Projects per year
Abstract
We present Rossiter-McLaughlin observations of WASP-13b and WASP-32b and determine the sky-projected angle between the normal of the planetary orbit and the stellar rotation axis (lambda). WASP-13b and WASP-32b both have prograde orbits and are consistent with alignment with measured sky-projected angles of λ = 8º+13-12 and λ = -2º+17-19, respectively. Both WASP-13 and WASP-32 have Teff <6250 K, and therefore, these systems support the general trend that aligned planetary systems are preferentially found orbiting cool host stars. A Lomb-Scargle periodogram analysis was carried out on archival SuperWASP data for both systems. A statistically significant stellar rotation period detection (above 99.9 per cent confidence) was identified for the WASP-32 system with Prot = 11.6 ± 1.0 days. This rotation period is in agreement with the predicted stellar rotation period calculated from the stellar radius, R*, and vsin i if a stellar inclination of i* = 90º is assumed. With the determined rotation period, the true 3D angle between the stellar rotation axis and the planetary orbit, ψ, was found to be ψ = 11º ± 14º. We conclude with a discussion on the alignment of systems around cool host stars with Teff <6150 K by calculating the tidal dissipation time-scale. We find that systems with short tidal dissipation time-scales are preferentially aligned and systems with long tidal dissipation time-scales have a broad range of obliquities.
Original language | English |
---|---|
Pages (from-to) | 3392-3401 |
Number of pages | 10 |
Journal | Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society |
Volume | 440 |
Issue number | 4 |
Early online date | 17 Apr 2014 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 1 Jun 2014 |
Keywords
- Techniques: photometric
- Techniques: radial velocities
- Stars: individual: WASP-13
- Stars: individual: WASP-32
- Planetary systems
- Spin-orbit Misalignment
- Transiting exoplanets
- Hot-Jupiter
- Host stars
- Rotation periods
- Polar orbit
- Time-series
- Spaced data
- Systems
- Planet
Fingerprint
Dive into the research topics of 'A window on exoplanet dynamical histories: Rossiter-McLaughlin observations of WASP-13b and WASP-32b'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.Projects
- 2 Finished
-
Astrophysics at St Andrews:2012 - 2014: Astrophysics at St Andrews: 2012 - 2014
Horne, K. D. (PI)
Science & Technology Facilities Council
1/10/11 → 31/03/12
Project: Standard
-
Wide Area Search for Planets: Project support for the Wide Area Search for Planets
Cameron, A. C. (PI)
Science & Technology Facilities Council
1/08/08 → 31/07/11
Project: Standard