B. D. Carter

Catalog of Nearby Exoplanets

We present a catalog of nearby exoplanets. It contains the 172 known low-mass companions with orbits established through radial velocity and transit measurements around stars within 200 pc. We include five previously unpublished exoplanets orbiting the stars HD 11964, HD 66428, HD 99109, HD 107148, and HD 164922. We update orbits for 83 additional exoplanets, including many whose orbits have not been revised since their announcement, and include radial velocity time series from the Lick, Keck, and Anglo-Australian Observatory planet searches. Both these new and previously published velocities are more precise here due to improvements in our data reduction pipeline, which we applied to archival spectra. We present a brief summary of the global properties of the known exoplanets, including their distributions of orbital semimajor axis, minimum mass, and orbital eccentricity.

Four New Exoplanets and Hints of Additional Substellar Companions to Exoplanet Host Stars

We present four new exoplanets: HIP 14810b and HIP 14810c, HD 154345b, and HD 187123c. The two planets orbiting HIP 14810, from the N2K project, have masses of 3.9 and 0.76 M_J. We have searched the radial velocity time series of 90 known exoplanet systems and found new residual trends due to additional, long period companions. Two stars known to host one exoplanet have sufficient curvature in the residuals to a one planet fit to constrain the minimum mass of the outer companion to be substellar: HD 68988c with 8 M_J 8 yr. We have also searched the velocity residuals of known exoplanet systems for prospective low-amplitude exoplanets and present some candidates. We discuss techniques for constraining the mass and period of exoplanets in such cases, and for quantifying the significance of weak RV signals. We also present two substellar companions with incomplete orbits and periods longer than 8 yr: HD 24040b and HD 154345b with m sin i < 20 M_J and m sin i < 10 M_J, respectively.

A planetary system around the nearby M dwarf GJ 667C with at least one super-earth in its habitable zone

We re-analyze 4 years of HARPS spectra of the nearby M1.5 dwarf GJ 667C available through the European Southern Observatory public archive. The new radial velocity (RV) measurements were obtained using a new data analysis technique that derives the Doppler measurement and other instrumental effects using a least-squares approach. Combining these new 143 measurements with 41 additional RVs from the Magellan/Planet Finder Spectrograph and Keck/High Resolution Echelle Spectrometer spectrometers reveals three additional signals beyond the previously reported 7.2 day candidate, with periods of 28 days, 75 days, and a secular trend consistent with the presence of a gas giant (period ~10 years). The 28 day signal implies a planet candidate with a minimum mass of 4.5 M ⊕ orbiting well within the canonical definition of the stars liquid water habitable zone (HZ), that is, the region around the star at which an Earth-like planet could sustain liquid water on its surface. Still, the ultimate water supporting capability of this candidate depends on properties that are unknown such as its albedo, atmospheric composition, and interior dynamics. The 75 day signal is less certain, being significantly affected by aliasing interactions among a potential 91 day signal, and the likely rotation period of the star at 105 days detected in two activity indices. GJ 667C is the common proper motion companion to the GJ 667AB binary, which is metal-poor compared to the Sun. The presence of a super-Earth in the HZ of a metal-poor M dwarf in a triple star system supports the evidence that such worlds should be ubiquitous in the Galaxy.

A super-earth and two Neptunes orbiting the nearby sun-like star 61 Virginis

We present precision radial velocity data that reveal a multiple exoplanet system orbiting the bright nearby G5V star 61 Virginis. Our 4.6 years of combined Keck/HIRES and Anglo-Australian Telescope precision radial velocities indicate the hitherto unknown presence of at least three planets orbiting this well-studied star. These planets are all on low-eccentricity orbits with periods of 4.2, 38.0, and 124.0 days, and projected masses (Msin i) of 5.1, 18.2, and 24.0 M ⊕, respectively. Test integrations of systems consistent with the radial velocity data suggest that the configuration is dynamically stable. Depending on the effectiveness of tidal dissipation within the inner planet, the inner two planets may have evolved into an eccentricity fixed-point configuration in which the apsidal lines of all three planets corotate. This conjecture can be tested with additional observations. We present a 16-year time series of photometric observations of 61 Virginis, which comprise 1194 individual measurements, and indicate that it has excellent photometric stability. No significant photometric variations at the periods of the proposed planets have been detected. This new system is the first known example of a G-type Sun-like star hosting a Super-Earth mass planet. It joins HD 75732 (55 Cnc), HD 69830, GJ 581, HD 40307, and GJ 876 in a growing group of exoplanet systems that have multiple planets orbiting with periods less than an Earth-year. The ubiquity of such systems portends that space-based transit-search missions such as Kepler and CoRoT will find many multi-transiting systems.

The 2:1 resonant exoplanetary system orbiting HD 73526

WereportthedetectionofasecondexoplanetorbitingtheG6VdwarfHD73526.Thissecondplanethasanorbital period of 377 days, putting it in a 2:1 resonance with the previously known exoplanet, the orbital period for which is updated to 188 days. Dynamical modeling of the combined system allows solution for a self-consistent set of orbital elementsforbothcomponents.HD73526isthefourthexoplanetarysystem(ofatotalof18systemswithtwoormore components currently known) to have components detected in 2:1 resonance. Finding such a large fraction of multipleplanets(morethan20%)in2:1resonancestronglysuggeststhatorbitalmigration,haltedbystabilizationina trapping resonance, plays an important role in the evolution of exoplanets in multiple planet systems. Subject headingg planetary systems — stars: individual (HD 73526)

An activity catalogue of southern stars

We have acquired high-resolution echelle spectra of 225 F6-M5 type stars in the southern hemisphere. The stars are targets or candidates to be targets for the AngloAustralian Planet Search. CaII HK line cores were used to derive activity indices for all of these objects. The indices were converted to the Mt. Wilson system of measurements . .

Surface magnetic fields on two accreting T Tauri stars: CV Cha and CR Cha

We have produced brightness and magnetic field maps of the surfaces of CV Cha and CR Cha: two actively accreting G- and K-type T Tauri stars in the Chamaeleon I star-forming cloud with ages of 3–5 Myr. Our magnetic field maps show evidence for strong, complex multipolar fields similar to those obtained for young rapidly rotating main-sequence stars. Brightness maps indicate the presence of dark polar caps and low-latitude spots – these brightness maps are very similar to those obtained for other pre-main-sequence and rapidly rotating main-sequence stars. Only two other classical T Tauri stars have been studied using similar techniques so far: V2129 Oph and BP Tau. CV Cha and CR Cha show magnetic field patterns that are significantly more complex than those recovered for BP Tau, a fully convective T Tauri star. We discuss possible reasons for this difference and suggest that the complexity of the stellar magnetic field is related to the convection zone; with more complex fields being found in T Tauri stars with radiative cores (V2129 Oph, CV Cha and CR Cha). However, it is clearly necessary to conduct magnetic field studies of T Tauri star systems, exploring a wide range of stellar parameters in order to establish how they affect magnetic field generation, and thus how these magnetic fields are likely to affect the evolution of T Tauri star systems as they approach the main sequence.

A BCool magnetic snapshot survey of solar-type stars

We present the results of a major high-resolution spectropolarimetric BCool project magnetic survey of 170 solar-type stars. Surface magnetic fields were detected on 67 stars, with 21 classified as mature solar-type stars, a result that increases by a factor of 4 the number of mature solar-type stars on which magnetic fields have been observed. In addition, a magnetic fieldwasdetectedfor3outof18ofthesubgiantstarssurveyed.ForthepopulationofK-dwarfs, the mean value of |Bl| (|Bl|mean) was also found to be higher (5.7 G) than |Bl|mean measured for the G-dwarfs (3.2 G) and the F-dwarfs (3.3 G). For the sample as a whole, |Bl|mean increases with rotation rate and decreases with age, and the upper envelope for |Bl| correlates well with the observed chromospheric emission. Stars with a chromospheric S-index greater than about 0.2 show a high magnetic field detection rate and so offer optimal targets for future studies. This survey constitutes the most extensive spectropolarimetric survey of cool stars undertaken to date, and suggests that it is feasible to pursue magnetic mapping of a wide range of moderately active solar-type stars to improve our understanding of their surface fields and

High-eccentricity planets from the Anglo-Australian Planet Search

We report Doppler measurements of the stars HD 187085 and HD 20782 which indicate two high eccentricity low-mass companions to the stars. We find HD 187085 has a Jupiter-mass companion with a �1000 d orbit. Our formal ‘best fit’ solution suggests an eccentricity of 0.47, however, it does not sample the periastron passage of the companion and we find that orbital solutions with eccentricities between 0.1 and 0.8 give only slightly poorer fits (based on RMS and � 2) and are thus plausible. Observations made during periastron passage in 2007 June should allow for the reliable determination of the orbital eccentricity for the companion to HD 187085. Our dataset for HD 20782 does sample periastron and so the orbit for its companion can be more reliably determined. We find the companion to HD 20782 has M sin i = 1.77±0.22 MJup, an orbital period of 595.86±0.03 d and an orbit with an eccentricity of 0.92±0.03. The detection of such high-eccentricity (and relatively low velocity amplitude) exoplanets appears to be facilitated by the long-term precision of the Anglo-Australian Planet Search. Looking at exoplanet detections as a whole, we find that those with higher eccentricity seem to have relatively higher velocity amplitudes indicating higher mass planets and/or an observational bias against the detection of high eccentricity systems.

On the Double-Planet System around HD 83443

The Geneva group has reported two Saturn-mass planets orbiting HD 83443 (K0 V) with periods of 2.98 and 29.8 days. The two planets have raised interest in their dynamics because of the possible 10 : 1 orbital resonance and the strong gravitational interactions. We report precise Doppler measurements of HD 83443 obtained with the Keck/HIRES and the Anglo-Australian Telescope (AAT) UCLES spectrometers. These measurements strongly confirm the inner planet with a period of 2.985 days, with orbital parameters in very good agreement with those of the Geneva group. However, these Doppler measurements show no evidence of the outer planet, at thresholds of one-fourth (3 m s � 1 ) of the reported velocity amplitude of 13.8 m s � 1 . Thus, the existence of the outer planet is in question. Indeed, the current Doppler measurements reveal no evidence of any second planet with a period less than a year. Subject headings: planetary systems — stars: individual (HD 83443)