Calan-Hertfordshire Extrasolar Planet Search Research Articles

Masses, oxygen, and carbon abundances in CHEPS dwarf stars

Context. We report the results from the determination of stellar masses, carbon, and oxygen abundances in the atmospheres of 107 stars from the Calan-Hertfordshire Extrasolar Planet Search (CHEPS) programme. Our stars are drawn from a population with a significantly super-solar metallicity. At least 10 of these stars are known to host orbiting planets. Aims. In this work, we set out to understand the behaviour of carbon and oxygen abundance in stars with different spectral classes, metallicities, and V sin i within the metal-rich stellar population. Methods. Masses of these stars were determined using data from Gaia DR2. Oxygen and carbon abundances were determined by fitting the absorption lines. We determined oxygen abundances with fits to the 6300.304 Å O I line, and we used 3 lines of the C I atom and 12 lines of the C2 molecule for the determination of carbon abundances. Results. We determine masses and abundances of 107 CHEPS stars. There is no evidence that the [C/O] ratio depends on V sin i or the mass of the star within our constrained range of masses, i.e. 0.82 < M*∕M⊙ < 1.5 and metallicities − 0.27 < [Fe∕H] < +0.39. We also confirm that metal-rich dwarf stars with planets are more carbon rich in comparison with non-planet host stars with a statistical significance of 96%. Conclusions. We find tentative evidence that there is a slight offset to lower abundance and a greater dispersion in oxygen abundances relative to carbon. We interpret this as potentially arising because the production of oxygen is more effective at more metal-poor epochs. We also find evidence that for lower mass stars the angular momentum loss in stars with planets as measured by V sin i is steeper than stars without planets. In general, we find that the fast rotators (V sin i > 5 km s−1) are massive stars.

A detailed study of lithium in 107 CHEPS dwarf stars

Context. We report results from lithium abundance determinations using high resolution spectral analysis of the 107 metal-rich stars from the Calan-Hertfordshire Extrasolar Planet Search programme. Aims. We aim to set out to understand the lithium distribution of the population of stars taken from this survey. Methods. The lithium abundance taking account of non-local thermodynamical equilibrium effects was determined from the fits to the Li I 6708 Å resonance doublet profiles in the observed spectra. Results. We find that a) fast rotators tend to have higher lithium abundances; b) log N(Li) is higher in more massive and hot stars; c) log N(Li) is higher in stars of lower log g; d) stars with the metallicities >0.25 dex do not show the lithium lines in their spectra; e) most of our planet hosts rotate slower; and f) a lower limit of lithium isotopic ratio is 7Li/6Li > 10 in the atmospheres of two stars with planets (SWP) and two non-SWP stars. Conclusions. Measurable lithium abundances were found in the atmospheres of 45 stars located at distances of 20−170 pc from the Sun, for the other 62 stars the upper limits of log N(Li) were computed. We found well defined dependences of lithium abundances on Teff, V sin i, and less pronounced for the log g. In case of V sin i we see two sequences of stars: with measurable lithium and with the upper limit of log N(Li). About 10% of our targets are known to host planets. Only two SWP have notable lithium abundances, so we found a lower proportion of stars with detectable Li among known planet hosts than among stars without planets. However, given the small sample size of our planet-host sample, our analysis does not show any statistically significant differences in the lithium abundance between SWP and stars without known planets.

The metal-rich abundance pattern – spectroscopic properties and abundances for 107 main-sequence stars

We report results from the high resolution spectral analysis of the 107 metal rich (mostly [Fe/H]$\ge$7.67 dex) target stars from the Calan-Hertfordshire Extrasolar Planet Search program observed with HARPS. Using our procedure of finding the best fit to the absorption line profiles in the observed spectra, we measure the abundances of Na, Mg, Al, Si, Ca, Ti, Cr, Mn, Fe, Ni, Cu, and Zn, and we then compare them with known results from different authors. Most of our abundances agree with these works at the level of $\pm$0.05 dex or better for the stars we have in common. However, we do find systematic differences that make direct inferences difficult. Our analysis suggests that the selection of line lists and atomic line data along with the adopted continuum level influence these differences the most. At the same time, we confirm the positive trends of abundances versus metallicity for Na, Mn, Ni, and to a lesser degree, Al. A slight negative trend is observed for Ca, whereas Si and Cr tend to follow iron. Our analysis allows us to determine the positively skewed normal distribution of projected rotational velocities with a maximum peaking at 3 km s$^{-1}$. Finally, we obtained a Gaussian distribution of microturbulent velocities that has a maximum at 1.2 km s$^{-1}$ and a full width at half maximum $\Delta v_{1/2}=$0.35 km s$^{-1}$, indicating that metal rich dwarfs and subgiants in our sample have a very restricted range in microturbulent velocity.

New planetary systems from the Calan–Hertfordshire Extrasolar Planet Search

We report the discovery of eight new giant planets, and updated orbits for four known planets, orbiting dwarf and subgiant stars using the CORALIE, HARPS, and MIKE instruments as part of the Calan-Hertfordshire Extrasolar Planet Search. The planets have masses in the range 1.1-5.4MJs, orbital periods from 40-2900 days, and eccentricities from 0.0-0.6. They include a double-planet system orbiting the most massive star in our sample (HD147873), two eccentric giant planets (HD128356b and HD154672b), and a rare 14 Herculis analogue (HD224538b). We highlight some population correlations from the sample of radial velocity detected planets orbiting nearby stars, including the mass function exponential distribution, confirmation of the growing body of evidence that low-mass planets tend to be found orbiting more metal-poor stars than giant planets, and a possible period-metallicity correlation for planets with masses >0.1MJ, based on a metallicity difference of 0.16 dex between the population of planets with orbital periods less than 100 days and those with orbital periods greater than 100 days.

A HOT URANUS ORBITING THE SUPER METAL-RICH STAR HD 77338 AND THE METALLICITY-MASS CONNECTION

We announce the discovery of a low-mass planet orbiting the super metal-rich K0V star HD77338 as part of our on-going Calan-Hertfordshire Extrasolar Planet Search. The best fit planet solution has an orbital period of 5.7361\pm0.0015 days and with a radial velocity semi-amplitude of only 5.96\pm1.74 m/s, we find a minimum mass of 15.9+4.7-5.3 Me. The best fit eccentricity from this solution is 0.09+0.25-0.09, and we find agreement for this data set using a Bayesian analysis and a periodogram analysis. We measure a metallicity for the star of +0.35\pm0.06 dex, whereas another recent work (Trevisan et al. 2011) finds +0.47\pm0.05 dex. Thus HD77338b is one of the most metal-rich planet host stars known and the most metal-rich star hosting a sub-Neptune mass planet. We searched for a transit signature of HD77338b but none was detected. We also highlight an emerging trend where metallicity and mass seem to correlate at very low masses, a discovery that would be in agreement with the core accretion model of planet formation. The trend appears to show that for Neptune-mass planets and below, higher masses are preferred when the host star is more metal-rich. Also a lower boundary is apparent in the super metal-rich regime where there are no very low-mass planets yet discovered in comparison to the sub-solar metallicity regime. A Monte Carlo analysis shows that this, low-mass planet desert, is statistically significant with the current sample of 36 planets at around the 4.5\sigma\ level. In addition, results from Kepler strengthen the claim for this paucity of the lowest-mass planets in super metal-rich systems. Finally, this discovery adds to the growing population of low-mass planets around low-mass and metal-rich stars and shows that very low-mass planets can now be discovered with a relatively small number of data points using stable instrumentation.

Exoplanet Surveys at Universidad de Chile

AbstractWe present and highlight the first results of the three main exoplanet surveys we are currently conducting at Universidad de Chile: CHEPS, Red Giant Exoplanets (radial velocity), and TraMoS (transit lightcurves). We have several interesting candidates at the Calan-Hertfordshire Extrasolar Planet Search (CHEPS) project, which is aimed at searching for the currently missing southern bright transiting planets at a few m/s radial velocity precision. Using the same technique, we are also characterizing the planetary population in a constrained sample of Red Giant stars. The Transit Monitoring from the South (TraMoS) project is aimed both at improving transit parameters and at detecting any kind of lightcurve variability from several known southern exoplanet systems.

First results from the Calan-Hertfordshire Extrasolar Planet Search: exoplanets and the discovery of an eccentric brown dwarf in the desert★

We report the discovery of a brown dwarf on an eccentric orbit and with a semimajor axis that places it in the brown dwarf desert region around the star HD191760. The star has a spectral type of G3IV/V and a metallicity ([Fe/H]) of 0.29 dex. HD191760 adds to the small number of metal-rich stars with brown dwarf companions. The brown dwarf (HD191760b) is found to have an orbital period of 505.57+/-0.40 days and semimajor axis of 1.35+/-0.01 AU, placing it firmly in the brown dwarf desert. The eccentricity of HD191760b is found to be 0.63+/-0.01, meaning it reaches as close as 0.5 AU from the host star. Dynamical simulations indicate that no inner planets could reside at separations beyond ~0.17 AU due to the disastrous gravity imposed by HD191760b. In addition to these first results we also refine the orbits found for the exoplanets around the stars HD48265, HD143361 and HD154672. All 1-planet solutions are in agreement with those previously published by the Magellan Planet Search.