Photometric Orbits of Extrasolar Planets
نویسنده
چکیده
We define and analyze the photometric orbit (PhO) of an extrasolar planet observed in reflected light. In our definition, the PhO is a keplerian entity with six parameters: semimajor axis, eccentricity, mean anomaly at some particular time, argument of periastron, inclination angle, and effective radius, which is the square root of the geometric albedo times the planetary radius. Preliminarily, we assume a Lambertian phase function. We study in detail a case of short-period giant planets (SPGPs) and observational parameters relevant to the Kepler mission: 20 ppm photometry with normal errors, 6.5 hour cadence, and three-year duration. We define a relevant “planetary population of interest” in terms of probability distributions of the PhO parameters. We perform Monte Carlo experiments to estimate the ability to detect planets and to recover PhO parameters from light curves. We calibrate the completeness of the periodogram search technique, and find structure caused by degeneracy. We recover full orbital solutions from synthetic Kepler data sets and estimate the median errors in recovered PhO parameters. We treat in depth a marginal case of a Jupiter body-double. For the stated assumptions, we find that Kepler should obtain robust orbital solutions most or all of the 100–760 SPGP that Jenkins & Doyle (2003) estimate Kepler will discover. Because most or all of these discoveries will be followed up by ground-based radial-velocity observations, the estimates of inclination angle from the PhO should enable the calculation of true companion masses: Kepler photometry should break the “m sin i” degeneracy. Subject headings: techniques: radial velocities—techniques: photometric—planetary systems
منابع مشابه
Impact of Orbital Eccentricity on the Detection of Transiting Extrasolar Planets
For extrasolar planets with orbital periods, P>10 days, radial velocity surveys find non-circular orbital eccentricities are common, 〈e〉 ∼ 0.3. Future surveys for extrasolar planets using the transit technique will also have sensitivity to detect these longer period planets. Orbital eccentricity affects the detection of extrasolar planets using the transit technique in two opposing ways: an enh...
متن کاملCharacterizing the Orbital Eccentricities of Transiting Extrasolar Planets with Photometric Observations
The discovery of over 200 extrasolar planets with the radial velocity (RV) technique has revealed that many giant planets have large eccentricities, in striking contrast with most of the planets in the solar system and prior theories of planet formation. The realization that many giant planets have large eccentricities raises a fundamental question: “Do terrestrial-size planets of other stars t...
متن کاملInterpreting and predicting the yield of transit surveys: Giant planets in the OGLE fields
Transiting extrasolar planets are now discovered jointly by photometric surveys and by radial velocimetry, allowing measurements of their radius and mass. We want to determine whether the different data sets are compatible between themselves and with models of the evolution of extrasolar planets. We further want to determine whether to expect a population of dense Jupiter-mass planets to be det...
متن کاملDynamical Instabilities in Extrasolar Planetary Systems
Instabilities and strong dynamical interactions between multiple giant planets have been proposed as a possible explanation for the surprising orbital properties of extrasolar planetary systems. In particular, dynamical instabilities seem to provide a natural mechanism for producing the highly eccentric orbits seen in many systems. Previously, we performed numerical integrations for the dynamic...
متن کاملO ct 2 00 1 Excitation of Orbital Eccentricities of Extrasolar Planets by Repeated Resonance Crossings
Orbits of known extrasolar planets that are located outside the tidal circular-ization regions of their parent stars are often substantially eccentric. By contrast, planetary orbits in our Solar System are approximately circular, reflecting planet formation within a nearly axisymmetric, circumsolar disk. We propose that the remarkable elongations of extrasolar planetary orbits are a consequence...
متن کاملExtrasolar Planet Orbits and Eccentricities
The known extrasolar planets exhibit many interesting and surprising features—extremely shortperiod orbits, high-eccentricity orbits, mean-motion and secular resonances, etc.—and have dramatically expanded our appreciation of the diversity of possible planetary systems. In this review we summarize the orbital properties of extrasolar planets. One of the most remarkable features of extrasolar pl...
متن کامل