Direct Imaging Confirmation and Characterization of a Dust-Enshrouded Candidate Exoplanet Orbiting Fomalhaut

Currie, Thayne; Debes, John H.; Rodigas, Timothy J.; Burrows, Adam; Itoh, Yoichi; Fukagawa, Misato; Kenyon, Scott J.; Kuchner, Marc J.; Matsumura, Soko

doi:10.1088/2041-8205/760/2/l32

Cited by 156 publications

(232 citation statements)

References 30 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

216

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…The upper limit is further tightened by these new observations, and in the meantime, several studies have strengthened the reflected light hypothesis by recovering the point source at yet shorter wavelengths than the original detection (Currie et al 2012;Galicher et al 2013;Kalas et al 2013). Several studies have been performed for placing constraints on the physical characteristics and origin of Fomalhaut b (e.g., Beust et al 2014;Kenyon et al 2014;Tamayo 2014), but nonetheless, further observational input would be highly useful to better understand this intriguing object.…”

Section: Fomalhautmentioning

confidence: 95%

High-contrast imaging withSpitzer: deep observations of Vega, Fomalhaut, andϵEridani

Janson

Quanz

Carson

et al. 2015

A&A

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Stars with debris disks are intriguing targets for direct-imaging exoplanet searches, owing both to previous detections of wide planets in debris disk systems, and to commonly existing morphological features in the disks themselves that may be indicative of a planetary influence. Here we present observations of three of the most nearby young stars, which are also known to host massive debris disks: Vega, Fomalhaut, and Eri. The Spitzer Space Telescope is used at a range of orientation angles for each star to supply a deep contrast through angular differential imaging combined with high-contrast algorithms. The observations provide the opportunity to probe substantially colder bound planets (120-330 K) than is possible with any other technique or instrument. For Vega, some apparently very red candidate point sources detected in the 4.5 μm image remain to be tested for common proper motion. The images are sensitive to ∼2 M jup companions at 150 AU in this system. The observations presented here represent the first search for planets around Vega using Spitzer. The upper 4.5 μm flux limit on Fomalhaut b could be further constrained relative to previous data. In the case of Eri, planets below both the effective temperature and the mass of Jupiter could be probed from 80 AU and outward, although no such planets were found. The data sensitively probe the regions around the edges of the debris rings in the systems where planets can be expected to reside. These observations validate previous results showing that more than an order of magnitude improvement in performance in the contrast-limited regime can be acquired with respect to conventional methods by applying sophisticated high-contrast techniques to space-based telescopes, thanks to the high degree of PSF stability provided in this environment.

show abstract

Section: Fomalhautmentioning

confidence: 95%

High-contrast imaging withSpitzer: deep observations of Vega, Fomalhaut, andϵEridani

Janson

Quanz

Carson

et al. 2015

A&A

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…An exoplanet candidate around another massive star, Fomalhaut (2.0 M Sun ; ∼200 Myr; Kalas et al 2008), has been detected at optical wavelengths. The images were reanalyzed by Galicher et al (2013) and Currie et al (2012), who recovered the point source at an additional wavelength. In addition, new optical images were recently presented with a report of an eccentric orbit (Kalas et al 2013).…”

Section: Previously Imaged Planet Candidatesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Direct Imaging of a Cold Jovian Exoplanet in Orbit Around the Sun-Like Star Gj 504

Kuzuhara

Tamura

Kudo

et al. 2013

ApJ

222

170

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Direct Imaging of a Cold Jovian Exoplanet in Orbit around the Sun-like Star GJ 504Kuzuhara, M.; et al., [Unknown]; Thalmann, C.D. General rightsIt is not permitted to download or to forward/distribute the text or part of it without the consent of the author(s) and/or copyright holder(s), other than for strictly personal, individual use, unless the work is under an open content license (like Creative Commons). Disclaimer/Complaints regulationsIf you believe that digital publication of certain material infringes any of your rights or (privacy) interests, please let the Library know, stating your reasons. In case of a legitimate complaint, the Library will make the material inaccessible and/or remove it from the website. Please Ask the Library: http://uba.uva.nl/en/contact, or a letter to: Library of the University of Amsterdam, Secretariat, Singel 425, 1012 WP Amsterdam, The Netherlands. You will be contacted as soon as possible. Download date: 13 May 2018The Astrophysical Journal, 774:11 (18pp) ABSTRACT Several exoplanets have recently been imaged at wide separations of >10 AU from their parent stars. These span a limited range of ages (<50 Myr) and atmospheric properties, with temperatures of 800-1800 K and very red colors (J − H > 0.5 mag), implying thick cloud covers. Furthermore, substantial model uncertainties exist at these young ages due to the unknown initial conditions at formation, which can lead to an order of magnitude of uncertainty in the modeled planet mass. Here, we report the direct-imaging discovery of a Jovian exoplanet around the Sun-like star GJ 504, detected as part of the SEEDS survey. The system is older than all other known directly imaged planets; as a result, its estimated mass remains in the planetary regime independent of uncertainties related to choices of initial conditions in the exoplanet modeling. Using the most common exoplanet cooling model, and given the system age of 160 +350 −60 Myr, GJ 504b has an estimated mass of 4 +4.5 −1.0 Jupiter masses, among the lowest of directly imaged planets. Its projected separation of 43.5 AU exceeds the typical outer boundary of ∼30 AU predicted for the core accretion mechanism. GJ 504b is also significantly cooler (510 +30 −20 K) and has a bluer color (J − H = −0.23 mag) than previously imaged exoplanets, suggesting a largely cloud-free atmosphere accessible to spectroscopic characterization. Thus, it has the potential of providing novel insights into the origins of giant planets as well as their atmospheric properties.

show abstract

“…In contrast, less-massive exoplanets at wide separations remain extremely scarce: only two known companions to stellar primaries are likely to have masses less than 5 M J : GJ 504b (Kuzuhara et al 2013), and HD 95086b (Rameau et al 2013). LkCa 15b (Kraus & Ireland 2012) and, especially, Fomalhaut b (Kalas et al 2008;Janson et al 2012;Currie et al 2012) may also fall into this category, though their natures remain unclear. The paucity of known ∼3-5 M J companions might indicate a lack of planets rather than simply our inability to detect them.…”

Section: A Tail Of Two Distributionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Statistical Analysis of Seeds and Other High-Contrast Exoplanet Surveys: Massive Planets or Low-Mass Brown Dwarfs?

Brandt¹,

McElwain²,

Turner³

et al. 2014

ApJ

134

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

We conduct a statistical analysis of a combined sample of direct imaging data, totalling nearly 250 stars. The stars cover a wide range of ages and spectral types, and include five detections (κ And b, two ∼60 M J brown dwarf companions in the Pleiades, PZ Tel B, and CD−35 2722B). For some analyses we add a currently unpublished set of SEEDS observations, including the detections GJ 504b and GJ 758B. We conduct a uniform, Bayesian analysis of all stellar ages using both membership in a kinematic moving group and activity/rotation age indicators. We then present a new statistical method for computing the likelihood of a substellar distribution function. By performing most of the integrals analytically, we achieve an enormous speedup over brute-force Monte Carlo. We use this method to place upper limits on the maximum semimajor axis of the distribution function derived from radialvelocity planets, finding model-dependent values of ∼30-100 AU. Finally, we model the entire substellar sample, from massive brown dwarfs to a theoretically motivated cutoff at ∼5 M J , with a single power-law distribution. We find that p(M, a) ∝ M −0.65±0.60 a −0.85±0.39 (1σ errors) provides an adequate fit to our data, with 1.0%-3.1% (68% confidence) of stars hosting 5-70 M J companions between 10 and 100 AU. This suggests that many of the directly imaged exoplanets known, including most (if not all) of the low-mass companions in our sample, formed by fragmentation in a cloud or disk, and represent the low-mass tail of the brown dwarfs.

show abstract

Direct Imaging Confirmation and Characterization of a Dust-Enshrouded Candidate Exoplanet Orbiting Fomalhaut

Cited by 156 publications

References 30 publications

High-contrast imaging withSpitzer: deep observations of Vega, Fomalhaut, andϵEridani

High-contrast imaging withSpitzer: deep observations of Vega, Fomalhaut, andϵEridani

Direct Imaging of a Cold Jovian Exoplanet in Orbit Around the Sun-Like Star Gj 504

A Statistical Analysis of Seeds and Other High-Contrast Exoplanet Surveys: Massive Planets or Low-Mass Brown Dwarfs?

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About