The homogeneous study of transiting systems (HoSTS). I. The pilot study of WASP-13

Yilen Gómez Maqueo Chew, Francesca Faedi, Phillip Cargile, Amanda P. Doyle, Luan Ghezzi, Sérgio Sousa, Susana C. C. Barros, Leslie Hebb, Katia Cunha, Simon C. Schuler, Verne V. Smith, Andrew Collier Cameron, Don Pollacco, Nuno C. Santos, Barry Smalley, Keivan G. Stassun

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

We present the fundamental stellar and planetary properties of the transiting planetary system WASP-13 within the framework of the Homogeneous Study of Transiting Systems (HoSTS). HoSTS aims to derive the fundamental stellar (Teff, [Fe/H], M∗, R∗) and planetary (Mpl, Rpl, Teq) physical properties of known transiting planets using a consistent methodology and homogeneous high-quality data set. Four spectral analysis techniques are independently applied to a Keck+HIRES spectrum of WASP-13 considering two distinct cases: unconstrained parameters and constrained log g from transit light curves. We check the derived stellar temperature against that from a different temperature diagnostic based on an INT+IDS Hα spectrum. The four unconstrained analyses render results that are in good agreement, and provide an improvement of 50% in the precision of T eff, and of 85% in [Fe/H] with respect to the WASP-13 discovery paper. The planetary parameters are then derived via the Monte Carlo Markov Chain modeling of the radial velocity and light curves, in iteration with stellar evolutionary models to derive realistic uncertainties. WASP-13 (1.187 ± 0.065 M ☉; 1.574 ± 0.048 R ☉) hosts a Saturn-mass, transiting planet (0.500 ± 0.037 MJup; 1.407 ± 0.052 RJup), and is at the end of its main-sequence lifetime (4-5.5 Gyr). Our analysis of WASP-13 showcases that both a detailed stellar characterization and transit modeling are necessary to well determine the fundamental properties of planetary systems, which are paramount in identifying and determining empirical relationships between transiting planets and their hosts.

Original languageEnglish
Article number79
Number of pages11
JournalAstrophysical Journal
Volume768
Issue number1
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 May 2013

Keywords

  • Planetary systems
  • Stars: fundamental parameters
  • Stars: individual: WASP-13
  • Techniques: photometric
  • Techniques: spectroscopic

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'The homogeneous study of transiting systems (HoSTS). I. The pilot study of WASP-13'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this