Related papers: A comprehensive statistical assessment of star-pla…
Upcoming missions, including the James Webb Space Telescope, will soon characterize the atmospheres of terrestrial-type exoplanets in habitable zones around cool K- and M-type stars searching for atmospheric biosignatures. Recent…
Binary-single and binary-binary encounters play a pivotal role in the evolution of star clusters, as they may lead to the disruption or hardening of binaries, a novel prediction of the Hills-Heggie law. Based on our recent {\it Chandra}…
To fully leverage the statistical strength of the large number of planets found by projects such as the Kepler survey, the properties of planets and their host stars must be measured as accurately as possible. One key population for planet…
In this work we study the effect of disequilibrium processes on mixing ratio profiles of neutral species and on the simulated spectra of a hot Jupiter exoplanet that orbits stars of different spectral types. We also address the impact of…
The well-known correlation between stellar metallicity and planet occurrence is strongest for giant planets, but weaker for smaller planets, suggesting that detailed elemental patterns beyond [Fe/H] may be relevant. Using abundances from…
We examine the dynamical properties of interacting galaxies and the properties of shocked gas produced as a result of the interaction. We observed 22 galaxy mergers using the SparsePak IFU at Kitt Peak National Observatory (KPNO). The goal…
Stellar magnetic activity is an important factor in the formation and evolution of exoplanets. Magnetic phenomena like stellar flares, coronal mass ejections, and high-energy emission affect the exoplanetary atmosphere and its mass loss…
We present a statistical analysis of the first 300 stars observed by the Gemini Planet Imager Exoplanet Survey (GPIES). This subsample includes six detected planets and three brown dwarfs; from these detections and our contrast curves we…
We present a population study of 20 exoplanets, ranging from Neptune-like to inflated hot-Jupiter planets, observed during transit with the STIS and WFC3 instruments aboard the Hubble Space Telescope. To obtain spectral information from the…
The surface rotations of some red giants are so fast that they must have been spun up by tidal interaction with a close companion, either another star, a brown dwarf, or a planet. We focus here on the case of red giants that are spun up by…
X-ray observations provide a key tool for exploring the properties of galactic coronae and their formation processes. In an earlier paper, we have presented a Chandra data analysis of the coronae of 53 nearby highly-inclined disc galaxies.…
Galaxy interactions and mergers are thought to play an important role in the evolution of galaxies. Studies in the nearby universe show a higher AGN fraction in interacting and merging galaxies than their isolated counterparts, indicating…
Pioneering photometric, astrometric, and spectroscopic surveys are helping exoplanetary scientists better constrain the fundamental properties of stars within our galaxy, and the planets these stars host. In this study, we use the third…
Nearby companions alter the evolution of massive stars in binary systems. Using a sample of Galactic massive stars in nearby young clusters, we simultaneously measure all intrinsic binary characteristics relevant to quantify the frequency…
One core goal of the Kepler mission was to determine the frequency of Earth-like planets that orbit Sun-like stars. Accurately estimating this planet occurrence rate requires both a well-vetted list of planets and a clear understanding of…
Analyses of exoplanet statistics suggest a trend of giant planet occurrence with host star mass, a clue to how planets like Jupiter form. One missing piece of the puzzle is the occurrence around late K dwarf stars (masses of 0.5-0.75Msun…
Giant planets orbiting main-sequence stars closer than 0.1 AU are called hot Jupiters. They interact with their stars affecting their angular momentum. Recent observations provide suggestive evidence of excess angular momentum in stars with…
We carried out a statistical analysis of galaxy pairs in hydrodynamical Lambda-CDM simulations. We focused on the triggering of star formation by interactions and analysed the enhancement of star formation activity in terms of orbital…
We present 3D MHD simulations of the wind-wind interactions between a solar type star and a short period hot Jupiter exoplanet. This is the first such simulation in which the stellar surface evolution is studied in detail. In our…
The effect of galaxy interactions on star formation has been investigated using Data Release 1 of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS). Both the imaging and spectroscopy data products have been used to construct a catalogue of nearest…