Challenges of the Doppler technique in the presence of stellar noise

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• Guillem Anglada (Queen Mary University of London)
• Tuesday 27 October 2015, 14:00-15:00
• Martin Ryle Seminar Room, Kavli Institute.

If you have a question about this talk, please contact Greg Willatt.

The Doppler method is still the most efficient one in detecting exoplanets around nearby stars which are amenable for further characterisation. In particular, planets as small as the Earth can in principle be detected in hot orbits around sun-like stars (G and K dwarfs), and warm to temperature orbits around M-dwarfs (M < 0.5 sun) in orbital periods from a few days to tens of days. Unfortunately, these timescales are plagued with structured noise caused by stellar activity. In addition to this, one or more low mass planets can be packed in few week orbits, further adding confusion and complicating the analysis of the data. I will review the evolution of the data analysis methods to put in context the current state-of-the-art in exoplanet detection in the presence of stellar noise, and discuss some controversial recent cases. I will briefly discuss the different data analysis and observational strategies being investigated to address these issues. I will finally introduce the #palereddot program (observations start 16 January 2016), which will obtain regularly sampled Doppler measurements with HARPS over 60 consecutive nights on a very nearby star, combined with quasi-simultaneous multi-band photometry obtained with two telescope networks (LCOGT and Gloria/Bootes). The program will also be used as an outreach opportunity to promote astronomy and exoplanets to the public. The results and data of this study (which will be released within a few months after the observations are obtained) shall be used as a benchmark case for future high precision programs.

This talk is part of the Cavendish Astrophysics Seminars series.

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