad- and narrow-band photometry and spectroscopy are presented for the new objects, along with Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) and warm-Spitzer photometry. Proper motions for 128 UKIDSS T dwarfs are presented from a new two epoch LAS proper motion catalogue. We use these motions to identify two new benchmark systems: LHS 6176AB, a T8p+M4 pair and HD 118865AB, a T5.5+F8 pair. Using age constraints from the primaries and evolutionary models to constrain the radii, we have estimated their physical properties from their bolometric luminosity. We compare the colours and properties of known benchmark T dwarfs to the latest model atmospheres and draw two principal conclusions. First, it appears that the H - [4.5] and J - W2 colours are more sensitive to metallicity than has previously been recognized, such that differences in metallicity may dominate over differences in T-eff when considering relative properties of cool objects using these colours. Secondly, the previously noted apparent dominance of young objects in the late-T dwarf sample is no longer apparent when using the new model grids and the expanded sample of late-T dwarfs and benchmarks. This is supported by the apparently similar distribution of late-T dwarfs and earlier type T dwarfs on reduced proper motion diagrams that we present. Finally, we present updated space densities for the late-T dwarfs, and compare our values to simulation predictions and those from WISE.

Stellar diameters and temperatures – VI. High angular resolution measurements of the transiting exoplanet host stars HD 189733 and HD 209458 and implications for models of cool dwarfs

We present direct radii measurements of the well-known transiting exoplanet host stars HD 189733 and HD 209458 using the CHARA Array interferometer. We find the limbdarkened angular diameters to be θLD = 0.3848 ± 0.0055 and 0.2254 ± 0.0072 mas for HD 189733 and HD 209458, respectively. HD 189733 and HD 209458 are currently the only two transiting exoplanet systems where detection of the respective planetary companion’s orbital motion from high-resolution spectroscopy has revealed absolute masses for both star and planet. We use our new measurements together with the orbital information from radial velocity and photometric time series data, Hipparcos distances, and newly measured bolometric fluxes to determine the stellar effective temperatures (Teff = 4875 ± 43, 6092 ± 103K), stellar linearradii(R∗ =0.805 ±0.016,1.203 ±0.061R� ),meanstellardensities(ρ∗ =1.62 ±0.11, 0.58 ± 0.14 ρ� ), planetary radii (Rp = 1.216 ± 0.024, 1.451 ± 0.074 RJup), and mean planetary densities (ρp = 0.605 ± 0.029, 0.196 ± 0.033 ρJup) for HD 189733b and HD 209458b, respectively. The stellar parameters for HD 209458, an F9 dwarf, are consistent with indirect estimates derived from spectroscopic and evolutionary modelling. However, we find that models are unable to reproduce the observational results for the K2 dwarf, HD 189733. We show that, for stellar evolutionary models to match the observed stellar properties of HD 189733, adjustments lowering the solar-calibrated mixing-length parameter to αMLT =1.34 need to be