Gustavo F. Porto de Mello

Astrobiologically Interesting Stars Within 10 Parsecs of the Sun

The existence of life based on carbon chemistry and water oceans relies upon planetary properties, chiefly climate stability, and stellar properties, such as mass, age, metallicity, and galactic orbits. The latter can be well constrained with present knowledge. We present a detailed, up-to-date compilation of the atmospheric parameters, chemical composition, multiplicity, and degree of chromospheric activity for the astrobiologically interesting solar-type stars within 10 parsecs of the Sun. We determined their state of evolution, masses, ages, and space velocities, and produced an optimized list of candidates that merit serious scientific consideration by the future space-based interferometry probes aimed at directly detecting Earthsized extrasolar planets and seeking spectroscopic infrared biomarkers as evidence of photosynthetic life. The initially selected stars number 33 solar-type within the total population (excluding some incompleteness for late M-dwarfs) of 182 stars closer than 10 parsecs. A com...

VERY LOW MASS STELLAR AND SUBSTELLAR COMPANIONS TO SOLAR-LIKE STARS FROM MARVELS. II. A SHORT-PERIOD COMPANION ORBITING AN F STAR WITH EVIDENCE OF A STELLAR TERTIARY AND SIGNIFICANT MUTUAL INCLINATION

We report the discovery via radial velocity (RV) measurements of a short-period (P = 2.430420 ± 0.000006 days) companion to the F-type main-sequence star TYC 2930-00872-1. A long-term trend in the RV data also suggests the presence of a tertiary stellar companion with P > 2000 days. High-resolution spectroscopy of the host star yields T_(eff) = 6427 ± 33 K, log g = 4.52 ± 0.14, and [Fe/H] = –0.04 ± 0.05. These parameters, combined with the broadband spectral energy distribution (SED) and a parallax, allow us to infer a mass and radius of the host star of M_1 = 1.21 ± 0.08 M_☉ and R_1 = 1.09^(+0.15)_(–0.13) R_☉. The minimum mass of the inner companion is below the hydrogen-burning limit; however, the true mass is likely to be substantially higher. We are able to exclude transits of the inner companion with high confidence. Further, the host star spectrum exhibits a clear signature of Ca H and K core emission, indicating stellar activity, but a lack of photometric variability and small v sin I suggest that the primarys spin axis is oriented in a pole-on configuration. The rotational period of the primary estimated through an activity-rotation relation matches the orbital period of the inner companion to within 1.5 σ, suggesting that the primary and inner companion are tidally locked. If the inner companions orbital angular momentum vector is aligned with the stellar spin axis as expected through tidal evolution, then it has a stellar mass of ~0.3-0.4 M_☉. Direct imaging limits the existence of stellar companions to projected separations <30 AU. No set of spectral lines and no significant flux contribution to the SED from either companion are detected, which places individual upper mass limits of M_([2,3]) ≾ 1.0 M_☉, provided they are not stellar remnants. If the tertiary is not a stellar remnant, then it likely has a mass of ~0.5-0.6 M_☉, and its orbit is likely significantly inclined from that of the secondary, suggesting that the Kozai-Lidov mechanism may have driven the dynamical evolution of this system.

A Cautionary Tale: MARVELS Brown Dwarf Candidate Reveals Itself to be a Very Long Period, Highly Eccentric Spectroscopic Stellar Binary

We report the discovery of a highly eccentric, double-lined spectroscopic binary star system (TYC 3010-1494-1), comprising two solar-type stars that we had initially identified as a single star with a brown dwarf companion. At the moderate resolving power of the MARVELS spectrograph and the spectrographs used for subsequent radial-velocity (RV) measurements (R ≾ 30,000), this particular stellar binary mimics a single-lined binary with an RV signal that would be induced by a brown dwarf companion (Msin i ~ 50 M _(Jup)) to a solar-type primary. At least three properties of this system allow it to masquerade as a single star with a very-low-mass companion: its large eccentricity (e ~ 0.8), its relatively long period (P ~ 238 days), and the approximately perpendicular orientation of the semi-major axis with respect to the line of sight (ω ~ 189°). As a result of these properties, for ~95% of the orbit the two sets of stellar spectral lines are completely blended, and the RV measurements based on centroiding on the apparently single-lined spectrum is very well fit by an orbit solution indicative of a brown dwarf companion on a more circular orbit (e ~ 0.3). Only during the ~5% of the orbit near periastron passage does the true, double-lined nature and large RV amplitude of ~15 km s^(–1) reveal itself. The discovery of this binary system is an important lesson for RV surveys searching for substellar companions; at a given resolution and observing cadence, a survey will be susceptible to these kinds of astrophysical false positives for a range of orbital parameters. Finally, for surveys like MARVELS that lack the resolution for a useful line bisector analysis, it is imperative to monitor the peak of the cross-correlation function for suspicious changes in width or shape, so that such false positives can be flagged during the candidate vetting process.

VERY LOW MASS STELLAR AND SUBSTELLAR COMPANIONS TO SOLAR-LIKE STARS FROM MARVELS. IV. A CANDIDATE BROWN DWARF OR LOW-MASS STELLAR COMPANION TO HIP 67526

We report the discovery of a candidate brown dwarf (BD) or a very low mass stellar companion (MARVELS-5b) to the star HIP 67526 from the Multi-object Apache point observatory Radial Velocity Exoplanet Large-area Survey (MARVELS). The radial velocity curve for this object contains 31 epochs spread over 2.5 yr. Our Keplerian fit, using a Markov Chain Monte Carlo approach, reveals that the companion has an orbital period of 90.2695^(+0.0188)_(-0.0187) days, an eccentricity of 0.4375 ± 0.0040, and a semi-amplitude of 2948.14^(+16.65)_(-16.55)m s^(–1). Using additional high-resolution spectroscopy, we find the host star has an effective temperature T_(eff) = 6004 ± 34 K, a surface gravity log g (cgs) =4.55 ± 0.17, and a metallicity [Fe/H] =+0.04 ± 0.06. The stellar mass and radius determined through the empirical relationship of Torres et al. yields 1.10 ± 0.09 M_☉ and 0.92 ± 0.19 R_☉. The minimum mass of MARVELS-5b is 65.0 ± 2.9M_(Jup), indicating that it is likely to be either a BD or a very low mass star, thus occupying a relatively sparsely populated region of the mass function of companions to solar-type stars. The distance to this system is 101 ± 10 pc from the astrometric measurements of Hipparcos. No stellar tertiary is detected in the high-contrast images taken by either FastCam lucky imaging or Keck adaptive optics imaging, ruling out any star with mass greater than 0.2 M_☉ at a separation larger than 40 AU.

Exploring the brown dwarf desert : new substellar companions from the SDSS-III MARVELS survey

Planet searches using the radial velocity technique show a paucity of companions to solar-type stars within ~5 AU in the mass range of ~10 - 80 M

On The Physical Existence of The Zeta Reticuli Moving Group: A Chemical Composition Analysis

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The age of the Galactic thin disk from Th/Eu nucleocosmochronology: extended sample

. This deficit, known as the brown dwarf desert, currently has no conclusive explanation. New substellar companions in this region help asses the reality of the desert and provide insight to the formation and evolution of these objects. Here we present 10 new brown dwarf and two low-mass stellar companion candidates around solar-type stars from the Multi-object APO Radial-Velocity Exoplanet Large-Area Survey (MARVELS) of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey III (SDSS-III). These companions were selected from processed MARVELS data using the latest University of Florida Two Dimensional (UF2D) pipeline, which shows significant improvement and reduction of systematic errors over previous pipelines. The 10 brown dwarf companions range in mass from ~13 to 76 M

The astrobiology primer: an outline of general knowledge--version 1, 2006.

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MARVELS-1: A FACE-ON DOUBLE-LINED BINARY STAR MASQUERADING AS A RESONANT PLANETARY SYSTEM AND CONSIDERATION OF RARE FALSE POSITIVES IN RADIAL VELOCITY PLANET SEARCHES

and have orbital radii of less than 1 AU. The two stellar companions have minimum masses of ~98 and 100 M

ACCURATE ATMOSPHERIC PARAMETERS AT MODERATE RESOLUTION USING SPECTRAL INDICES: PRELIMINARY APPLICATION TO THE MARVELS SURVEY*

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