Engineering Papers⌕ Search

SEARCH · Engineering Papers

Results for “stellar”

Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 775 records · Page 43
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2023

Stellarator Simplification using Permanent Magnets (PM4Stell)

This Report describes the design and prototyping of an array of rare-Earth permanent magnets to form a stellarator. This effort was motivated by the hypothesis that the usage of permanent magnets, rather than electromagnetic coils with complex geometry, could reduce the cost of stellarator construction and thereby make increase the feasibility of the stellarator as a technology for a fusion-based power plant. In this project, we have developed novel methods for specifying the positions, shapes, and polarizations of the magnets in the array, and have developed designs for mounting structures and tooling for assembly. We have also performed detailed finite-element modeling to qualify the accuracy of the magnetic field produced by the magnet array as designed, and to confirm that the structure can withstand the forces between the magnets. We have also developed techniques for measuring the magnetic field produced by the array once constructed, as well as for correcting errors in the field arising from misalignments and offsets within the tolerances for mounting and fabrication. Finally, we have constructed a tabletop prototype of a section of the array to qualify the concept for assembling and mounting magnets within the array.

47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION↗
DOE OSTI2026

Stellarator Theory and Non-Axisymmetric Shaping (Final Technical Report)

Divertors are a critical concept for all magnetically confined fusion systems. The W7-X stellarator has an island divertor as do many of the privately funded stellarator reactor designs, but non-resonant divertors have many advantages, which are defined in the paper OSTI ID: 3021689, “Stellarators with enhanced tritium confinement and edge radiation control” and discussed in OSTI ID: 3021687, 3021688, 3021692, and 3021695. The three basic advantages are: (1) Resilience, the location at which the diverted plasma reaches the walls is insensitive to plasma conditions, unlike island divertors. (2) The width of the region at the plasma edge that flows into the divertor has a controllable width. It can be made sufficiently broad to avoid neutrals impending on the plasma from charge exchanging with high energy plasma particles. The resulting high energy neutrals erode the walls. (3) The controllable width and confinement of non-resonant divertors allow high-Z impurities to be added. The shortness of their confinement time limits their diffusion into the plasma interior. High-Z impurity radiation at the plasma edge seems the only way to sufficiently spread the outcoming power over the walls. The lack of experiments is a major impediment to application of non-resonant divertors, although the small experiment STAR_LITE is being built at Hampton University to study them.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2026

Modeling The Nucleosynthetic Imprint of Stellar Merger Phenomena - Final Technical Report

This DOE CAREER project developed a comprehensive, multi-physics framework for modeling stellar mergers and their observable consequences. The work successfully integrated analytical models, three-dimensional hydrodynamic simulations, stellar evolution calculations, nucleosynthesis, and radiation transport into a unified pipeline. Key scientific advances include demonstrating stellar mergers as a unifying explanation for systems such as Betelgeuse and R Coronae Borealis stars, quantifying merger-driven chemical signatures, and establishing the connection between merger physics and circumstellar environments. A major outcome of the project is the development of SuperLite, an open-source Monte Carlo radiation transport code that enables the generation of synthetic spectra for astrophysical transients. This work bridges dynamical, thermal, and radiative timescales and provides a powerful, DOE-relevant computational framework for interpreting observations of supernovae and related transient phenomena, while also contributing to workforce development through the training of postdoctoral researchers and graduate students.

Chatzopoulos, Emmanouil [Louisiana State Universit↗
DOE OSTI2016

THE SPECTRAL AMPLITUDE OF STELLAR CONVECTION AND ITS SCALING IN THE HIGH-RAYLEIGH-NUMBER REGIME

Convection plays a central role in the dynamics of any stellar interior, and yet its operation remains largely hidden from direct observation. As a result, much of our understanding concerning stellar convection necessarily derives from theoretical and computational models. The Sun is, however, exceptional in that regard. The wealth of observational data afforded by its proximity provides a unique test bed for comparing convection models against observations. When such comparisons are carried out, surprising inconsistencies between those models and observations become apparent. Both photospheric and helioseismic measurements suggest that convection simulations may overestimate convective flow speeds on large spatial scales. Moreover, many solar convection simulations have difficulty reproducing the observed solar differential rotation owing to this apparent overestimation. We present a series of three-dimensional stellar convection simulations designed to examine how the amplitude and spectral distribution of convective flows are established within a star’s interior. While these simulations are nonmagnetic and nonrotating in nature, they demonstrate two robust phenomena. When run with sufficiently high Rayleigh number, the integrated kinetic energy of the convection becomes effectively independent of thermal diffusion, but the spectral distribution of that kinetic energy remains sensitive to both of these quantities. A simulation that has converged to a diffusion-independent value of kinetic energy will divide that energy between spatial scales such that low-wavenumber power is overestimated and high-wavenumber power is underestimated relative to a comparable system possessing higher Rayleigh number. We discuss the implications of these results in light of the current inconsistencies between models and observations.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2016

Triangulum II: A very metal-poor and dynamically hot stellar system

We present a study of the recently discovered compact stellar system Triangulum II. From observations conducted with the DEIMOS spectrograph on Keck II, we obtained spectra for 13 member stars that follow the CMD features of this very faint stellar system and include two bright red giant branch stars. Tri II has a very negative radial velocity (〈v{sub r}〉=−383.7{sub −3.3}{sup +3.0} km s{sup −1}) that translates to 〈v{sub r,gsr}〉≃−264 km s{sup −1} and confirms it is a Milky Way satellite. We show that, despite the small data set, there is evidence that Tri II has complex internal kinematics. Its radial velocity dispersion increases from 4.4{sub −2.0}{sup +2.8} km s{sup −1} in the central 2{sup ′} to 14.1{sub −4.2}{sup +5.8} km s{sup −1} outwards. The velocity dispersion of the full sample is inferred to be σ{sub vr}=9.9{sub −2.2}{sup +3.2} km s{sup −1}. From the two bright RGB member stars we measure an average metallicity 〈[Fe/H]〉=−2.6±0.2, placing Tri II among the most metal-poor Milky Way dwarf galaxies. In addition, the spectra of the fainter member stars exhibit differences in their line widths that could be the indication of a metallicity dispersion in the system. All these properties paint a complex picture for Tri II, whose nature and current state are largely speculative. The inferred metallicity properties of the system however lead us to favor a scenario in which Tri II is a dwarf galaxy that is either disrupting or embedded in a stellar stream.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2016

MODELING THE ROSSITER–MCLAUGHLIN EFFECT: IMPACT OF THE CONVECTIVE CENTER-TO-LIMB VARIATIONS IN THE STELLAR PHOTOSPHERE

Observations of the Rossiter–McLaughlin (RM) effect provide information on star–planet alignments, which can inform planetary migration and evolution theories. Here, we go beyond the classical RM modeling and explore the impact of a convective blueshift that varies across the stellar disk and non-Gaussian stellar photospheric profiles. We simulated an aligned hot Jupiter with a four-day orbit about a Sun-like star and injected center-to-limb velocity (and profile shape) variations based on radiative 3D magnetohydrodynamic simulations of solar surface convection. The residuals between our modeling and classical RM modeling were dependent on the intrinsic profile width and v sin i; the amplitude of the residuals increased with increasing v sin i and with decreasing intrinsic profile width. For slowly rotating stars the center-to-limb convective variation dominated the residuals (with amplitudes of 10 s of cm s{sup −1} to ∼1 m s{sup −1}); however, for faster rotating stars the dominant residual signature was due a non-Gaussian intrinsic profile (with amplitudes from 0.5 to 9 m s{sup −1}). When the impact factor was 0, neglecting to account for the convective center-to-limb variation led to an uncertainty in the obliquity of ∼10°–20°, even though the true v sin i was known. Additionally, neglecting to properly model an asymmetric intrinsic profile had a greater impact for more rapidly rotating stars (e.g., v sin i = 6 km s{sup −1}) and caused systematic errors on the order of ∼20° in the measured obliquities. Hence, neglecting the impact of stellar surface convection may bias star–planet alignment measurements and consequently theories on planetary migration and evolution.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2016

An HST survey for 100–1000 au companions around young stellar objects in the Orion molecular clouds: Evidence for environmentally dependent multiplicity

We present a near-infrared survey for the visual multiples in the Orion molecular clouds region at separations between 100 and 1000 au. These data were acquired at 1.6 μm with the NICMOS and WFC3 cameras on the Hubble Space Telescope. Additional photometry was obtained for some of the sources at 2.05 μm with NICMOS and in the L′ band with NSFCAM2 on NASA’s InfraRed Telescope Facility. Toward 129 protostars and 197 pre-main-sequence stars with disks observed with WFC3, we detect 21 and 28 candidate companions between the projected separations of 100–1000 au, of which less than 5 and 8, respectively, are chance line-of-sight coincidences. The resulting companion fraction (CF) after the correction for the line-of-sight contamination is 14.4{sub −1.3}{sup +1.1}% for protostars and 12.5{sub −0.8}{sup +1.2}% for the pre-main-sequence stars. These values are similar to those found for main-sequence stars, suggesting that there is little variation in the CF with evolution, although several observational biases may mask a decrease in the CF from protostars to the main-sequence stars. After segregating the sample into two populations based on the surrounding surface density of young stellar objects, we find that the CF in the high stellar density regions (Σ{sub YSO} > 45 pc{sup −2}) is approximately 50% higher than that found in the low stellar density regions (Σ{sub YSO} < 45 pc{sup −2}). We interpret this as evidence for the elevated formation of companions at 100–1000 au in the denser environments of Orion. We discuss possible reasons for this elevated formation.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2016

The evolution of the galaxy stellar mass function at z = 4-8: a steepening low-mass-end slope with increasing redshift

We present galaxy stellar mass functions (GSMFs) at z = 4–8 from a rest-frame ultraviolet (UV) selected sample of ∼4500 galaxies, found via photometric redshifts over an area of ∼280 arcmin{sup 2} in the Cosmic Assembly Near-infrared Deep Extragalactic Legacy Survey (CANDELS)/Great Observatories Origins Deep Survey (GOODS) fields and the Hubble Ultra Deep Field. The deepest Spitzer/IRAC data to date and the relatively large volume allow us to place a better constraint at both the low- and high-mass ends of the GSMFs compared to previous space-based studies from pre-CANDELS observations. Supplemented by a stacking analysis, we find a linear correlation between the rest-frame UV absolute magnitude at 1500 Å (M{sub UV}) and logarithmic stellar mass (logM{sub ∗}) that holds for galaxies with log(M{sub ∗}/M{sub ⊙})≲10. We use simulations to validate our method of measuring the slope of the logM{sub ∗}–M {sub UV} relation, finding that the bias is minimized with a hybrid technique combining photometry of individual bright galaxies with stacked photometry for faint galaxies. The resultant measured slopes do not significantly evolve over z = 4–8, while the normalization of the trend exhibits a weak evolution toward lower masses at higher redshift. We combine the logM{sub ∗}–M {sub UV} distribution with observed rest-frame UV luminosity functions at each redshift to derive the GSMFs, finding that the low-mass-end slope becomes steeper with increasing redshift from α=−1.55{sub −0.07}{sup +0.08} at z = 4 to α=−2.25{sub −0.35}{sup +0.72} at z = 8. The inferred stellar mass density, when integrated over M{sub ∗}=10{sup 8}–10{sup 13} M {sub ⊙}, increases by a factor of 10{sub −2}{sup +30} between z = 7 and z = 4 and is in good agreement with the time integral of the cosmic star formation rate density.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2016

Collision tomography: physical properties of possible progenitors of the Andromeda Stellar Stream

To unveil a progenitor of the Andromeda Giant Stellar Stream, we investigate the interaction between an accreting satellite galaxy and the Andromeda Galaxy using an N-body simulation. We perform a comprehensive exploration of the properties of the progenitor dwarf galaxy, using 247 models of varying mass, mass distribution, and size. We show that the binding energy of the progenitor is the crucial parameter in reproducing the Andromeda Giant Stellar Stream and the shell-like structures surrounding the Andromeda Galaxy. As a result of the simulations, the progenitor must satisfy a simple scaling relation between the core radius, the total mass and the tidal radius. Using this relation, we successfully constrain the physical properties of the progenitors to have masses ranging from 5×10{sup 8}M{sub ⊙} to 5×10{sup 9}M{sub ⊙} and central surface densities around 10{sup 3} M{sub ⊙} pc{sup −2}. A detailed comparison between our result and the nearby observed galaxies indicates that possible progenitors of the Andromeda Giant Stellar Stream include a dwarf elliptical galaxy, a dwarf irregular galaxy, and a small spiral galaxy.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2016

Pixel color magnitude diagrams for semi-resolved stellar populations: the star formation history of regions within the disk and bulge of M31

The analysis of stellar populations has, by and large, been developed for two limiting cases: spatially resolved stellar populations in the color–magnitude diagram, and integrated light observations of distant systems. In between these two extremes lies the semi-resolved regime, which encompasses a rich and relatively unexplored realm of observational phenomena. Here we develop the concept of pixel color–magnitude diagrams (pCMDs) as a powerful technique for analyzing stellar populations in the semi-resolved regime. pCMDs show the distribution of imaging data in the plane of pixel luminosity versus pixel color. A key feature of pCMDs is that they are sensitive to all stars, including both the evolved giants and the unevolved main sequence stars. An important variable in this regime is the mean number of stars per pixel, N{sub pix}. Simulated pCMDs demonstrate a strong sensitivity to the star formation history (SFH) and have the potential to break degeneracies between age, metallicity and dust based on two filter data for values of N{sub pix} up to at least 10{sup 4}. We extract pCMDs from Hubble Space Telescope optical imaging of M31 and derive SFHs with seven independent age bins from 10{sup 6} to 10{sup 10} year for both the crowded disk and bulge regions (where N{sub pix}≈30--10{sup 3}). From analyzing a small region of the disk we find a SFH that is smooth and consistent with an exponential decay timescale of 4 Gyr. The bulge SFH is also smooth and consistent with a 2 Gyr decay timescale. pCMDs will likely play an important role in maximizing the science returns from next generation ground and space-based facilities.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2016

A tight relation between N/O ratio and galaxy stellar mass can explain the evolution of strong emission line ratios with redshift

The offset of high-redshift star-forming galaxies in the [O iii]/Hβ versus [N ii]/Hα (O3N2) diagram in comparison with the local star-forming galaxy sequence is now well established. The physical origin of the shift is the subject of some debate and has important implications for metallicity measurements based on strong lines at all redshifts. To investigate the origin of the O3N2 offset, we use a sample of ∼100,000 star-forming galaxies from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey DR12 to understand how measurable galaxy physical properties (Σ{sub SFR}, ionization parameter, nitrogen-to-oxygen (N/O) ratio, and stellar mass) drive galaxy position in two key diagnostic diagrams: O3N2 and [O iii]/Hβ versus [S ii]/Hα (O3S2). At fixed [O iii]/Hβ, galaxies close to the high-redshift locus in O3N2 have higher Σ{sub SFR}, stellar mass, and N/O ratio. We conclude that higher N/O ratios at fixed [O iii]/Hβ are the proximate cause of the O3N2 shift. We also find a tight correspondence in the distributions of stellar mass and N/O in the diagnostic diagrams. This relation, spanning a range of galaxy evolutionary states, suggests that the N/O–M {sub *} relation is more fundamental than the relation between N/O and O/H. We argue that a more fundamental N/O–M {sub *} relation is well-motivated physically. Because the mass–metallicity relation evolves more rapidly with redshift than N/O–M {sub *}, the N/O ratios of high-redshift galaxies are elevated in comparison with local galaxies with the same gas-phase O/H. The O3N2 shift and elevated N/O ratios observed in high-redshift galaxies, therefore, come about as a natural consequence of the N/O–M {sub *} relation combined with the evolution of the mass–metallicity relation.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2016

The Carina project. X. On the kinematics of old and intermediate-age stellar populations

We present new radial velocity (RV) measurements of old (horizontal branch) and intermediate-age (red clump) stellar tracers in the Carina dwarf spheroidal. They are based on more than 2200 low-resolution spectra collected with VIMOS at Very Large Telescope (VLT). The targets are faint (20 ≲ V ≲ 21.5 mag), but the accuracy at the faintest limit is ≤9 km s{sup −1}. These data were complemented with RV measurements either based on spectra collected with FORS2 and FLAMES/GIRAFFE at VLT or available in the literature. We ended up with a sample of 2748 stars and among them, 1389 are candidate Carina stars. We found that the intermediate-age stellar component shows a well-defined rotational pattern around the minor axis. The western and the eastern side of the galaxy differ by +5 and −4 km s{sup −1} when compared with the main RV peak. The old stellar component is characterized by a larger RV dispersion and does not show evidence of the RV pattern. We compared the observed RV distribution with N-body simulations for a former disky dwarf galaxy orbiting a giant Milky Way–like galaxy. We rotated the simulated galaxy by 60° with respect to the major axis, we kept the observer on the orbital plane of the dwarf and extracted a sample of stars similar to the observed one. Observed and predicted V{sub rot}/σ ratios across the central regions are in remarkable agreement. This evidence indicates that Carina was a disky dwarf galaxy that experienced several strong tidal interactions with the Milky Way. Owing to these interactions, Carina transformed from a disky to a prolate spheroid and the rotational velocity transformed into random motions.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2016

STELLAR MAGNETIC CYCLES IN THE SOLAR-LIKE STARS KEPLER-17 AND KEPLER-63

The stellar magnetic field plays a crucial role in the star internal mechanisms, as in the interactions with its environment. The study of starspots provides information about the stellar magnetic field and can characterize the cycle. Moreover, the analysis of solar-type stars is also useful to shed light onto the origin of the solar magnetic field. The objective of this work is to characterize the magnetic activity of stars. Here, we studied two solar-type stars, Kepler-17 and Kepler-63, using two methods to estimate the magnetic cycle length. The first one characterizes the spots (radius, intensity, and location) by fitting the small variations in the light curve of a star caused by the occultation of a spot during a planetary transit. This approach yields the number of spots present in the stellar surface and the flux deficit subtracted from the star by their presence during each transit. The second method estimates the activity from the excess in the residuals of the transit light curves. This excess is obtained by subtracting a spotless model transit from the light curve and then integrating all the residuals during the transit. The presence of long-term periodicity is estimated in both time series. With the first method, we obtained P {sub cycle} = 1.12 ± 0.16 year (Kepler-17) and P {sub cycle} = 1.27 ± 0.16 year (Kepler-63), and for the second approach the values are 1.35 ± 0.27 year and 1.27 ± 0.12 year, respectively. The results of both methods agree with each other and confirm their robustness.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2016

THE YOUNG STELLAR POPULATION OF LYNDS 1340. AN INFRARED VIEW

We present results of an infrared study of the molecular cloud Lynds 1340, forming three groups of low- and intermediate-mass stars. Our goals are to identify and characterize the young stellar population of the cloud, study the relationships between the properties of the cloud and the emergent stellar groups, and integrate L1340 into the picture of the star-forming activity of our Galactic environment. We selected candidate young stellar objects (YSOs) from the Spitzer and WISE databases using various published color criteria and classified them based on the slope of the spectral energy distribution (SED). We identified 170 Class II, 27 flat SED, and 45 Class 0/I sources. High angular resolution near-infrared observations of the RNO 7 cluster, embedded in L1340, revealed eight new young stars of near-infrared excess. The surface density distribution of YSOs shows three groups, associated with the three major molecular clumps of L1340, each consisting of ≲100 members, including both pre-main-sequence stars and embedded protostars. New Herbig–Haro objects were identified in the Spitzer images. Our results demonstrate that L1340 is a prolific star-forming region of our Galactic environment in which several specific properties of the intermediate-mass mode of star formation can be studied in detail.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2017

A STUDY OF CENTRAL GALAXY ROTATION WITH STELLAR MASS AND ENVIRONMENT

We present a pilot analysis of the influence of galaxy stellar mass and cluster environment on the probability of slow rotation in 22 central galaxies at mean redshift z = 0.07. This includes new integral-field observations of five central galaxies selected from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, observed with the SPIRAL integral-field spectrograph on the Anglo-Australian Telescope. The composite sample presented here spans a wide range of stellar masses, 10.9 < log(M{sub ∗}/M{sub ⊙})<12.0, and are embedded in halos ranging from groups to clusters, 12.9 < log(M{sub 200}/M{sub ⊙})<15.6. We find a mean probability of slow rotation in our sample of P(SR) = 54±7%. Our results show an increasing probability of slow rotation in central galaxies with increasing stellar mass. However, when we examine the dependence of slow rotation on host cluster halo mass, we do not see a significant relationship. We also explore the influence of cluster dominance on slow rotation in central galaxies. Clusters with low dominance are associated with dynamically younger systems. We find that cluster dominance has no significant effect on the probability of slow rotation in central galaxies. These results conflict with a paradigm in which halo mass alone predetermines central galaxy properties.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2017

The Not So Simple Globular Cluster ω Cen. I. Spatial Distribution of the Multiple Stellar Populations

We present a multi-band photometric catalog of ≈1.7 million cluster members for a field of view of ≈2° × 2° across ω Cen. Photometry is based on images collected with the Dark Energy Camera on the 4 m Blanco telescope and the Advanced Camera for Surveys on the Hubble Space Telescope . The unprecedented photometric accuracy and field coverage allowed us, for the first time, to investigate the spatial distribution of ω Cen multiple populations from the core to the tidal radius, confirming its very complex structure. We found that the frequency of blue main-sequence stars is increasing compared to red main-sequence stars starting from a distance of ≈25′ from the cluster center. Blue main-sequence stars also show a clumpy spatial distribution, with an excess in the northeast quadrant of the cluster pointing toward the direction of the Galactic center. Stars belonging to the reddest and faintest red-giant branch also show a more extended spatial distribution in the outskirts of ω Cen, a region never explored before. Both these stellar sub-populations, according to spectroscopic measurements, are more metal-rich compared to the cluster main stellar population. These findings, once confirmed, make ω Cen the only stellar system currently known where metal-rich stars have a more extended spatial distribution compared to metal-poor stars. Kinematic and chemical abundance measurements are now needed for stars in the external regions of ω Cen to better characterize the properties of these sub-populations.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2017

The Gold Standard: Accurate Stellar and Planetary Parameters for Eight Kepler M Dwarf Systems Enabled by Parallaxes

We report parallaxes and proper motions from the Hawaii Infrared Parallax Program for eight nearby M dwarf stars with transiting exoplanets discovered by Kepler. We combine our directly measured distances with mass–luminosity and radius–luminosity relationships to significantly improve constraints on the host stars’ properties. Our astrometry enables the identification of wide stellar companions to the planet hosts. Within our limited sample, all the multi-transiting planet hosts (three of three) appear to be single stars, while nearly all (four of five) of the systems with a single detected planet have wide stellar companions. By applying strict priors on average stellar density from our updated radius and mass in our transit fitting analysis, we measure the eccentricity probability distributions for each transiting planet. Planets in single-star systems tend to have smaller eccentricities than those in binaries, although this difference is not significant in our small sample. In the case of Kepler-42bcd, where the eccentricities are known to be ≃0, we demonstrate that such systems can serve as powerful tests of M dwarf evolutionary models by working in L{sub &lowast;}--ρ{sub &lowast;} space. The transit-fit density for Kepler-42bcd is inconsistent with model predictions at 2.1σ (22%), but matches more empirical estimates at 0.2σ (2%), consistent with earlier results showing model radii of M dwarfs are underinflated. Gaia will provide high-precision parallaxes for the entire Kepler M dwarf sample, and the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite will identify more planets transiting nearby, late-type stars, enabling significant improvements in our understanding of the eccentricity distribution of small planets and the parameters of late-type dwarfs.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2017

Determining Empirical Stellar Masses and Radii from Transits and Gaia Parallaxes as Illustrated by Spitzer Observations of KELT-11b

Using the Spitzer Space Telescope, we observed a transit at 3.6 μm of KELT-11b. We also observed three partial planetary transits from the ground. We simultaneously fit these observations, ground-based photometry from Pepper et al., radial velocity data from Pepper et al., and a spectral energy distribution (SED) model using catalog magnitudes and the Hipparcos parallax to the system. The only significant difference between our results and those of Pepper et al. is that we find the orbital period to be shorter by 37 s, 4.73610 ± 0.00003 versus 4.73653 ± 0.00006 days, and we measure a transit center time of BJD{sub TDB} 2457483.4310 ± 0.0007, which is 42 minutes earlier than predicted. Using our new photometry, we precisely measure the density of the star KELT-11 to 4%. By combining the parallax and catalog magnitudes of the system, we are able to measure the radius of KELT-11b essentially empirically. Coupled with the stellar density, this gives a parallactic mass and radius of 1.8 M{sub ⊙} and 2.9 R{sub ⊙}, which are each approximately 1σ higher than the adopted model-estimated mass and radius. If we conduct the same fit using the expected parallax uncertainty from the final Gaia data release, this difference increases to 4σ. The differences between the model and parallactic masses and radii for KELT-11 demonstrate the role that precise Gaia parallaxes, coupled with simultaneous photometric, radial velocity, and SED fitting, can play in determining stellar and planetary parameters. With high-precision photometry of transiting planets and high-precision Gaia parallaxes, the parallactic mass and radius uncertainties of stars become 1% and 3%, respectively. TESS is expected to discover 60–80 systems where these measurements will be possible. These parallactic mass and radius measurements have uncertainties small enough that they may provide observational input into the stellar models themselves.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗