Bibcode
Adibekyan, V. Zh.; Delgado Mena, E.; Sousa, S. G.; Santos, N. C.; Israelian, G.; González-Hernández, J. I.; Mayor, M.; Hakobyan, A. A.
Bibliographical reference
Astronomy and Astrophysics, Volume 547, id.A36, 5 pp.
Advertised on:
11
2012
Journal
Citations
102
Refereed citations
91
Description
Recent studies have shown that at low metallicities Doppler-detected
planet-hosting stars tend to have high α-content and to belong to
the thick disk. We used the reconnaissance spectra of 87 Kepler planet
candidates and data available from the HARPS planet search survey to
explore this phenomenon. Using the traditional spectroscopic abundance
analysis methods, we derived Ti, Ca, and Cr abundances for the Kepler
stars. In the metallicity region -0.65 < [Fe/H] < -0.3 dex, the
fraction of Ti-enhanced thick-disk HARPS planet harboring stars is 12.3
± 4.1%, and for their thin-disk counterparts this fraction is 2.2
± 1.3%. Binomial statistics give a probability of 0.008 that this
could have occurred by chance. Combining the two samples (HARPS and
Kepler) reinforces the significance of this result (P ~ 99.97%). Since
most of these stars harbor small sized or low-mass planets we can assume
that, although terrestrial planets can be found in a low-iron regime,
they are mostly enhanced by α-elements. This implies that early
formation of rocky planets could start in the Galactic thick disk, where
the chemical conditions for their formation are more favorable.
Table with chemical abundances is only available at the CDS via
anonymous ftp to cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr (130.79.128.5) or via http://cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr/viz-bin/qcat?J/A+A/547/A36
Related projects
Observational Tests of the Processes of Nucleosynthesis in the Universe
Several spectroscopic analyses of stars with planets have recently been carried out. One of the most remarkable results is that planet-harbouring stars are on average more metal-rich than solar-type disc stars. Two main explanations have been suggested to link this metallicity excess with the presence of planets. The first of these, the “self
Garik
Israelian