TY - GEN
T1 - The Effects Of Stellar Activity On Detecting And Characterising Planets
AU - Aigrain, Suzanne
AU - Angus, R.
AU - Barstow, J.
AU - Rajpaul, V.
AU - Gillen, E.
AU - Parviainen, H.
AU - Pope, B.
AU - Roberts, S.
AU - McQuillan, A.
AU - Gibson, N.
AU - Mazeh, T.
AU - Pont, F.
AU - Zucker, S.
PY - 2016/8/1
Y1 - 2016/8/1
N2 - Intrinsic stellar variability associated with magnetic activity,
rotation and convection, affects the detection of exoplanets via the
transit and radial velocity methods, and the characterisation of their
atmospheres. I will review the increasingly sophisticated methods
developed in the last few years to mitigate this problem, and outline
how stellar variability is likely to impact the field of exoplanets in
the future. Planetary transits last a few hours, much shorter than the
rotational modulation of star spots (day to weeks), but smaller-scale
variability is nonetheless an important limiting factor in our ability
to detect transits of Earth analogs in Kepler and Plato data. In radial
velocity, the problem is even more severe, as the planet's signal occurs
on the orbital timescale, which can coincide with the range expected for
stellar rotation periods or activity cycles - but the spectra used to
extract radial velocities contain a wealth of information about stellar
activity that can be used to disentangle the two types of signals.
Finally, when using transits or phase curves to probe the composition
and dynamics of planetary atmospheres, star spots must be accounted for
very carefully, as they can mimic or mask planetary atmosphere signals.
On the positive side, the sensitivity of planet search and
characterisation experiments to stellar activity means that they are a
treasure trove of information about stellar activity. The continued
success of exoplanet surveys depends on our making the best possible use
of this information.
AB - Intrinsic stellar variability associated with magnetic activity,
rotation and convection, affects the detection of exoplanets via the
transit and radial velocity methods, and the characterisation of their
atmospheres. I will review the increasingly sophisticated methods
developed in the last few years to mitigate this problem, and outline
how stellar variability is likely to impact the field of exoplanets in
the future. Planetary transits last a few hours, much shorter than the
rotational modulation of star spots (day to weeks), but smaller-scale
variability is nonetheless an important limiting factor in our ability
to detect transits of Earth analogs in Kepler and Plato data. In radial
velocity, the problem is even more severe, as the planet's signal occurs
on the orbital timescale, which can coincide with the range expected for
stellar rotation periods or activity cycles - but the spectra used to
extract radial velocities contain a wealth of information about stellar
activity that can be used to disentangle the two types of signals.
Finally, when using transits or phase curves to probe the composition
and dynamics of planetary atmospheres, star spots must be accounted for
very carefully, as they can mimic or mask planetary atmosphere signals.
On the positive side, the sensitivity of planet search and
characterisation experiments to stellar activity means that they are a
treasure trove of information about stellar activity. The continued
success of exoplanet surveys depends on our making the best possible use
of this information.
U2 - 10.5281/zenodo.154565
DO - 10.5281/zenodo.154565
M3 - Conference contribution
SP - 12
BT - The 19th Cambridge Workshop on Cool Stars, Stellar Systems, and the Sun (CS19)
ER -