Bibcode
Gillon, M.; Lanotte, A. A.; Barman, T.; Miller, N.; Demory, B.-O.; Deleuil, M.; Montalbán, J.; Bouchy, F.; Collier Cameron, A.; Deeg, H. J.; Fortney, J. J.; Fridlund, M.; Harrington, J.; Magain, P.; Moutou, C.; Queloz, D.; Rauer, H.; Rouan, D.; Schneider, J.
Bibliographical reference
Astronomy and Astrophysics, Volume 511, id.A3
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2
2010
Journal
Citations
108
Refereed citations
99
Description
We report measurements of the thermal emission of the young and massive
planet CoRoT-2b at 4.5 and 8 μm with the Spitzer Infrared Array
Camera (IRAC). Our measured occultation depths are 0.510±0.042%
at 4.5 and 0.41±0.11% at 8 μm. In addition to the CoRoT
optical measurements, these planet/star flux ratios indicate a poor heat
distribution on the night side of the planet and agree better with an
atmosphere free of temperature inversion layer. Still, such an inversion
is not definitely ruled out by the observations and a larger wavelength
coverage is required to remove the current ambiguity. Our global
analysis of CoRoT, Spitzer, and ground-based data confirms the high mass
and large size of the planet with slightly revised values (M_p =
3.47±0.22 MJ, R_p = 1.466±0.044 RJ).
We find a small but significant offset in the timing of the occultation
when compared to a purely circular orbital solution, leading to e
cosω = -0.00291±0.00063 where e is the orbital
eccentricity and ω is the argument of periastron. Constraining the
age of the system to at most a few hundred Myr and assuming that the
non-zero orbital eccentricity does not come from a third undetected
body, we modeled the coupled orbital-tidal evolution of the system with
various tidal Q values, core sizes, and initial orbital parameters. For
Q_s' = 105-106, our modeling is able to explain
the large radius of CoRoT-2b if Q_p'≤ 105.5 through a
transient tidal circularization and corresponding planet tidal heating
event. Under this model, the planet will reach its Roche limit within 20
Myr at most.
Based on data collected with the VLT/FORS2 instrument at ESO Paranal
Observatory, Chile (programs 081.C-0413(B)).
The photometric timeseries used in this work are only available in
electronic form at the CDS via anonymous ftp to cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr
(130.79.128.5) or via http://cdsweb.u-strasbg.fr/cgi-bin/qcat?J/A+A/511/A3
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Helio and Astero-Seismology and Exoplanets Search
The principal objectives of this project are: 1) to study the structure and dynamics of the solar interior, 2) to extend this study to other stars, 3) to search for extrasolar planets using photometric methods (primarily by transits of their host stars) and their characterization (using radial velocity information) and 4) the study of the planetary
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