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arXiv 1704.08232astro-ph.EP
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系外行星凌日中高精度恒星边缘变暗

High-precision stellar limb-darkening in exoplanetary transits

Giuseppe Morello, Angelos Tsiaras, Ian D. Howarth, Derek Homeier

摘要:

凌日系外行星大气层的表征依赖于在多个波长下精确测量行星光学厚度区域的范围,精确度为百万分之$\lesssim$ 100(ppm)。詹姆斯·韦伯太空望远镜(JWST)上的下一代仪器预计将对几十个目标实现$\sim$ 10 ppm的精度。只有当其他天体物理效应,包括恒星边缘变暗,被正确地解释时,才能在建模中获得类似的精度。在本文中,我们探讨了由于目前采用的数学公式来近似恒星边缘暗化的精度限制,以及使用从恒星大气模型或经验获得的边缘暗化系数。我们提出了一个新的边缘变暗法与两个系数,“功率-2”,它优于其他两个系数的法律在大多数情况下,在文献中采用,特别是对冷星。即使光曲线残差几乎受到光子噪声的限制,基于双系数公式的经验性肢体变暗也可能存在显着偏差。我们展示了一个最佳的策略,以适应四个系数的边缘变暗的可见光,使用先验信息的系外行星轨道参数,以打破一些退化,否则将阻止收敛的拟合。用詹姆斯·韦伯太空望远镜(JWST)进行的红外观测将以前所未有的精度提供系外行星轨道参数的准确测量,这些参数可用作改进恒星边缘变暗特征的先验,从而从可见光观测中推断系外行星参数,例如开普勒/K2,JWST,其他过去和未来的仪器。

英文摘要:

Characterization of the atmospheres of transiting exoplanets relies on accurate measurements of the extent of the optically thick area of the planet at multiple wavelengths with a precision $\lesssim$100 parts per million (ppm). Next-generation instruments onboard the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) are expected to achieve $\sim$10 ppm precision for several tens of targets. A similar precision can be obtained in modelling only if other astrophysical effects, including the stellar limb-darkening, are accounted for properly. In this paper, we explore the limits on precision due to the mathematical formulas currently adopted to approximate the stellar limb-darkening, and to the use of limb-darkening coefficients obtained either from stellar-atmosphere models or empirically. We propose a new limb-darkening law with two coefficients, `power-2', which outperforms other two-coefficient laws adopted in the literature in most cases, and particularly for cool stars. Empirical limb-darkening based on two-coefficient formulas can be significantly biased, even if the light-curve residuals are nearly photon-noise limited. We demonstrate an optimal strategy to fitting for the four-coefficients limb-darkening in the visible, using prior information on the exoplanet orbital parameters to break some of the degeneracies that otherwise would prevent the convergence of the fit. Infrared observations taken with the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) will provide accurate measurements of the exoplanet orbital parameters with unprecedented precision, which can be used as priors to improve the stellar limb-darkening characterization, and therefore the inferred exoplanet parameters, from observations in the visible, such as those taken with Kepler/K2, JWST, other past and future instruments.

机构、总结、中文摘要均由AI分析而来,可能存在错误,请以论文正文为准。

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