Related papers: Investigations of approximate expressions for the …
The light curve of an exoplanetary transit can be used to estimate the planetary radius and other parameters of interest. Because accurate parameter estimation is a non-analytic and computationally intensive problem, it is often useful to…
The light curve of an exoplanetary transit can be used to estimate the planetary radius and other parameters of interest. Because accurate parameter estimation is a non-analytic and computationally intensive problem, it is often useful to…
Transiting planet lightcurves have historically been used predominantly for measuring the depth and hence ratio of the planet-star radii, p. Equations have been previously presented by Seager & Mallen-Ornelas (2003) for the analysis of the…
Systems of two gravitationally bound exoplanets orbiting a common barycenter outside their physical radii ("binary planets") may result from tidal capture during planet-planet scattering. These objects are expected to form in tight orbits…
We present exact analytic formulae for the eclipse of a star described by quadratic or nonlinear limb darkening. In the limit that the planet radius is less than a tenth of the stellar radius, we show that the exact lightcurve can be well…
Stellar activity features such as spots can create complications in determining planetary parameters through spectroscopic and photometric observations. The overlap of a transiting planet and a stellar spot, for instance, can produce…
In this paper a set of analytic formulae are presented with which the partial derivatives of the flux obscuration function can be evaluated -- for planetary transits and eclipsing binaries -- under the assumption of quadratic limb…
We present a new few-parameter phenomenological model of light curves of eclipsing binaries and stars with transiting planets that is able to fit the observed light curves with the accuracy better than 1\% of their amplitudes. The model can…
Reliable estimations of ephemeris errors are fundamental for the follow-up of CoRoT candidates. An equation for the precision of minimum times, originally developed for eclipsing binaries, has been optimized for CoRoT photometry and been…
In this paper, we discuss an approximation strategy for solving the Linear Quadratic Tracking that is both forward and local in time. We exploit the known form of the value function along with a time reversal transformation that nicely…
We demonstrate how measuring orbital period derivatives can lead to more accurate distance estimates and transverse velocities for some nearby binary pulsars. In many cases this method will estimate distances more accurately than is…
Accurate quantification of the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of a given observational phenomenon is central to associated calculations of sensitivity, yield, completeness and occurrence rate. Within the field of exoplanets, the SNR of a…
There is a unique solution of the planet and star parameters from a planet transit light curve with two or more transits if the planet has a circular orbit and the light curve is observed in a band pass where limb darkening is negligible.…
The observed properties of transiting exoplanets are an exceptionally rich source of information that allows us to understand and characterize their physical properties. Unfortunately, only a relatively small fraction of the known…
We derive analytic, closed-form solutions for the light curve of a planet transiting a star with a limb darkening profile which is a polynomial function of the stellar elevation, up to arbitrary integer order. We provide improved analytic…
Measuring the stellar rotation of one of the components in eclipsing binaries (EBs) or planetary systems is a challenging task. The difficulty is mainly due to the complexity of analyzing, in the same light curve, the signal from the…
A significant fraction of an exoplanet transit model evaluation time is spent calculating projected distances between the planet and its host star. This is a relatively fast operation for a circular orbit, but slower for an eccentric one.…
The transit technique is responsible for the majority of exoplanet discoveries to date. Characterizing these planets involves careful modeling of their transit profiles. A common technique involves expressing the transit duration using a…
The depth of an exoplanetary transit in the light curve of a distant star is commonly approximated as the squared planet-to-star radius ratio, (R_p/R_s)^2. Stellar limb darkening, however, results in significantly deeper transits. Here we…
Abstract abridged. Eclipsing binary systems provide the opportunity to measure the fundamental parameters of their component stars in a stellar-model-independent way. This makes them ideal candidates for testing and calibrating theories of…