Bibcode
Ivanyuk, O.; Pavlenko, Y. V.; Barnes, J. R.; Jones, M. I.; Hoyer, S.; Murgas, F.; Tuomi, M.; Jones, H. R. A.; Jenkins, J. S.; Pinfield, D. J.; Ruiz, M. T.; Day-Jones, A. C.; Jordán, A.; Rojo, P.
Referencia bibliográfica
The Astrophysical Journal, Volume 766, Issue 2, article id. 67, 14 pp. (2013).
Fecha de publicación:
4
2013
Revista
Número de citas
40
Número de citas referidas
36
Descripción
We announce the discovery of a low-mass planet orbiting the super
metal-rich K0V star HD 77338 as part of our ongoing Calan-Hertfordshire
Extrasolar Planet Search. The best-fit planet solution has an orbital
period of 5.7361 ± 0.0015 days and with a radial velocity
semi-amplitude of only 5.96 ± 1.74 ms–1, we find
a minimum mass of 15.9^{+4.7}_{-5.3} M ⊕. The best-fit
eccentricity from this solution is 0.09^{+0.25}_{-0.09}, and we find
agreement for this data set using a Bayesian analysis and a periodogram
analysis. We measure a metallicity for the star of +0.35 ± 0.06
dex, whereas another recent work finds +0.47 ± 0.05 dex. Thus HD
77338b is one of the most metal-rich planet-host stars known and the
most metal-rich star hosting a sub-Neptune-mass planet. We searched for
a transit signature of HD 77338b but none was detected. We also
highlight an emerging trend where metallicity and mass seem to correlate
at very low masses, a discovery that would be in agreement with the core
accretion model of planet formation. The trend appears to show that for
Neptune-mass planets and below, higher masses are preferred when the
host star is more metal-rich. Also a lower boundary is apparent in the
super metal-rich regime where there are no very low mass planets yet
discovered in comparison to the sub-solar metallicity regime. A Monte
Carlo analysis shows that this low-mass planet desert is statistically
significant with the current sample of 36 planets at the ~4.5σ
level. In addition, results from Kepler strengthen the claim for this
paucity of the lowest-mass planets in super metal-rich systems. Finally,
this discovery adds to the growing population of low-mass planets around
low-mass and metal-rich stars and shows that very low mass planets can
now be discovered with a relatively small number of data points using
stable instrumentation.
Based on observations collected at the La Silla Paranal Observatory, ESO
(Chile) with the HARPS spectrograph on the ESO 3.6 m telescope,
under the program IDs 079.C-0927, 081.C-0148, 087.C-0368, and
088.C-0662.
Proyectos relacionados
Exoplanetas y Astrobiología
La búsqueda de vida en el Universo se ha visto impulsada por los recientes descubrimientos de planetas alrededor de otras estrellas (los llamados exoplanetas), convirtiéndose en uno de los campos más activos dentro de la Astrofísica moderna. En los últimos años los descubrimientos cada vez más numerosos de nuevos exoplanetas y los últimos avances
Enric
Pallé Bago