Radio-Loud Exoplanet-Exomoon Survey (RLEES): GMRT Search for Electron Cyclotron Maser Emission

Abstract

We conducted the first dedicated search for signatures of exoplanet-exomoon interactions using the Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope (GMRT) as part of the radio-loud exoplanet-exomoon survey (RLEES). Due to stellar tidal heating, irradiation, and subsequent atmospheric escape, candidate `exo-Io' systems are expected to emit up to $10^6$ times more plasma flux than the Jupiter-Io DC circuit. This can induce detectable radio emission from the exoplanet-exomoon system. We analyze three `exo-Io' candidate stars: WASP-49, HAT-P 12, and HD 189733. We perform 12-hour phase-curve observations of WASP-49b at 400 MHz during primary $\&$ secondary transit, as well as first $\&$ third quadratures achieving a 3$\sigma$ upper-limit of 0.18 mJy/beam averaged over four days. HAT-P~12 was observed with GMRT at 150 and 325 MHz. We further analyzed the archival data of HD 189733 at 325 MHz. No emission was detected from the three systems. However, we place strong upper limits on radio flux density. Given that most exo-Io candidates orbit hot Saturns, we encourage more multiwavelength searches (in particular low frequencies) to span the lower range of exoplanet B-field strengths constrained here.

7 pages, 3 figures, accepted for publication in The Astronomical Journal

References in corpus (18)

• Estimating distances from parallaxes. V: Geometric and photogeometric distances to 1.47 billion stars in Gaia Early Data Release 3
• Spectrally resolved detection of sodium in the atmosphere of HD189733b with the HARPS spectrograph
• A new equation of state for dense hydrogen-helium mixtures
• HAT-P-12b: A Low-Density Sub-Saturn Mass Planet Transiting a Metal-Poor K Dwarf
• Coherent radio emission from a quiescent red dwarf indicative of star-planet interaction
• WASP-42 b and WASP-49 b: two new transiting sub-Jupiters
• Magnetic field strengths of hot Jupiters from signals of star-planet interactions
• The search for radio emission from the exoplanetary systems 55 Cancri, $\upsilon$ Andromedae, and $\tau$ Boötis using LOFAR beam-formed observations
• The population of M dwarfs observed at low radio frequencies
• Estimating the magnetic field strength in hot Jupiters
• No Evidence for Lunar Transit in New Analysis of Hubble Space Telescope Observations of the Kepler-1625 System
• CAPTURE: A continuum imaging pipeline for the uGMRT
• Monitoring the radio emission of Proxima Centauri
• An alternative interpretation of the exomoon candidate signal in the combined Kepler and Hubble data of Kepler-1625
• Alkaline Exospheres of Exoplanet Systems: Evaporative Transmission Spectra
• In search of radio emission from exoplanets: GMRT observations of the binary system HD~41004
• Determining the beaming of Io decametric emissions : a remote diagnostic to probe the Io-Jupiter interaction
• A statistical search for Star-Planet Interaction in the UltraViolet using GALEX

Cited by in corpus (4)

• Follow-up LOFAR observations of the $\tau$ Boötis exoplanetary system
• uGMRT observations of the hot-Saturn WASP 69b: Radio-Loud Exoplanet-Exomoon Survey II (RLEES II)
• Stability and detectability of exomoons orbiting HIP 41378 f, a temperate Jovian planet with an anomalously low apparent density
• Direct detectability of tidally heated exomoons by photometric orbital modulation