Related papers: Direct detection and characterization of M-dwarf p…
In the past decade, hundreds of exoplanets have been discovered in extremely short orbits below 10 days. Unlike in the Solar System, planets in these systems orbit their host stars close enough to disturb the stellar magnetic field lines.…
Flares are short-lived but energetic manifestations of stellar activity. Studying them is crucial, as they emit intense high-energy radiation that can impact the circumstellar environment, especially the atmospheres of orbiting planets.…
An Earth-like extra-solar planet emits light which is many orders of magnitude fainter than that of the parent star. We propose a method of identifying bio-signature spectral lines in light from known extra-solar planets based on Fourier…
Stellar activity and rotation frustrate the detection of exoplanets through the radial velocity technique. This effect is particularly of concern for M dwarfs, which can remain magnetically active for billions of years. We compile rotation…
All water-covered rocky planets in the inner habitable zones of solar-type stars will inevitably experience a catastrophic runaway climate due to increasing stellar luminosity and limits to outgoing infrared radiation from wet greenhouse…
Light echoes of stellar flares provide an intriguing option for exploring protoplanetary disks in young stellar systems. Previous work on light echoes of circumstellar disks made use of delta-function flares for modeling. We present a new…
Stars are uniform spheres, but only to first order. The way in which stellar rotation and magnetism break this symmetry places important observational constraints on stellar magnetic fields, and factors in the assessment of the impact of…
Direct imaging of extra-solar planets is now a reality, especially with the deployment and commissioning of the first generation of specialized ground-based instruments such as the Gemini Planet Imager and SPHERE. These systems will allow…
M dwarf stars comprise 70-80% of the galaxy's stars and host most of its rocky planets. They also importantly differ from Sunlike stars in that they are "active" for billions of years or more: rotating quickly, flaring often, and emitting…
Flares and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) are important for the evolution of the atmospheres of planets and their potential habitability, particularly for planets orbiting M stars at a distance < 0.4 AU. Detections of CMEs on these stars…
The habitability of planets around M dwarfs ($\lesssim 0.5 M_\odot$) can be affected by the XUV (X rays + extreme UV) emission of these stars, with flares occasionally increasing the XUV flux by more than 2 orders of magnitude above…
We present three new eclipsing white-dwarf / M-dwarf binary systems discovered during a search for transiting planets around M-dwarfs. Unlike most known eclipsing systems of this type, the optical and infrared emission is dominated by the…
We investigate the linear polarization in the light of extrasolar planetary systems that may arise as a result of an occultation of the star by a transiting planet. Such an occultation breaks any spherical symmetry over the projected…
Due to their extremely small luminosity compared to the stars they orbit, planets outside our own Solar System are extraordinarily difficult to detect directly in optical light. Careful photometric monitoring of distant stars, however, can…
One of the promising methods to search for life on extra-solar planets (exoplanets) is to detect life's signatures in their atmospheres. Spectra of exoplanet atmospheres at the modest resolution needed to search for oxygen, carbon dioxide,…
We present exoplanets as new targets to discover Dark Matter (DM). Throughout the Milky Way, DM can scatter, become captured, deposit annihilation energy, and increase the heat flow within exoplanets. We estimate upcoming infrared telescope…
The X-rays and Extreme Ultraviolet (XUV) emission from M stars can drive the atmospheric escape on planets orbiting them. M stars are also known for their frequent emission of stellar flares, which will increase the high-energy flux…
The only way to detect planets around stars at distances of several kpc is by (photometric or astrometric) microlensing observations. In this paper, we show that the capability of photometric microlensing extends to the detection of signals…
Extrasolar planets appear in a chemical diversity unseen in our own solar system. Despite their atmospheres being cold, continuous and transient plasma processes do affect these atmosphere where clouds form with great efficiency. Clouds can…
Due to their higher planet-star mass-ratios, M dwarfs are the easiest targets for detection of low-mass planets orbiting nearby stars using Doppler spectroscopy. Furthermore, because of their low masses and luminosities, Doppler…