Towards Extremely Precise Radial Velocities: I. Simulated Solar Spectra for Testing Exoplanet Detection Algorithms

Abstract

Recent and upcoming stabilized spectrographs are pushing the frontier for Doppler spectroscopy to detect and characterize low-mass planets. Specifications for these instruments are so impressive that intrinsic stellar variability is expected to limit their Doppler precision for most target stars (Fischer et al. 2016). To realize their full potential, astronomers must develop new strategies for distinguishing true Doppler shifts from intrinsic stellar variability. Stellar variability due to star spots, faculae and other rotationally-linked variability are particularly concerning, as the stellar rotation period is often included in the range of potential planet orbital periods. To robustly detect and accurately characterize low-mass planets via Doppler planet surveys, the exoplanet community must develop statistical models capable of jointly modeling planetary perturbations and intrinsic stellar variability. Towards this effort, this note presents simulations of extremely high resolution, solar-like spectra created with SOAP 2.0 (arXiv:1409.3594) that includes multiple evolving star spots. We anticipate this data set will contribute to future studies developing, testing, and comparing statistical methods for measuring physical radial velocities amid contamination by stellar variability.

arXiv comment3 pages, 1 figure, published in RNAAS

References in corpus (6)

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Cited by in corpus (10)

• The EXPRES Stellar Signals Project II. State of the Field in Disentangling Photospheric Velocities
• Toward Extremely Precise Radial Velocities: II. A Tool For Using Multivariate Gaussian Processes to Model Stellar Activity
• Impact of Correlated Noise on the Mass Precision of Earth-analog Planets in Radial Velocity Surveys
• $\text{GRASS}$: Distinguishing Planet-induced Doppler Signatures from Granulation with a Synthetic Spectra Generator
• Fishing for Planets: A Comparative Analysis of EPRV Survey Performance in the Presence of Correlated Noise
• FIESTA II. Disentangling stellar and instrumental variability from exoplanetary Doppler shifts in Fourier domain
• Closeby Habitable Exoplanet Survey (CHES). I. Astrometric Noise and Planetary Detection Efficiency due to Stellar Spots and Faculae
• GRASS II: Simulations of Potential Granulation Noise Mitigation Methods
• A Stellar Activity F-statistic for Exoplanet Surveys (SAFE)
• Discovery of a Nearby Habitable Zone Super-Earth Candidate Amenable to Direct Imaging