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We present here the first observationally based determination of the rate of occurrence of circumbinary planets. This is derived from the publicly available Kepler data, using an automated search algorithm and debiasing process to produce occurrence rates implied by the seven systems already known. These rates depend critically on the planetary inclination distribution: if circumbinary planets are preferentially coplanar with their host binaries, as has been suggested, then the rate of occurrence of planets with R p > 6R ⊕ orbiting with P p < 300 d is 10.0 +18 −6.5 % (95% confidence limits), higher than but consistent with single star rates. If on the other hand the underlying planetary inclination distribution is isotropic, then this occurrence rate rises dramatically, to give a lower limit of 47%. This implies that formation and subsequent dynamical evolution in circumbinary disks must either lead to largely coplanar planets, or proceed with significantly greater ease than in circumstellar disks. As a result of this investigation we also show that giant planets (>10R ⊕ ) are significantly less common in circumbinary orbits than their smaller siblings, and confirm that the proposed shortfall of circumbinary planets orbiting the shorter period binaries in the Kepler sample is a real effect.

We present the discovery of four new transiting hot Jupiters, detected mainly from SuperWASP-North and SOPHIE observations. These new planets, WASP-52b, WASP-58b, WASP-59b, and WASP-60b, have orbital periods ranging from 1.7 to 7.9 days, masses between 0.46 and 0.94 M Jup , and radii between 0.73 and 1.49 R Jup . Their G1 to K5 dwarf host stars have V magnitudes in the range 11.7−13.0. The depths of the transits are between 0.6 and 2.7%, depending on the target. With their large radii, WASP-52b and WASP-58b are new cases of low-density, inflated planets, whereas WASP-59b is likely to have a large, dense core. WASP-60 shows shallow transits. In the case of WASP-52 we also detected the Rossiter-McLaughlin anomaly via time-resolved spectroscopy of a transit. We measured the sky-projected obliquity λ = 24 • +17 −9 , indicating that WASP-52b orbits in the same direction as its host star is rotating and that this prograde orbit is slightly misaligned with the stellar equator. These four new planetary systems increase our statistics on hot Jupiters and provide new targets for follow-up studies.

We present 2271 radial velocity measurements taken on 118 single-line binary stars, taken over eight years with the CORALIE spectrograph. The binaries consist of F/G/K primaries and M dwarf secondaries. They were initially discovered photometrically by the WASP planet survey, as their shallow eclipses mimic a hot Jupiter transit. The observations we present permit a precise characterisation of the binary orbital elements and mass function. With modelling of the primary star, this mass function is converted to a mass of the secondary star. In the future, this spectroscopic work will be combined with precise photometric eclipses to draw an empirical mass/radius relation for the bottom of the mass sequence. This has applications in both stellar astrophysics and the growing number of exoplanet surveys around M dwarfs. In particular, we have discovered 34 systems with a secondary mass below 0.2 M , and so we will ultimately double the number of known very low-mass stars with well-characterised masses and radii. The quality of our data combined with the amplitude of the Doppler variations mean that we are able to detect eccentricities as small as 0.001 and orbital periods to sub-second precision. Our sample can revisit some earlier work on the tidal evolution of close binaries, extending it to low mass ratios. We find some exceptional binary systems that are eccentric at orbital periods below three days, while our longest circular orbit has a period of 10.4 days. Amongst our systems, we note one remarkable architecture in J1146-42 that boasts three stars within one astronomical unit. By collating the EBLM binaries with published WASP planets and brown dwarfs, we derive a mass spectrum with twice the resolution of previous work. We compare the WASP/EBLM sample of tightly bound orbits with work in the literature on more distant companions up to 10 AU. We note that the brown dwarf desert appears wider, as it carves into the planetary domain for our short-period orbits. This would mean that a significantly reduced abundance of planets begins at ∼3 M Jup , well before the deuterium-burning limit. This may shed light on the formation and migration history of massive gas giants.

We present the results of a survey using the WASP archive to search for high frequency pulsations in F-, A-and B-type stars. Over 1.5 million targets have been searched for pulsations with amplitudes greater than 0.5 millimagnitude. We identify over 350 stars which pulsate with periods less than 30 min. Spectroscopic follow-up of selected targets has enabled us to confirm 10 new rapidly oscillating Ap stars, 13 pulsating Am stars and the fastest known δ Scuti star. We also observe stars which show pulsations in both the high-frequency domain and in the low-frequency δ Scuti range. This work shows the power of the WASP photometric survey to find variable stars with amplitudes well below the nominal photometric precision per observation.

We have combined the Kepler Eclipsing Binary Catalogue with information from the HES, KIS and 2MASS photometric surveys to produce spectral energy distribution fits to over 2600 eclipsing binaries in the catalogue over a wavelength range of 0.36 to 2.16Å. We present primary (T 1 ) and secondary (T 2 ) stellar temperatures, plus information on the stellar radii and system distance ratios. The derived temperatures are on average accurate to 370K in T 1 and 620K in T 2 . Our results improve on the similarly derived physical parameters of the Kepler Input Catalogue through consideration of both stars of the binary system rather than a single star model, and inclusion of additional U band photometry. We expect these results to aid future uses of the Kepler Eclipsing Binary data, both in target selection and to inform users of the extremely high precision light curves available. We do not include surface gravities or system metallicities, as these were found to have an insignificant effect on the observed photometric bands.

This paper introduces a series of papers aiming to study the dozens of low-mass eclipsing binaries (EBLM), with F, G, K primaries, that have been discovered in the course of the WASP survey. Our objects are mostly single-line binaries whose eclipses have been detected by WASP and were initially followed up as potential planetary transit candidates. These have bright primaries, which facilitates spectroscopic observations during transit and allows the study of the spin-orbit distribution of F, G, K+M eclipsing binaries through the Rossiter-McLaughlin effect. Here we report on the spin-orbit angle of WASP-30b, a transiting brown dwarf, and improve its orbital parameters. We also present the mass, radius, spin-orbit angle and orbital parameters of a new eclipsing binary, J1219-39b (1SWAPJ121921.03-395125.6, TYC 7760-484-1), which, with a mass of 95±2 M jup , is close to the limit between brown dwarfs and stars. We find that both objects have projected spin-orbit angles aligned with their primaries' rotation. Neither primaries are synchronous. J1219-39b has a modestly eccentric orbit and is in agreement with the theoretical mass-radius relationship, whereas WASP-30b lies above it.

We report on three new transiting hot Jupiter planets, discovered from the WASP surveys, which we combine with radial velocities from OHP/SOPHIE and Euler/CORALIE and photometry from Euler and TRAPPIST. The planets WASP-76b, WASP-82b, and WASP-90b are all inflated, with radii of 1.7-1.8 R Jup . All three orbit hot stars, of type F5-F7, with orbits of 1.8-3.9 d, and all three stars have evolved, post-main-sequence radii (1.7-2.2 R ). Thus the three planets fit a known trend of hot Jupiters that receive high levels of irradiation being highly inflated. We caution, though, about the presence of a selection effect, in that non-inflated planets around ∼2 R post-MS stars can often produce transits too shallow to be detected by the ground-based surveys that have found the majority of transiting hot Jupiters.