Comment on "Stellar activity masquerading as planets in the habitable zone of the M dwarf Gliese 581"

Abstract

Robertson et al.(Reports, July 25 2014, p440-444)(1) claimed that activity-induced variability is responsible for the Doppler signal of the proposed planet candidate GJ 581d. We point out that their analysis using periodograms of residual data is incorrect, further promoting inadequate tools. Since the claim challenges the viability of the method to detect exo-Earths, we urge for more appropriate analyses (see appendix).

arXiv comment15 pages, 4 figures. Includes appendix with full re-analysis of the data

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Cited by in corpus (21)

• Gaia DR3 astrometric orbit determination with Markov Chain Monte Carlo and Genetic Algorithms. Systems with stellar, substellar, and planetary mass companions
• Radial-Velocity Fitting Challenge. II. First results of the analysis of the data set
• Stellar activity mimics a habitable-zone planet around Kapteyn's star
• An Earth-sized exoplanet with a Mercury-like composition
• Stacked Bayesian general Lomb-Scargle periodogram: Identifying stellar activity signals
• Color difference makes a difference: four planet candidates around tau Ceti
• The CARMENES search for exoplanets around M dwarfs: A low-mass planet in the temperate zone of the nearby K2-18
• Radial Velocity Planet Detection Biases at the Stellar Rotational Period
• Radial Velocity Fitting Challenge. I. Simulating the data set including realistic stellar radial-velocity signals
• Agatha: disentangling periodic signals from correlated noise in a periodogram framework
• The GAPS Programme at TNG XXVII. Reassessment of a young planetary system with HARPS-N: is the hot Jupiter V830 Tau b really there?
• The Pan-Pacific Planet Search VI: Giant planets orbiting HD 86950 and HD 222076
• No evidence for activity correlations in the radial velocities of Kapteyn's star
• The test case of HD26965: difficulties disentangling weak Doppler signals from stellar activity
• Response to Comment on "Stellar activity masquerading as planets in the habitable zone of the M dwarf Gliese 581"
• High-cadence spectroscopy of M-dwarfs - II. Searching for stellar pulsations with HARPS
• Periodic Halpha variations in GL 581: Further evidence for an activity origin to GL 581d
• Gaussian processes for radial velocity modeling Better rotation periods and planetary parameters with the quasi-periodic kernel and constrained priors
• Photometric rotation periods for 107 M dwarfs from the APACHE survey
• Magnetic properties of Proxima Centauri b analogues
• The CARMENES search for exoplanets around M dwarfs. Revisiting the GJ 581 multi-planetary system with new Doppler measurements from CARMENES, HARPS, and HIRES