Related papers: Absolute masses and radii determination in multipl…
The analysis of the CoRoT space mission data was performed aiming to test a method that selects, among the several light curves observed, the transiting systems that likely host a low-mass star orbiting the main target. The method…
We present an updated analysis of LHS 6343, a triple system in the Kepler field which consists of a brown dwarf transiting one member of a widely-separated M+M binary system. By analyzing the full Kepler dataset and 34 Keck/HIRES radial…
Precise and accurate mass and radius measurements of evolved stars are crucial to calibrating stellar models. Stars in detached eclipsing binaries (EBs) are excellent potential calibrators because their stellar parameters can be measured…
Previous work has established the enhanced occurrence of compact systems of multiple small exoplanets around metal-poor stars. Understanding the origin of this effect in the planet formation process is a topic of ongoing research. Here we…
The NASA Kepler mission is designed to find planets through transits. Accurate and precise radii of the detected planets depend on knowing the radius of the host star accurately, which is difficult unless the temperature and luminosity of…
By observing the transits of exoplanets, one may determine many fundamental system parameters. I review current techniques and results for the parameters that can be measured with the greatest precision, specifically, the transit times, the…
Accounting for stellar activity is a crucial component of the search for ever-smaller planets orbiting stars of all spectral types. We use Doppler imaging methods to demonstrate that starspot induced radial velocity variability can be…
Precise measurements of stellar parameters are required in order to develop our theoretical understanding of stellar structure. These measurements enable errors and uncertainties to be quantified in theoretical models and constrain the…
We present a novel method to determine eccentricity constraints of extrasolar planets in systems with multiple transiting planets through photometry alone. Our method is highly model independent, making no assumptions about the stellar…
Stellar mass plays a central role in our understanding of star formation and aging. Stellar astronomy is largely based on two maps, both dependent on mass, either indirectly or directly: the Hertzprung-Russell Diagram (HRD) and the…
The Kepler mission has discovered a large number of planetary systems. We analyze the implications of the discovered single/multi-exoplanet systems from Kepler's data. As done in previous works, we test a simple model in which the intrinsic…
Doppler spectroscopy is a powerful tool for discovering and characterizing exoplanets. For decades, the standard approach to extracting radial velocities (RVs) has been to cross-correlate observed spectra with a weighted template mask.…
All extra-solar planet masses that have been derived spectroscopically are lower limits since the inclination of the orbit to our line-of-sight is unknown except for transiting systems. It is, however, possible to determine the inclination…
We obtain full information on the orbital parameters by combining radial velocity and astrometric measurements by means of Bayesian inference. We sample the parameter probability densities of orbital model parameters with a Markov chain…
Observations of stellar surfaces - except for the Sun - are hampered by their tiny angular extent, while observed spectral lines are smeared by averaging over the stellar surface, and by stellar rotation. Exoplanet transits can be used to…
Detection of Jupiter mass companions to nearby solar type stars with precise radial velocity measurements is now routine, and Doppler surveys are moving towards lower velocity amplitudes. The detection of several Neptune-mass planets with…
Future surveys for transiting extrasolar planets, including the space-based mission Kepler (Borucki et al 2003), are expected to detect hundreds of Jovian mass planets and tens of terrestrial mass planets. For many of these newly discovered…
Among the group of extrasolar planets, transiting planets provide a great opportunity to obtain direct measurements for the basic physical properties, such as mass and radius of these objects. These planets are therefore highly important in…
In the blooming field of exoplanetary science, NASA's Kepler Space Telescope has revolutionized our understanding of exoplanets. Kepler's very precise and long-duration photometry is ideal for detecting planetary transits around Sun-like…
Unlike hot Jupiters or other gas giants, super-Earths are expected to have a wide variety of compositions, ranging from terrestrial bodies like our own to more gaseous planets like Neptune. Observations of transiting systems, which allow us…