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The study of fundamental properties (such as temperatures, radii, masses, and ages) and interior processes (such as convection and angular momentum transport) of stars has implications on various topics in astrophysics, ranging from the…
Determining whether there is any correlation between the presence of short-period small planets (SPs) with $P\lesssim100~d$ ($a \lesssim0.4~AU$) and $1<M_{p}<20~M_\oplus$ and that of outer cold Jupiters (CJs) with $a=1-10~AU$ and…
Quantitative helio- and asteroseismology require very precise measurements of the frequencies, amplitudes, and lifetimes of the global modes of stellar oscillation. It is common knowledge that the precision of these measurements depends on…
We consider the problem of testing a null hypothesis defined by equality and inequality constraints on a statistical parameter. Testing such hypotheses can be challenging because the number of relevant constraints may be on the same order…
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…
Radial velocity surveys are beginning to reach the time baselines required to detect Jupiter analogs, as well as sub-Saturn mass planets in close orbits. Therefore it is important to understand the sensitivity of these surveys at long…
Observational surveys for extrasolar planets probe the diverse outcomes of planet formation and evolution. These surveys measure the frequency of planets with different masses, sizes, orbital characteristics, and host star properties. Small…
We provide evidence that the obliquities of stars with close-in giant planets were initially nearly random, and that the low obliquities that are often observed are a consequence of star-planet tidal interactions. The evidence is based on…
The open clusters in the Kepler and CoRoT fields potentially provide tight constraints for tests of stellar models and observational methods because they allow a combination of complementary methods. We are in the process of identi- fying…
Rigorously quantifying the information in high contrast imaging data is important for informing follow-up strategies to confirm the substellar nature of a point source, constraining theoretical models of planet-disk interactions, and…
Stellar magnetic activity produces time-varying distortions in the photospheric line profiles of solar-type stars. These lead to systematic errors in high-precision radial-velocity measurements, which limit efforts to discover and measure…
Context. The precise determinations of stellar mass at $\sim$1% provide important constraints on stellar evolution models. Accurate parallax measurements can also serve as independent benchmarks for the next Gaia data release. Aims. We aim…
It has been widely thought that measuring the misalignment angle between the orbital plane of a transiting exoplanet and the spin of its host star was a good discriminator between different migration processes for hot-Jupiters.…
We have developed a new method to improve the transit detection of Earth-sized planets in front of solar-like stars by fitting stellar microvariability by means of a spot model. A large Monte Carlo numerical experiment has been designed to…
We introduce a new method for testing departure from isotropy of points on a sphere based on an enhanced form of the two-point correlation function that we named 2pt+. This method uses information from the two extra variables that define…
High-contrast adaptive optics imaging is a powerful technique to probe the architectures of planetary systems from the outside-in and survey the atmospheres of self-luminous giant planets. Direct imaging has rapidly matured over the past…
Hot white dwarf stars are the ideal probe for a relationship between the fine-structure constant and strong gravitational fields, providing us with an opportunity for a direct observational test. We study a sample of hot white dwarf stars,…
Jump detection and ramp fitting are fundamental steps when elevating JWST data products from up-the-ramp measurements to integration level count rate images. Occurring at an early stage of the overall data reduction and calibration…
In this work we quantify the effect of an unresolved companion star on the derived stellar parameters of the primary star if a blended spectrum is fit assuming the star is single. Fitting tools that determine stellar parameters from spectra…
Testing the independence between random vectors is a fundamental problem in statistics. Distance correlation, a recently popular dependence measure, is universally consistent for testing independence against all distributions with finite…