Abstract

Measuring the stellar rotation of one of the components in eclipsing binaries (EBs) or planetary systems is a challenging task. The difficulty is mainly due to the complexity of analyzing, in the same light curve, the signal from the stellar rotation mixed with the transit signal of a stellar or sub-stellar companion, like a brown dwarf or planet. There are many methods to correct the long-term trend of the light curve. However, the correction often erases the signal of the stellar rotation from spots crossing the visible stellar disk and other weaker signals like planets. In this work, we present the DiffeRencial flUx Method of cuTting Off biNariES (DRUM TONES) to identify the signal of the binary transits and disentangle it from stellar rotation planet signals. We present our technique with applications to EBs from CoRoT, Kepler, Kepler K2 and TESS missions. We also applied our method to simulated synthetic EB from the PLATO mission. Our method shows good agreement in the determination of stellar rotation periods for few observed targets from last space missions, as well it is naturally useful for future European missions, such as PLAnetary Transits and Oscillations of stars (PLATO).

Highlights

  • Disentangle the transit signal of a binary or a planet from the stellar signal, for example, is essential to the study of stellar rotation and to better understanding the stellar variability

  • Our method shows good agreement in the determination of stellar rotation periods for few observed targets from last space missions, as well it is naturally useful for future European mission, such as PLAnetary Transits and Oscillations of stars (PLATO)

  • While the measurement of the orbital period of eclipsing binaries (EBs) is relatively easy, the determination of the rotation period of one of the components is a challenge task. This is due to the difficulty to distinguish the transit signals and general trends of the light curve from the signal of spots modulation from the star. These general trends are the sum of instrumental artifacts and systematic trends that are characteristic of each instrument and can cause false positive modulations on the light curve, and an automatic pipeline can interpret this as planet transit or modulation due to spots

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Summary

Introduction

Disentangle the transit signal of a binary or a planet from the stellar signal, for example, is essential to the study of stellar rotation and to better understanding the stellar variability. PLATO is Expected to be launched by the end 2026 This mission will focus on finding photometric transit signatures of Earth-like planets orbiting the habitable zone of main-sequence Sun-like stars, besides the exoplanetary transits, thousand of eclipsing binaries will be observed. This is a preparatory study to measure stellar rotation for stars with companions and to be applied to light curves from CoRoT, Kepler, TESS as well to the PLATO mission (ESA)

Eclipsing binaries light curve
Space Missions applications
CoRoT Mission
Kepler and K2 Mission
TESS Mission
PLATO Mission
Findings
Summary and conclusion
Full Text
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