Related papers: Impact of Lorentz violation models on exoplanets d…
The radial velocity method is one of the most successful techniques for detecting exoplanets. It works by detecting the velocity of a host star induced by the gravitational effect of an orbiting planet, specifically the velocity along our…
Sagnac gyroscopes with increased sensitivity are being developed and operated with a variety of goals including the measurement of General-Relativistic effects. We show that such systems can be used to search for Lorentz violation within…
Planets around binary stars and those in multiplanet systems may experience resonant eccentricity excitation and disruption due to perturbations from a distant stellar companion. This "evection resonance" occurs when the apsidal precession…
(Abridged) The observed radial velocity (RV) eccentricity distribution for extrasolar planets in single-planet systems shows that a significant fraction of planets are eccentric ($e > 0.1$). Here we investigate the effects on an RV planet's…
The detection of exoplanets with the radial velocity method consists in detecting variations of the stellar velocity caused by an unseen sub-stellar companion. Instrumental errors, irregular time sampling, and different noise sources…
Binary pulsars are excellent laboratories to test the building blocks of Einstein's theory of General Relativity. One of these is Lorentz symmetry which states that physical phenomena appear the same for all inertially moving observers. We…
Radial velocity surveys for extra-solar planets generally require substantial amounts of large telescope time in order to monitor a sufficient number of stars. Two of the aspects which can limit such surveys are the single-object…
We study how close-in systems such as those detected by Kepler are affected by the dynamics of bodies in the outer system. We consider two scenarios: outer systems of giant planets potentially unstable to planet--planet scattering, and wide…
The discovery of rings around extrasolar planets ("exorings") is one of the next breakthroughs in exoplanetary research. Previous studies have explored the feasibility of detecting exorings with present and future photometric sensitivities…
Binary pulsars are ideal to test the foundations of General Relativity, such as Lorentz symmetry, which requires that experiments produce the same results in all free-falling (i.e.inertial) frames. We here break this symmetry in the…
We propose that the presence of additional planets in extrasolar planetary systems can be detected by long-term transit timing studies. If a transiting planet is on an eccentric orbit then the presence of another planet causes a secular…
Exoplanets, or planets outside our own solar system, have long been of interest to astronomers; however, only in the past two decades have scientists had the technology to characterize and study planets so far away from us. With advanced…
Improved photometric sensitivity from space-based telescopes have enabled the detection of phase variations for a small sample of hot Jupiters. However, exoplanets in highly eccentric orbits present unique opportunities to study the effects…
It is shown herein that planets with eccentric orbits are more likely to transit than circularly orbiting planets with the same semimajor axis by a factor of (1-e^2)^{-1}. If the orbital parameters of discovered transiting planets are…
We consider the effects of mutual transits by extrasolar planet-companion systems (in a true binary or a planet-satellite system) on light curves. We show that induced changes in light curves depend strongly on a ratio between a…
Stellar activity due to different processes (magnetic activity, photospheric flows) affects the measurement of radial velocities (RV). Radial velocities have been widely used to detect exoplanets, although the stellar signal significantly…
Planetary rotation rates and obliquities provide information regarding the history of planet formation, but have not yet been measured for evolved extrasolar planets. Here we investigate the theoretical and observational perspective of the…
We consider dynamical effects of additional perturbative forces due to the non-point mass nature of stars and planets: effects such as quadrupolar distortion and tidal friction in the systems of exo-planets. It is shown that these forces…
Although it is commonly agreed that the presence of a close stellar companion is likely to affect planet formation and evolution, the precise effects and their actual impact on planet occurrence and properties are still debated. In…
Since exoplanets were detected using the radial velocity method, they have revealed a diverse distribution of orbital configurations. Amongst these are planets in highly eccentric orbits (e > 0.5). Most of these systems consist of a single…