Related papers: Measurements of Stellar Inclinations for Kepler Pl…
Mazeh, Holczer, and Shporer (2015) have presented an approach that can, in principle, use the derived transit timing variation (TTV) of some transiting planets observed by the $Kepler$ mission to distinguish between prograde and retrograde…
The Kepler space mission has detected a large number of exoplanets in multiple transiting planet systems. Previous studies found that these Kepler multiple planet systems exhibit an intra-system uniformity, namely planets in the same system…
The recent Kepler discovery of KOI-152 reveals a system of three hot super-Earth candidates that are in or near a 4:2:1 mean motion resonance. It is unlikely that they formed in situ, the planets probably underwent orbital migration during…
Roughly half of Solar-type planet hosts have stellar companions, so understanding how these binary companions affect the formation and evolution of planets is an important component to understanding planetary systems overall. Measuring the…
We investigate the current sample of exoplanet spin-orbit measurements to determine whether a dominant planet migration channel can be identified, and at what confidence. We use the predictions of Kozai migration plus tidal friction…
We investigate whether any multi-planet systems among Kepler candidates (2011 February release) can harbor additional terrestrial-mass planets or smaller bodies. We apply the "packed planetary systems" hypothesis that suggests all planetary…
The rotation of a star and the revolutions of its planets are not necessarily aligned. This article reviews the measurement techniques, key findings, and theoretical interpretations related to the obliquities (spin-orbit angles) of…
We study observational constraints on neutron star (NS) kicks for isolated pulsars and for neutron stars in binary systems. We are particularly interested in the evidence of kick-spin alignment/misalignment and its dependence on the neutron…
We measure the bulk system parameters of the seismically active, rapidly-rotating $\delta$-Scuti KOI-976 and constrain the orbit geometry of its transiting binary companion using a combined approach of asteroseismology and gravity-darkening…
Several methods for identifying Be star candidates are reviewed for observational bias with respect to system inclination, that is the angle between the stellar/disk rotation axis and the observer's line of sight, with focus on two…
The presence of A/F-type {\it Kepler} hybrid stars extending across the entire $\delta$ Sct-$\gamma$ Dor instability strips and beyond remains largely unexplained. In order to better understand these particular stars, we performed a…
The Kepler space telescope leaves a legacy of tens of thousands of stellar rotation period measurements. While many of these stars show strong periodicity, there exists an even bigger fraction of stars with irregular variability for which…
It is widely assumed that a star and its protoplanetary disk are initially aligned, with the stellar equator parallel to the disk plane. When observations reveal a misalignment between stellar rotation and the orbital motion of a planet,…
Stellar variability induce by starspots can hamper the detection of exoplanets and bias planet property estimations. These features can also be used to study star-planet interactions as well as inferring properties from the underlying…
We report the discovery of a compact multi-planet system orbiting the relatively nearby (78pc) and bright ($K=8.9$) K-star, K2-266 (EPIC248435473). We identify up to six possible planets orbiting K2-266 with estimated periods of P$_b$ =…
Although most of the circumbinary planets detected by the Kepler spacecraft are on orbits that are closely aligned with the binary orbital plane, the systems Kepler-413 and Kepler-453 exhibit small misalignments of $\sim 2.5^\circ$. One…
Continued observational characterization of transiting planets that reside in close proximity to their host stars has shown that a substantial fraction of such objects posses orbits that are inclined with respect to the spin axes of their…
In a search of proper motion catalogs for common proper motion stars in the field of the Kepler spacecraft I identified 93 likely binary systems. A comparison of their rotation periods is a test of the gyrochronology concept. To find their…
The present study reports the discovery of Sun-like stars, namely main-sequence stars with $T_{\rm eff}$, $\log g$ and rotation periods $P_{rot}$ similar to solar values, presenting evidence of surface differential rotation. An…
The Sun's equator and the planets' orbital planes are nearly aligned, which is presumably a consequence of their formation from a single spinning gaseous disk. For exoplanetary systems this well-aligned configuration is not guaranteed:…