16341718
A Neptune-mass Planet Orbiting the Nearby G Dwarf HD 16417
Original article can be found at: http://www.iop.org/EJ/journal/1538-3881 Copyright IOP Publishing / American Astronomical Society. DOI: 10.1088/0004-637X/697/2/1263 [Full text of this article is not available in the UHRA]
67841979
Carbon monoxide in low-mass dwarf stars
We compare high resolution infrared observations of the CO 3-1 bands in the 2.297– 2.310 µm region of M dwarfs and one L dwarf with theoretical expectations. We find a good match between the observational and synthetic spectra throughout the 20003500K temperature regime investigated. Nonetheless, for the 2500-3500 K temperature range the temperatures that we derive from synthetic spectral fits are higher than expected from more empirical methods by several hundred K. In order to reconcile our findings with the empirical temperature scale it is necessary to invoke warming of the model atmosphere used to construct the synthetic spectra. We consider that the most likely reason for the back-warming is missing high temperature opacity due to water vapour. We compare the water vapour opacity of the Partridge & Schwenke (1997) line list used for the model atmosphere with the output from a preliminary calculation by Barber & Tennyson (2004). While the Partridge & Schwenke line list is a reasonable spectroscopic match for the new line list at 2000 K, by 4000 K it is missing around 25% of the water vapour opacity. We thus consider that the offset between empirical and synthetic temperature scales is explained by the lack of hot water vapour used for computation of the synthetic spectra. For our coolest objects with temperatures below 2500 K we find best fits when using synthetic spectra which include dust emission. Our spectra also allow us to constrain the rotational velocities of our sources, and these velocities are consistent with the broad trend of rotational velocities increasing from M to L.
13406335
A search for southern ultracool dwarfs and wide binary systems in young moving groups
We associate 135 low-mass ultracool dwarfs in the southern hemisphere as candidate members of five moving groups using photometric and astrometric selection techniques. Of these objects, three candidates possess published radial velocities allowing a galactic space motion to be calculated, and the kinematic membership of the moving groups to be assessed. One object is a possible member of the IC2391 or Hyades moving groups. We also re-identify a previously known member of the Castor moving group. Also identified is a possible member of the Pleiades moving group, although the large uncertainties associated with the space motion of this object mean that it remains unconfirmed kinematically. Possible membership of moving groups has allowed possible ages and metallicities to be constrained for these objects and evolutionary models have been used to estimate their mass. In addition, the SuperCOSMOS and Hipparcos catalogues were searched for common proper motion binary companions to the 135 candidate moving group members. Three potential binary systems have been found. Further investigation is required to determine if one of these is the widest double brown dwarf binary system known, and another may consist of a low-mass star and a dwarf carbon star. We estimate that up to ∼75 of our candidate moving group members should be genuine, and discuss future work that will confirm and exploit this major new sample.
13106340
The Prospects for Finding Brown Dwarfs in Eclipsing Binary Systems and Measuring Brown Dwarf Properties
We present the results of a simulation to investigate the prospects of measuring mass, age, radius, metallicity, and luminosity data for brown dwarfs in fully eclipsing binary systems around dwarf spectral types from late K to early M that could be identified by ultra-wide-field transit surveys such as SuperWASP. These surveys will monitor approximately a million K and M dwarfs with (where blending of sources is not FbF 1 20 a significant problem) at a level sufficient to detect transits of low-luminosity companions. We look at the current observational evidence for such systems and suggest that ∼1% of late K and early-to-mid M dwarfs could have a very close (∼0.02 AU) brown dwarf companion. With this assumption, and using SuperWASP as an example, our simulation predicts that ∼400 brown dwarfs in fully eclipsing binary systems could be discovered. All of these eclipsing binaries could yield accurate brown dwarf mass and radius measurements from radial velocity and follow-up light curve measurements. By inferring the brown dwarf effective temperature distribution, assuming a uniform age spread and an companion brown dwarf mass function, the simulation estimates that brown a p 0.5 dwarf brightness could also be measurable (at the 10% level) for ∼60 of these binary systems from near-infrared follow-up light curves of the secondary eclipse. We consider irradiation of these brown dwarfs by their primary stars and conclude that it would be below the 10% level for ∼70% of them. This means that in these cases, the measured brown dwarf brightnesses should essentially be the same as those of free-floating counterparts. The predicted age distribution of the primaries is dominated by young systems, and ∼20 binaries could be younger than 1 Gyr. Irradiation will be below the 10% level for ∼80% of these. We suggest that many of these young binary systems will be members of "kinematic moving groups," allowing their ages to be accurately constrained.
7248338
Selection functions in doppler planet searches
We present a preliminary analysis of the sensitivity of Anglo-Australian Planet Search data to the orbital parameters of extrasolar planets. To do so, we have developed new tools for the automatic analysis of large-scale simulations of Doppler velocity planet search data. One of these tools is the two-dimensional Keplerian Lomb-Scargle (LS) periodogram that enables the straightforward detection of exoplanets with high eccentricities (something the standard LS periodogram routinely fails to do). We used this technique to redetermine the orbital parameters of HD20782b, with one of the highest known exoplanet eccentricities (e = 0.97 +/- 0.01). We also derive a set of detection criteria that do not depend on the distribution functions of fitted Keplerian orbital parameters (which we show are non-Gaussian with pronounced, extended wings). Using these tools, we examine the selection functions in orbital period, eccentricity and planet mass of Anglo-Australian Planet Search data for three planets with large-scale Monte Carlo like simulations. We find that the detectability of exoplanets declines at high eccentricities. However, we also find that exoplanet detectability is a strong function of epoch-to-epoch data quality, number of observations and period sampling. This strongly suggests that simple parametrizations of the detectability of exoplanets based on `whole-of-survey' metrics may not be accurate. We have derived empirical relationships between the uncertainty estimates for orbital parameters that are derived from least-squares Keplerian fits to our simulations and the true 99 per cent limits for the errors in those parameters, which are larger than equivalent Gaussian limits by the factors of 5-10. We quantify the rate at which false positives are made by our detection criteria, and find that they do not significantly affect our final conclusions. And finally, we find that there is a bias against measuring near-zero eccentricities, which becomes more significant in
14166441
The Liverpool-Edinburgh high proper motion survey
We present a catalogue of 6206 stars which have proper motions exceeding 0.18 �� yr −1 with an R-band faint magni- tude limit of 19.5 mag. This catalogue has been produced using SuperCOSMOS digitized R-band ESO and UK Schmidt Plates in 131 Schmidt fields covering more than 3000 square degrees (>7.5% of the whole sky) at the South Galactic Cap. The survey is ≥90% complete within the nominal limits of the Luyten Two Tenths Catalogue of mR ≤ 18.5 mag and 0.2 ≤ µ ≤ 2.5 �� yr −1 , and is ≥80% complete for mR ≤ 19.5 mag and µ ≤ 2.5 �� yr −1 .
119298480
Interactions of Hermitian and non-Hermitian Hamiltonians
The coupling of non-Hermitian -symmetric Hamiltonians to standard Hermitian Hamiltonians, each of which individually has a real energy spectrum, is explored by means of a number of soluble models. It is found that in all cases the energy remains real for small values of the coupling constant, but becomes complex if the coupling becomes stronger than some critical value. For a quadratic non-Hermitian -symmetric Hamiltonian coupled to an arbitrary real Hermitian -symmetric Hamiltonian, the reality of the ground-state energy for small enough coupling constant is established up to second order in perturbation theory.
120811155
INVARIANT AMPLITUDES AND THIRD-ORDER LOW-ENERGY THEOREM FOR NUCLEON COMPTON SCATTERING.
Abstract Invariant amplitudes free of kinematic singularities and constraints are found for nucleon Compton scattering. Using these amplitudes and exploiting crossing symmetry it is shown that the low-energy theorem can be extended through third order in the photon energy.
118655103
Comment on New ansatz for metric operator calculation in pseudo-Hermitian field theory
In a recent Brief Report by Shalaby, a new first-order perturbative calculation of the metric operator for an $i{\ensuremath{\phi}}^{3}$ scalar field theory is given. It is claimed that the incorporation of derivative terms in the ansatz for the metric operator results in a local solution, in contrast to the nonlocal solution previously obtained by Bender, Brody, and Jones. Unfortunately, Shalaby's calculation is not valid because of sign errors.
119309345
Analytic results for a PT-symmetric optical structure
Propagation of light through a medium with a complex refractive index in which gain and loss are engineered to be PT symmetric has many remarkable features. In particular the usual unitarity relations are not satisfied, so that the reflection coefficients can be greater than 1, and in general are not the same for left or right incidence. Within the class of optical potentials of the form v(x) = v1cos (2βx) + iv2sin (2βx) the case v2 = v1 is of particular interest, as it lies on the boundary of PT-symmetry breaking. It has been shown in a recent paper by Lin et al that in this case one has the property of ‘unidirectional invisibility’, while for propagation in the other direction there is a greatly enhanced reflection coefficient proportional to L2, where L is the length of the medium in the direction of propagation. For this potential we show how analytic expressions can be obtained for the various transmission and reflection coefficients, which are expressed in a very succinct form in terms of modified Bessel functions. While our numerical results agree very well with those of Lin et al we find that the invisibility is not quite exact, in amplitude or phase. As a test of our formulas we show that they identically satisfy a modified version of unitarity appropriate for PT-symmetric potentials. We also examine how the enhanced transmission comes about for a wave packet, as opposed to a plane wave, finding that the enhancement now arises through an increase, of O(L), in the pulse length, rather than the amplitude.
121261886
On the equivalence between the impact parameter and transverse momentum space formalisms for the Drell-Yan process
Makes extensive use of the Mellin transform technique to effect the Fourier-Bessel transformation between the impact parameter and transverse momentum space formulations of the Drell-Yan process for qT2<<q2, thereby demonstrating the complete equivalence between the two schemes.