Canada France Research Articles

Exoplanet science with SPIRou: near-infrared precision velocimetry and spectropolarimetry

High-precision radial-velocity measurements in the near-infrared allow one to search for exoplanet signals around the lowest-mass stars, including young ones. Because these stars can be among the most active ones, it is essential to characterize their magnetic activity. SPIRou, installed at the Canada–France–Hawai’i telescope, was designed to explore such planetary systems and characterize their properties. With a wide spectral range and large resolving power, SPIRou is also optimized for transmission spectroscopy and for investigating the chemical composition of exoplanetary atmospheres.

The role of tidal interactions in the formation of slowly rotating early-type stars in young star clusters

ABSTRACT The split main sequences found in the colour–magnitude diagrams of star clusters younger than ∼600 Myr are suggested to be caused by the dichotomy of stellar rotation rates of upper main-sequence stars. Tidal interactions have been suggested as a possible explanation of the dichotomy of the stellar rotation rates. This hypothesis proposes that the slow rotation rates of stars along the split main sequences are caused by tidal interactions in binaries. To test this scenario, we measured the variations in the radial velocities of slowly rotating stars along the split main sequence of the young Galactic cluster NGC 2422 (∼90 Myr) using spectra obtained at multiple epochs with the Canada–France–Hawai’i Telescope. Our results show that most slowly rotating stars are not radial velocity variables. Using the theory of dynamical tides, we find that the binary separations necessary to fully or partially synchronize our spectroscopic targets, on time-scales shorter than the cluster age, predict much larger radial velocity variations across multiple-epoch observations, or a much larger radial velocity dispersion at a single epoch, than the observed values. This indicates that tidal interactions are not the dominant mechanism to form slowly rotating stars along the split main sequences. As the observations of the rotation velocity distribution among B- and A-type stars in binaries of larger separations hint at a much stronger effect of braking with age, we discuss the consequences of relaxing the constraints of the dynamical tides theory.

High-resolution Transmission Spectroscopy of the Terrestrial Exoplanet GJ 486b

Terrestrial exoplanets orbiting M-dwarf stars are promising targets for transmission spectroscopy with existing or near-future instrumentation. The atmospheric composition of such rocky planets remains an open question, especially given the high X-ray and ultraviolet flux from their host M dwarfs that can drive atmospheric escape. The 1.3 R ⊕ exoplanet GJ 486b (T eq ∼ 700 K), orbiting an M3.5 star, is expected to have one of the strongest transmission spectroscopy signals among known terrestrial exoplanets. We observed three transits of GJ 486b using three different high-resolution spectrographs: IRD on Subaru, IGRINS on Gemini-South, and SPIRou on the Canada–France–Hawai’i Telescope. We searched for atmospheric absorption from a wide variety of molecular species via the cross-correlation method, but did not detect any robust atmospheric signals. Nevertheless, our observations are sufficiently sensitive to rule out several clear atmospheric scenarios via injection and recovery tests, and extend comparative exoplanetology into the terrestrial regime. Our results suggest that GJ 486b does not possess a clear H2/He-dominated atmosphere, nor a clear 100% water-vapor atmosphere. Other secondary atmospheres with high mean molecular weights or H2/He-dominated atmospheres with clouds remain possible. Our findings provide further evidence suggesting that terrestrial planets orbiting M-dwarf stars may experience significant atmospheric loss.

A Machine-learning Approach to Integral Field Unit Spectroscopy Observations. III. Disentangling Multiple Components in H ii Regions

Abstract In the first two papers of this series, we demonstrated the dynamism of machine learning applied to optical spectral analysis by using neural networks to extract kinematic parameters and emission-line ratios directly from the spectra observed by the SITELLE instrument located at the Canada–France–Hawai’i Telescope. In this third installment, we develop a framework using a convolutional neural network trained on synthetic spectra to determine the number of line-of-sight components present in the SN3 filter (656–683 nm) spectral range of SITELLE. We compare this methodology to standard practice using Bayesian inference. Our results demonstrate that a neural network approach returns more accurate results and uses fewer computational resources over a range of spectral resolutions. Furthermore, we apply the network to SITELLE observations of the merging galaxy system NGC 2207/IC 2163. We find that the closest interacting sector and the central regions of the galaxies are best characterized by two line-of-sight components while the outskirts and spiral arms are well-constrained by a single component. Determining the number of resolvable components is crucial in disentangling different galactic components in merging systems and properly extracting their respective kinematics.

The History of Canada or New France

The History of Canada or New France

The History of Canada or New France. 2 vols

The History of Canada or New France. 2 vols