Bibcode
Collier Cameron, A.; Wilson, D. M.; West, R. G.; Hebb, L.; Wang, X.-B.; Aigrain, S.; Bouchy, F.; Christian, D. J.; Clarkson, W. I.; Enoch, B.; Esposito, M.; Guenther, E.; Haswell, C. A.; Hébrard, G.; Hellier, C.; Horne, K.; Irwin, J.; Kane, S. R.; Loeillet, B.; Lister, T. A.; Maxted, P.; Mayor, M.; Moutou, C.; Parley, N.; Pollacco, D.; Pont, F.; Queloz, D.; Ryans, R.; Skillen, I.; Street, R. A.; Udry, S.; Wheatley, P. J.
Referencia bibliográfica
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Volume 380, Issue 3, pp. 1230-1244.
Fecha de publicación:
9
2007
Número de citas
298
Número de citas referidas
266
Descripción
Transiting extrasolar planets constitute only a small fraction of the
range of stellar systems found to display periodic, shallow dimmings in
wide-field surveys employing small-aperture camera arrays. Here we
present an efficient selection strategy for follow-up observations,
derived from analysis of the light curves of a sample of 67 SuperWASP
targets that passed the selection tests we used in earlier papers, but
which have subsequently been identified either as planet hosts or as
astrophysical false positives. We determine the system parameters using
Markov-chain Monte Carlo analysis of the SuperWASP light curves. We use
a constrained optimization of χ2 combined with a Bayesian
prior based on the main-sequence mass and radius expected from the Two
Micron All Sky Survey J - H colour. The Bayesian nature of the analysis
allows us to quantify both the departure of the host star from the
main-sequence mass-radius relation and the probability that the
companion radius is less than 1.5 Jupiter radii. When augmented by
direct light-curve analyses that detect binaries with unequal primary
and secondary eclipses, and objects with aperture blends that are
resolved by SuperWASP, we find that only 13 of the original 67 stars,
including the three known planets in the sample, would qualify for
follow-up. This suggests that planet discovery `hit rates' better than
one-in-five should be achievable. In addition, the stellar binaries that
qualify are likely to have astrophysically interesting stellar or
substellar secondaries.