Publications (18)
Formation and Detection of Earth Mass Planets around Low Mass Stars
Ryan Montgomery, Greg Laughlin
We investigate an in-situ formation scenario for Earth-mass terrestrial planets in short-period, potentially habitable orbits around low-mass stars (M_star < 0.3 M_sun). We then in…
Planet Formation Imager (PFI): science vision and key requirements
Stefan Kraus, John D. Monnier, Michael J. Ireland +75
The Planet Formation Imager (PFI) project aims to provide a strong scientific vision for ground-based optical astronomy beyond the upcoming generation of Extremely Large Telescopes…
Improving Transit Predictions of Known Exoplanets with TERMS
Stephen R. Kane, David Ciardi, Debra Fischer +7
Transiting planet discoveries have largely been restricted to the short-period or low-periastron distance regimes due to the bias inherent in the geometric transit probability. Thr…
System Geometries and Transit / Eclipse Probabilities
Kaspar von Braun, Stephen R. Kane, Suvrath Mahadevan +3
Transiting exoplanets provide access to data to study the mass-radius relation and internal structure of extrasolar planets. Long-period transiting planets allow insight into plane…
The Gravitational Demise of Cold Degenerate Stars
Fred C. Adams, Greg Laughlin, Manasse Mbonye +1
We consider the long term fate and evolution of cold degenerate stars under the action of gravity alone. Although such stars cannot emit radiation through the Hawking mechanism, th…
Exploring Trans-Neptunian Space with TESS: A Targeted Shift-Stacking Search for Planet Nine and Distant TNOs in the Galactic Plane
Malena Rice, Greg Laughlin
We present results from a new pipeline custom-designed to search for faint, undiscovered solar system bodies using full-frame image data from the NASA Transiting Exoplanet Survey S…
State of the Field: Extreme Precision Radial Velocities
Debra Fischer, Guillem Anglada-Escude, Pamela Arriagada +53
The Second Workshop on Extreme Precision Radial Velocities defined circa 2015 the state of the art Doppler precision and identified the critical path challenges for reaching 10 cm/…
Migration and Dynamical Relaxation in Crowded Systems of Giant Planets
Fred C. Adams, Greg Laughlin
This paper explores the intermediate-time dynamics of newly formed solar systems with a focus on possible mechanisms for planetary migration. We consider two limiting corners of th…
Turning Earth into Venus: A Stochastic Model of Possible Evolutions of Terrestrial Topography
Arthur D. Adams, Greg Laughlin
Venus may have had both an Earth-like climate as well as extensive water oceans and active (or incipient) plate tectonics for an extended interval of its history. The topographical…
When Extrasolar Planets Transit Their Parent Stars
David Charbonneau, Timothy M. Brown, Adam Burrows +1
When extrasolar planets are observed to transit their parent stars, we are granted unprecedented access to their physical properties. It is only for transiting planets that we are…
The Lick-Carnegie Exoplanet Survey: A Saturn-Mass Planet in the Habitable Zone of the Nearby M4V Star HIP 57050
Nader Haghighipour, Steven S. Vogt, R. Paul Butler +4
Precision radial velocities from Keck/HIRES reveal a Saturn-mass planet orbiting the nearby M4V star HIP 57050. The planet has a minimum mass of 0.3 Jupiter-mass, an orbital period…
A long-period planet orbiting a nearby Sun-like star
Hugh R. A. Jones, R. Paul Butler, C. G. Tinney +10
The Doppler wobble induced by the extra-solar planet HD 134987b was first detected by data from the Keck Telescope nearly a decade ago, and was subsequently confirmed by data from…
APF - The Lick Observatory Automated Planet Finder
Steven S. Vogt, Matthew Radovan, Robert Kibrick +45
The Automated Planet Finder (APF) is a facility purpose-built for the discovery and characterization of extrasolar planets through high-cadence Doppler velocimetry of the reflex ba…
The capabilities and performance of the Automated Planet Finder Telescope with the implementation of a dynamic scheduler
Jennifer Burt, Bradford Holden, Russell Hanson +5
We report initial performance results emerging from 600 hours of observations with the Automated Planet Finder (APF) telescope and Levy Spectrometer located at UCO/Lick Observatory…
A Neptune-Mass Planet Orbiting the Nearby M Dwarf GJ 436
Paul Butler, Steven S. Vogt, Geoffrey W. Marcy +5
We report precise Doppler measurements of GJ 436 (M2.5V) obtained at Keck Observatory. The velocities reveal a planetary companion with orbital period of 2.644 d, eccentricity of 0…
Implications of White Dwarf Galactic Halos
Fred C. Adams, Greg Laughlin
Motivated by recent measurements which suggest that roughly half the mass of the galactic halo may be in the form of white dwarfs, we study the implications of such a halo. We firs…
Five Planets Orbiting 55 Cancri
Debra A. Fischer, Geoffrey W. Marcy, R. Paul Butler +9
We report 18 years of Doppler shift measurements of a nearby star, 55 Cancri, that exhibit strong evidence for five orbiting planets. The four previously reported planets are stron…
A Planet at 5 AU Around 55 Cancri
Geoffrey W. Marcy, R. Paul Butler, Debra A. Fischer +4
We report precise Doppler shift measurements of 55 Cancri (G8V) obtained from 1989 to 2002 at Lick Observatory. The velocities reveal evidence for an outer planetary companion to 5…