Long-Term Evolution in Transit Duration of Extrasolar Planets from Magnetic Activity in their Parent Stars
arXiv:0807.0835 · doi:10.1016/j.newast.2008.10.009
Abstract
Existing upper limits on variations in the photospheric radius of the Sun during the solar magnetic activity cycle are at a fractional amplitude of 2x10^{-4}. At that level, the transit duration of a close-in planet around a Sun-like star could change by a fraction of a second per year. This magnitude of variation is larger than that caused by other studied effects (owing to proper motion or general-relativistic effects), and should be included in the analysis of constraints on multi-planet systems from transit timing. A temporal correlation between the transit duration and spectroscopic measures of stellar activity can be used to separate the stellar radius change from other effects. The magnetic activity effect could be significantly larger for late-type stars, such as M-dwarfs, which are more variable than the Sun. In general, precision transit measurements provide a new tool for measuring long-term variations of stellar radii.
5 pages, accepted for publication in New Astronomy
References in corpus (15)
- DHP Framework: Digital Health Passports Using Blockchain -- Use case on international tourism during the COVID-19 pandemic
- On detecting terrestrial planets with timing of giant planet transits
- Orbital perturbations on transiting planets: A possible method to measure stellar quadrupoles and to detect Earth-mass planets
- Activity and Kinematics of Ultracool Dwarfs Including An Amazing Flare Observation
- Using long-term transit timing to detect terrestrial planets
- An analysis of the transit times of TrES-1b
- A ~5 M_earth Super-Earth Orbiting GJ 436?: The Power of Near-Grazing Transits
- A limit on the presence of Earth-mass planets around a Sun-like star
- Changes in the subsurface stratification of the Sun with the 11-year activity cycle
- MOST Spacebased Photometry of the Transiting Exoplanet System HD 189733: Precise Timing Measurements for Transits Across an Active Star
- Temporal Variations in the Sun's Rotational Kinetic Energy
- Stellar proper motion and the timing of planetary transits
- MOST Spacebased Photometry of the Transiting Exoplanet System HD 209458: Transit Timing to Search for Additional Planets
- Variability and periodicity of field M dwarfs revealed by multichannel monitoring
- Rotational Modulation of M/L Dwarfs due to Magnetic Spots