Astrophysics and Astronomy Commons^™

Tess Reveals A Short-Period Sub-Neptune Sibling (Hd 86226c) To A Known Long-Period Giant Planet, J. Teske, M. R. Díaz, R. Luque, T. Močnik, J. V. Seidel, J. F. Otegi, F. Feng, J. S. Jenkins, E. Pallè, D. Ségransan, S. Udry, K. A. Collins, J. D. Eastman, G. R. Ricker, R. Vanderspek, D. W. Latham, S. Seager, J. N. Winn, J. M. Jenkins, D. R. Anderson, T. Barclay, F. Bouchy, J. A. Burt, R. P. Butler, D. A. Caldwell, K. I. Collins, J. D. Crane, C. Dorn, E. Flowers, J. Haldemann, R. Helled, C. Hellier, Eric L.N. Jensen, S. R. Kane, N. Law, J. J. Lissauer, A. W. Mann, M. Marmier, L. D. Nielsen, M. E. Rose, S. A. Shectman, A. Shporer, G. Torres, S. X. Wang, A. Wolfgang, I. Wong, C. Ziegler

Physics & Astronomy Faculty Works

The Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite mission was designed to find transiting planets around bright, nearby stars. Here, we present the detection and mass measurement of a small, short-period (≈4 days) transiting planet around the bright (V = 7.9), solar-type star HD 86226 (TOI-652, TIC 22221375), previously known to host a long-period (~1600 days) giant planet. HD 86226c (TOI-652.01) has a radius of 2.16 ± 0.08 R⊕ and a mass of ${7.25}_{-1.12}^{+1.19}$M⊕, based on archival and new radial velocity data. We also update the parameters of the longer-period, not-known-to-transit planet, and find it to be less eccentric and less massive than …

Multiband Polarimetric Imaging Of Hr 4796a With The Gemini Planet Imager, Pauline Arriaga, Michael P. Fitzgerald, Gaspard Duchêne, Paul Kalas, Maxwell A. Millar-Blanchaer, Marshall D. Perrin, Christine H. Chen, Johan Mazoyer, Mark Ammons, Vanessa P. Bailey, Trafis S. Barman, Joanna Bulger, Jeffrey K. Chilcote, Tara Cotten, Robert J. De Rosa, Rene Doyon, Thomas M. Esposito, Katherine B. Follette, Benjamin L. Gerard, Stephen Goodsell, James R. Graham, Alexandra Z. Greenbaum, Pascale Hibon, Justin Hom, Li Wei Hung, Patrick Ingraham, Quinn M. Konopacky, Bruce A. Macintosh, Jérôme Maire, Franck Marchis, Mark S. Marley, Christian Marois, Kimberly Ward-Duong, Et Al

Astronomy: Faculty Publications

HR4796A hosts a well-studied debris disk with a long history due to its high fractional luminosity and favorable inclination, which facilitate both unresolved and resolved observations. We present new J-and K 1-band images of the resolved debris disk HR4796A taken in the polarimetric mode of the Gemini Planet Imager (GPI). The polarized intensity features a strongly forward-scattered brightness distribution and is undetected at the far side of the disk. The total intensity is detected at all scattering angles and also exhibits a strong forward-scattering peak. We use a forward-modeled geometric disk in order to extract geometric parameters, polarized fraction, and …

Active Magnetic Radiation Shielding For Long-Duration Human Spaceflight, Kristine Ferrone

Dissertations and Theses (Open Access)

Exploration of interplanetary space presents dramatic hazards to human survival.

Space radiation hazards outside the protection of the Earth’s magnetosphere can

produce both acute and chronic health risks and thus become limiting factors for

NASA’s planned mission to Mars by the 2030s. Radiation exposure on a Mars mission

is delivered primarily by high energy ions from galactic cosmic rays and moderate

energy protons from solar particle events. The chronic radiation dose due to galactic

cosmic rays on a typical Mars mission is on the order of 1 Sv, and additional acute

radiation dose from solar flares can reach over 4 …

Diffuse Spectra Model Of Photoluminescence In Carbon Quantum Dots, S. E. Kumekov, N. K. Saitova, Karen S. Martirosyan

Physics & Astronomy Faculty Publications

The attractive aspect of excitation related to fluorescence nature in carbon quantum dots (CQD) has guided to several assumptions correlated with clusters size distribution, shapes as well as presence of different emissive states. In this study, a dimer–excimer model of photoluminescence (PL) in CQD describing discrete multiple electronic states for the excitation-dependent emission is described. The functional dependence of the characteristic width of the diffuse spectra of PL on the size of a quantum dots are calculated. The effective width of PL spectrum can be tuned from 0.1 to 1 eV.

Modeling The Obscuring Features In Active Galactic Nuclei: An X-Ray Analysis Of Ngc 1052, Samantha E. Cabral

Graduate Masters Theses

We present a multi-epoch analysis of the X-ray spectrum of NGC 1052, a nearby galaxy notorious for its well-studied spectral variability. We utilize observations from NuSTAR, XMM-Newton, Chandra, Swift, Suzaku, BeppoSAX, and ASCA to create a comprehensive set of data that spans roughly 20 years. Organizing our data by observation date and grouping into specific epochs allows us to explore a model allowed to flex and accommodate any spectral changes that occur over time in the X-ray spectrum of NGC 1052. We find that the spectrum takes on a relatively flat nature and is best modeled with two neutral absorption …

Is Ngc 300 A Pure Exponential Disk Galaxy?, In Sung Jang, Roelof S. De Jong, Ivan Minchev, Eric F. Bell, Antonela Monachesi, Benne W. Holwerda, Jeremy Bailin, Adam Smercina, Richard D'Souza

Faculty and Staff Scholarship

NGC 300 is a low-mass disk galaxy in the Sculptor group. In the literature, it has been identified as a pure exponential disk galaxy, as its luminosity profile can be well fit with a single exponential law over many disk scale lengths (Type I). We investigate the stellar luminosity distribution of NGC 300 using Hubble Space Telescope archive data, reaching farther and deeper than any other previous studies. Color-magnitude diagrams show a significant population of old red giant branch (RGB) stars in all fields out to R ∼ 19 kpc (32′), as well as younger populations in the inner regions. …

Accumulation Of Polar Vorticity On Giant Planets: Towards A Three-Dimensional Theory, Shawn R. Brueshaber

Dissertations

My research investigates the polar atmospheric dynamics of the giant planets: Jupiter and Saturn (gas giants), and Uranus and Neptune (ice giants). I conduct my research modifying and applying the Explicit Planetary Isentropic Coordinate global circulation code to model the polar regions of the four giant planets.

The motivation behind my research is to uncover the reason why giant planet polar atmospheric dynamics differ. Jupiter features multiple circumpolar cyclones arranged in geometrical configurations, whereas Saturn features a single pole-centered cyclone. Uranus and Neptune also appear to have single pole-centered cyclones, albeit, larger than those on Saturn. …

Adaptive Spline Fitting With Particle Swarm Optimization, Soumya Mohanty, Ethan Fahnestock

Physics & Astronomy Faculty Publications

In fitting data with a spline, finding the optimal placement of knots can significantly improve the quality of the fit. However, the challenging high-dimensional and non-convex optimization problem associated with completely free knot placement has been a major roadblock in using this approach. We present a method that uses particle swarm optimization (PSO) combined with model selection to address this challenge. The problem of overfitting due to knot clustering that accompanies free knot placement is mitigated in this method by explicit regularization, resulting in a significantly improved performance on highly noisy data. The principal design choices available in the method …

A Simple Graphical Method For Calculating The Standing Wave Frequencies On A Rectangular Membrane, Joseph D. Romano, Richard H. Price

Physics & Astronomy Faculty Publications

In introductory physics courses, simple arguments based on traveling waves on a string are used to relate the frequency of standing waves to boundary conditions, e.g., the fixed ends of the string. Here, we extend that approach to two-dimensional waves such as the oscillations of a rectangular membrane with edges fixed at the boundary. This results in a graphical method that uses only simple geometry and is suitable for explaining two-dimensional standing-wave oscillations to non-science majors, e.g., in a physics of sound and music class.

Graphite Intercalation Compounds Derived By Green Chemistry As Oxygen Reduction Reaction Catalysts, Jianchao Zhao, Joseph H. Dumont, Ulises Martinez, Javier Macossay-Torres, Kateryna Artyushkova, Plamen Atanassov, Gautam Gupta

Physics & Astronomy Faculty Publications

Precious group metal (PGM) catalysts such as Pt supported on carbon supports are expensive catalysts utilized for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) due to their unmatched catalytic activity and durability. As an alternative, PGM-free ORR electrocatalysts that offer respectable catalytic activity are being pursued. Most of the notable PGM-free catalysts are obtained either from a bottom-up approach synthesis utilizing nitrogen-rich polymers as building blocks, or from a top down approach, where nitrogen and metal moieties are incorporated to carbonaceous matrixes. The systematic understanding of the origin of catalytic activity for either case is speculative and currently employed synthesis techniques typically …

Galileo's Verse, Bruce F. Mcguffin

Journal of Humanistic Mathematics

A response to Thomas Hardy's statement "If Galileo had said in verse that the world moved, the inquisition might have let him alone."

Probing The Intergalactic Turbulence With Fast Radio Bursts, Siyao Xu, Bing Zhang

Physics & Astronomy Faculty Research

The turbulence in the diffuse intergalactic medium (IGM) plays an important role in various astrophysical processes across cosmic time, but it is very challenging to constrain its statistical properties both observationally and numerically. Via the statistical analysis of turbulence along different sight lines toward a population of fast radio bursts (FRBs), we demonstrate that FRBs provide a unique tool to probe the intergalactic turbulence. We measure the structure function (SF) of dispersion measures (DMs) of FRBs to study the multiscale electron density fluctuations induced by the intergalactic turbulence. The SF has a large amplitude and a Kolmogorov power-law scaling with …

A Cryogenic Silicon Interferometer For Gravitational-Wave Detection, R X. Adhikari, K. Arai, A F. Brooks, C Wipf, O Aguiar, P Altin, B Barr, L. Barsotti, R Bassiri, Volker Quetschke

Physics & Astronomy Faculty Publications

The detection of gravitational waves from compact binary mergers by LIGO has opened the era of gravitational wave astronomy, revealing a previously hidden side of the cosmos. To maximize the reach of the existing LIGO observatory facilities, we have designed a new instrument able to detect gravitational waves at distances 5 times further away than possible with Advanced LIGO, or at greater than 100 times the event rate. Observations with this new instrument will make possible dramatic steps toward understanding the physics of the nearby Universe, as well as observing the Universe out to cosmological distances by the detection of …

Phase Transition Behaviour In Yeast And Bacterial Populations Under Stress, Stephen Ordway, Dawn King, David Friend, Christine Noto, Snowlee Phu, Holly Huelskamp, R. Inglis, Wendy Olivas, Sonya Bahar

Physics Faculty Works

Non-equilibrium phase transitions from survival to extinction have recently been observed in computational models of evolutionary dynamics. Dynamical signatures predictive of population collapse have been observed in yeast populations under stress. We experimentally investigate the population response of the budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae to biological stressors (temperature and salt concentration) in order to investigate the system's behaviour in the vicinity of population collapse. While both conditions lead to population decline, the dynamical characteristics of the population response differ significantly depending on the stressor. Under temperature stress, the population undergoes a sharp change with significant fluctuations within a critical temperature range, …

Constraining Ancient Magmatic Evolution On Mars Using Crystal Chemistry Of Detrital Igneous Minerals In The Sedimentary Bradbury Group, Gale Crater, Mars, V. Payré, K. L. Siebach, R. Dasgupta, Arya Udry, E. B. Rampe, S. M. Morrison

Geoscience Faculty Research

Understanding magmatic processes is critical to understanding Mars as a system, but Curiosity's investigation of dominantly sedimentary rocks has made it difficult to constrain igneous processes. Igneous classification of float rocks is challenging because of the following: (1) the possibility that they have been affected by sedimentary processes or weathering, and (2) grain size heterogeneity in the observed rock textures makes the small‐scale compositions measured by rover instruments unreliable for bulk classification. We avoid these ambiguities by using detrital igneous mineral chemistry to constrain models of magmatic processes in the source region for the fluvio‐deltaic Bradbury group. Mineral chemistry is …

Multiband Gpi Imaging Of The Hr 4796a Debris Disk, Christine Chen, Johan Mazoyer, Charles A. Poteet, Bin Ren, Gaspard Duch Ne, Justin Hom, Pauline Arriaga, Maxwell A. Millar-Blanchaer, Jessica Arnold, Vanessa P. Bailey, Juan Sebastián Bruzzone, Jeffrey Chilcote, Lodie Choquet, Robert J. De Rosa, Zachary H. Draper, Thomas M. Esposito, Michael P. Fitzgerald, Katherine B. Follette, Pascale Hibon, Dean C. Hines, Paul Kalas, Franck Marchis, Brenda Matthews, Julien Milli, Jennifer Patience, Marshall D. Perrin, Laurent Pueyo, Abhijith Rajan, Fredrik T. Rantakyrö, Timothy J. Rodigas, Gael M. Roudier, Glenn Schneider, Kimberly Ward-Duong, Et Al

Astronomy: Faculty Publications

We have obtained Gemini Planet Imager (GPI) J-, H-, K1-, and K2-Spec observations of the iconic debris ring around the young, main-sequence star HR 4796A. We applied several point-spread function (PSF) subtraction techniques to the observations (Mask-and-Interpolate, RDI-NMF, RDI-KLIP, and ADI-KLIP) to measure the geometric parameters and the scattering phase function for the disk. To understand the systematic errors associated with PSF subtraction, we also forward-modeled the observations using a Markov Chain Monte Carlo framework and a simple model for the disk. We found that measurements of the disk geometric parameters were robust, with all of our analyses yielding consistent …

Galaxy And Mass Assembly (Gama): Demonstrating The Power Of Wise In The Study Of Galaxy Groups To Z < 0.1, M. E. Cluver, T. H. Jarrett, E. N. Taylor, A. M. Hopkins, S. Brough, S. Casura, B. W. Holwerda, J. Liske, K. A. Pimbblet, A. H. Wright

Faculty and Staff Scholarship

Combining high-fidelity group characterization from the Galaxy and Mass Assembly survey and source-tailored z < 0.1 photometry from the Wide-Field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) survey, we present a comprehensive study of the properties of ungrouped galaxies, compared to 497 galaxy groups (4 ≤ N FoF ≤ 20) as a function of stellar and halo mass. Ungrouped galaxies are largely unimodal in WISE color, the result of being dominated by star-forming, late-type galaxies. Grouped galaxies, however, show a clear bimodality in WISE color, which correlates strongly with stellar mass and morphology. We find evidence for an increasing early-type fraction, in stellar mass bins between 1010 M o˙ ≲ M stellar ≲ 1011 M o˙, with increasing halo mass. Using ungrouped, late-type galaxies with star-forming colors (W2-W3 > 3), we define a star-forming main sequence (SFMS), which we use to delineate systems that have moved below the sequence ("quenched"for the purposes of this work). We find that with increasing halo mass, the relative number of late-type systems on the SFMS decreases, with a corresponding increase in early-type, quenched systems at high stellar mass (M stellar > 1010.5 M o˙), consistent with mass quenching. Group galaxies with masses M stellar < 1010.5 M o˙ show evidence of quenching consistent with environmentally driven processes. The stellar mass distribution of late-type, quenched galaxies suggests that it may be an intermediate population as systems transition from being star-forming and late-type to the "red sequence."Finally, we use the projected area of groups on the sky to extract groups that are (relatively) compact for their halo mass. Although these show a marginal increase in their proportion of high-mass and early-type galaxies compared to nominal groups, a clear increase in quenched fraction is not evident.

Using The Baryonic Tully–Fisher Relation To Measure Ho, Stacy S. Mcgaugh

Faculty Scholarship

We explore the use of the baryonic Tully-Fisher relation (bTFR) as a new distance indicator. Advances in near-IR imaging and stellar population models, plus precise rotation curves, have reduced the scatter in the bTFR such that distance is the dominant source of uncertainty. Using 50 galaxies with accurate distances from Cepheids or the tip magnitude of the red giant branch, we calibrate the bTFR on a scale independent of H o . We then apply this calibrated bTFR to 95 independent galaxies from the SPARC sample, using CosmicFlows-3 velocities, to deduce the local value of H o . We find …

Expres. I. Hd 3651 As An Ideal Rv Benchmark, John M. Brewer, Debra A. Fischer, Ryan T. Blackman, Samuel H. C. Cabot, Allen B. Davis, Gregory Laughlin, Christopher Leet, J. M. Joel Ong, Ryan R. Petersburg, Andrew E. Szymkowiak, Lily L. Zhao, Gregory W. Henry, Joe Llama

Information Systems and Engineering Management Research Publications

The next generation of exoplanet-hunting spectrographs should deliver up to an order of magnitude improvement in radial velocity (RV) precision over the standard 1 ${\rm{m}}\ {{\rm{s}}}^{-1}$ state-of-the-art spectrographs. This advance is critical for enabling the detection of Earth-mass planets around Sun-like stars. New calibration techniques such as laser frequency combs and stabilized etalons ensure that the instrumental stability is well characterized. However, additional sources of error include stellar noise, undetected short-period planets, and telluric contamination. To understand and ultimately mitigate error sources, the contributing terms in the error budget must be isolated to the greatest extent possible. Here, we introduce …

Globe Observer Data: 2016–2019, Helen M. Amos, Matthew J. Starke, Tina M. Rogerson, Marilé Colón Robles, Travis Anderson, Rebecca Boger, Brian A. Campbell, Russanne D. Low, Peder Nelson, David Overoye, Jessica E. Taylor, Kristen L. Weaver, Trena M. Ferrell, Holli Kohl, Theresa G. Schwerin

Publications and Research

This technical report summarizes the GLOBE Observer data set from 1 April 2016 to 1 December 2019. GLOBE Observer is an ongoing NASA‐sponsored international citizen science project that is part of the larger Global Learning and Observations to Benefit the Environment (GLOBE) Program, which has been in operation since 1995. GLOBE Observer has the greatest number of participants and geographic coverage of the citizen science projects in the Earth Science Division at NASA. Participants use the GLOBE Observer mobile app (launched in 2016) to collect atmospheric, hydrologic, and terrestrial observations. The app connects participants to satellite observations from Aqua, Terra, …

Staerkel Planetarium's Doors Closed, But Skies Are Always Open, Erik Johnson

Natural Science Faculty

Ask any astronomer and they will tell you that the best night skies are found when you get away from light pollution. The COVID-19 pandemic has not taken away our ability to enjoy watching the stars, but it has prevented the staff of the William M. Staerkel Planetarium at Parkland College from sharing the immersive environment of the dome with the public for the rest of 2020. Since the cycles of the sky are still in motion, the staff have strived to keep everyone informed about what they can see under dark skies or in their backyard.

All-Sky Search For Short Gravitational-Wave Bursts In The Second Advanced Ligo And Advanced Virgo Run, Tiffany Summerscales, Ligo Scientific Collaboration And The Virgo Collaboration

Faculty Publications

We present the results of a search for short-duration gravitational-wave transients in the data from the second observing run of Advanced LIGO and Advanced Virgo. We search for gravitational-wave transients with a duration of milliseconds to approximately one second in the 32–4096 Hz frequency band with minimal assumptions about the signal properties, thus targeting a wide variety of sources. We also perform a matched-filter search for gravitational-wave transients from cosmic string cusps for which the waveform is well modeled. The unmodeled search detected gravitational waves from several binary black hole mergers which have been identified by previous analyses. No other …

Visual Orbits Of Spectroscopic Binaries With The Chara Array. Iii. Hd 8374 And Hd 24546, Kathryn V. Lester, Francis C. Fekel, Matthew W. Muterspaugh, Douglas R. Gies, Gail Schaefer, Chris D. Farrington, Zhao Guo, Rachel A. Matson, John D. Monnier, Theo A. Ten Brummelaar, Judit Sturmann, Samuel A. Weiss

Information Systems and Engineering Management Research Publications

We present the visual orbits of two long-period spectroscopic binary stars, HD 8374 and HD 24546, using interferometric observations acquired with the CHARA Array and the Palomar Testbed Interferometer. We also obtained new radial velocities from echelle spectra using the APO 3.5 m and Fairborn 2.0 m telescopes. By combining the visual and spectroscopic observations, we solve for the full, three-dimensional orbits and determine the stellar masses and distances to within 3% uncertainty. We then estimate the effective temperature and radius of each component star through Doppler tomography and spectral energy distribution analyses, in order to compare the observed stellar …

Absence Of Landau-Peierls Instability In The Magnetic Dual Chiral Density Wave Phase Of Dense Qcd, Efrain J. Ferrer, Vivian De La Incera

Physics & Astronomy Faculty Publications

We investigate the stability of the magnetic dual chiral density wave (MDCDW) phase of cold and dense QCD against collective low-energy fluctuations of the order parameter. The appearance of additional structures in the system free energy due to the explicit breaking of the rotational and isospin symmetries by the external magnetic field play a crucial role in the analysis. The new structures stiffen the spectrum of the thermal fluctuations in the transverse direction, thereby avoiding the Landau-Peierls instability that affects single-modulated phases at arbitrarily low temperatures. The lack of Landau-Peierls instabilities in the MDCDW phase makes this inhomogeneous phase of …

Earth-Like Planet In A Binary Star System, Melissa Kamrowski

Scholarly Horizons: University of Minnesota, Morris Undergraduate Journal

This paper was written as a final lab report for a computer modeling class. It uses dynamical simulations to investigate the behavior of a planet with the mass and velocity magnitude of the Earth placed in a low mass binary star system, which was loosely based on the Sirius binary. The simulations are completed using gravitational force properties along with the Verlet algorithm, then the results were observed through a modeling program, in which each set was set as an animation to determine behavior. Results came from 40 strategic starting points, which were chosen to cover a large spread of …

The Hubble Space Telescope Pancet Program: An Optical To Infrared Transmission Spectrum Of Hat-P-32ab, Munazza K. Alam, Mercedes López-Morales, Nikolay Nikolov, David K. Sing, Gregory W. Henry, Claire Baxter, Jean-Michel Désert, Joanna K. Barstow, Thomas Mikal-Evans, Vincent Bourrier, Panayotis Lavvas, Hannah R. Wakeford, Michael H. Williamson, Jorge Sanz-Forcada, Lars A. Buchhave, Ofer Cohen, Antonio García Muñoz

Information Systems and Engineering Management Research Publications

We present a 0.3−5 μm transmission spectrum of the hot Jupiter HAT-P-32Ab observed with the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph and Wide Field Camera 3 instruments mounted on the Hubble Space Telescope, combined with Spitzer Infrared Array Camera photometry. The spectrum is composed of 51 spectrophotometric bins with widths ranging between 150 and 400 Å, measured to a median precision of 215 ppm. Comparisons of the observed transmission spectrum to a grid of 1D radiative-convective equilibrium models indicate the presence of clouds/hazes, consistent with previous transit observations and secondary eclipse measurements. To provide more robust constraints on the planet's atmospheric properties, …

Simulating The Outer Layers Of Rapidly Rotating Stars, Frank J. Robinson, Joel Tanner, Sarbani Basu

Chemistry & Physics Faculty Publications

This paper presents the results of a set of radiative hydrodynamic (RHD) simulations of convection in the near-surface regions of a rapidly rotating star. The simulations use microphysics consistent with stellar models, and include the effects of realistic convection and radiative transfer. We find that the overall effect of rotation is to reduce the strength of turbulence. The combination of rotation and radiative cooling creates a zonal velocity profile in which the motion of fluid parcels near the surface is independent of rotation. Their motion is controlled by the strong up and down flows generated by radiative cooling. The fluid …

A Remnant Planetary Core In The Hot-Neptune Desert, D. J. Armstrong, T. A. Lopez, V. Adibekyan, R. A. Booth, E. M. Bryant, K. A. Collins, A. Esmenhuber, C. X. Huang, G. W. King, J. Lillo-Box, J. J. Lissauer, E. C. Matthews, O. Mousis, L. D. Nielsen, H. Osborn, J. Otegi, N. C. Santos, S. G. Sousa, K. G. Stassun, D. Veras, C. Ziegler, J. S. Acton, J. M. Almenara, D. R. Anderson, D. Barrado, S. C. C. Barros, D. Bayliss, C. Belardi, F. Bouchy, C. Briceño, M. Brogi, D. J. A. Brown, M. R. Burleigh, S. L. Casewell, A. Chaushev, D. R. Ciardi, K. I. Collins, K. D. Colón, B. F. Cooke, I. J. M. Crossfield, R. F. Díaz, Magali Deleuil, E. Delgado Mena, O. D. S. Demangeon, C. Dorn, X. Dumusque, P. Eigmüller, M. Fausnaugh, P. Figueira, T. Gan, S. Gandhi, S. Gill, M. R. Goad, M. N. Günther, R. Helled, S. Hojjatpanah, S. B. Howell, J. Jackman, J. S. Jenkins, J. M. Jenkins, Eric L.N. Jensen, G. M. Kennedy, D. W. Latham, N. Law, M. Lendl, M. Lozovsky, A. W. Mann, M. Moyano, J. Mccormac, F. Meru, C. Mordasini, A. Osborn, D. Pollacco, D. Queloz, L. Raynard, G. R. Ricker, P. Rowqden, A. Santerne, J. E. Schlieder, S. Seager, L. Sha, T.-G. Tan, R. H. Tilbrook, E. Ting, S. Udry, R. Vanderspek, C. A. Watson, R. G. West, P. A. Wilson, J. N. Winn, P. Wheatley, J. N. Villasenor, J. I. Vines, Z Zhan

Physics & Astronomy Faculty Works

The interiors of giant planets remain poorly understood. Even for the planets in the Solar System, difficulties in observation lead to large uncertainties in the properties of planetary cores. Exoplanets that have undergone rare evolutionary processes provide a route to understanding planetary interiors. Planets found in and near the typically barren hot-Neptune ‘desert’1,2 (a region in mass–radius space that contains few planets) have proved to be particularly valuable in this regard. These planets include HD149026b3, which is thought to have an unusually massive core, and recent discoveries such as LTT9779b4 and NGTS-4b5, on which photoevaporation has removed a substantial part …

Toi-1235 B: A Keystone Super-Earth For Testing Radius Valley Emergence Models Around Early M Dwarfs, R. Cloutier, J. E. Rodriguez, J. Irwin, D. Charbonneau, K. G. Stassun, A. Mortier, D. W. Latham, H. Isaacson, A. W. Howard, S. Udry, T. G. Wilson, C. A. Watson, M. Pinamonti, F. Lienhard, P. Giacobbe, P. Guerra, K. A. Collins, A. Bieryla, G. A. Esquerdo, E. Matthews, R. A. Matson, S. B. Howell, E. Furlan, I. J. M. Crossfield, J. G. Winters, C. Nava, K. Ment, E. D. Lopez, G. Ricker, R. Vanderspek, S. Seager, J. M. Jenkins, E. B. Ting, P. Tenenbaum, A. Sozzetti, L. Sha, D. Ségransan, J. E. Schlieder, D. Sasselov, A. Roy, P. Robertson, K. Rice, E. Poretti, G. Piotto, D. Phillips, J. Pepper, F. Pepe, E. Molinari, T. Mocnik, G. Micela, M. Mayor, A. F. Martinez Fiorenzano, F. Mallia, J. Lubin, C. Lovis, M. López-Morales, M. R. Kosiarek, J. F. Kielkopf, S. R. Kane, Eric L.N. Jensen, G. Isopi, D. Huber, M. L. Hill, A. Harutyunyan, E. Gonzales, S. Giacalone, A. Ghedina, A. Ercolino, X. Dumusque, C. D. Dressing, M. Damasso, P. A. Dalba, R. Cosentino, D. M. Conti, K. D. Colón, K. I. Collins, A. Collier Cameron, D. Ciardi, J. Christiansen, A. Chontos, M. Cecconi, D. A. Caldwell, C. Burke, L. Buchhave, C. Beichman, A. Behmard, C. Beard, J. M. Akana Murphy

Physics & Astronomy Faculty Works

Small planets on close-in orbits tend to exhibit envelope mass fractions of either effectively zero or up to a few percent depending on their size and orbital period. Models of thermally driven atmospheric mass loss and of terrestrial planet formation in a gas-poor environment make distinct predictions regarding the location of this rocky/nonrocky transition in period–radius space. Here we present the confirmation of TOI-1235 b (P = 3.44 days, ${r}_{{\rm{p}}}={1.738}_{-0.076}^{+0.087}$ ${R}_{\oplus }$), a planet whose size and period are intermediate between the competing model predictions, thus making the system an important test case for emergence models of the rocky/nonrocky transition …

Precise Mass And Radius Of A Transiting Super-Earth Planet Orbiting The M Dwarf Toi-1235: A Planet In The Radius Gap?, P. Bluhm, R. Luque, N. Espinoza, E. Pallé, J. A. Caballero, S. Dreizler, J. H. Livingston, S. Mathur, A. Quirrenbach, S. Stock, V. Van Eylen, G. Nowak, E. D. López, S. Csizmadia, M. R. Zapatero Osorio, P. Schöfer, J. Lillo-Box, M. Oshagh, E. González-Álvarez, P. J. Amado, D. Barrado, V. J. S. Béjar, B. Cale, P. Chaturvedi, M. El Mufti, A. Ercolino, M. Fridlund, E. Gaidos, R. A. García, I. Georgieva, L. González-Cuesta, P. Guerra, A. P. Hatzes, T. Henning, E. Herrero, D. Hidalgo, G. Isopi, S. V. Jeffers, J. M. Jenkins, Eric L.N. Jensen, P. Kábath, A. Kaminski, J. Kemmer, J. Korth, D. Kossakowski, M. Kürster, M. Lafarga, F. Mallia, D. Montes, J. C. Morales, M. Morales-Calderón, F Murgas, N. Narita, V. M. Passegger, S. Pedraz, C. M. Persson, P. Plavchan, H. Rauer, S. Redfield, S. Reffert, A. Reiners, I. Ribas, G. R. Ricker, C. Rodríguez-López, A. R. G. Santos, S. Seager, M. Schlecker, A. Schweitzer, Y. Shan, M. G. Soto, J. Subjak, L. Tal-Or, T. Trifonov, S. Vanaverbeke, R. Vanderspek, J. Wittrock, M. Zechmeister, F. Zohrabi

Physics & Astronomy Faculty Works

We report the confirmation of a transiting planet around the bright weakly active M0.5 V star TOI-1235 (TYC 4384–1735–1, V ≈ 11.5 mag), whose transit signal was detected in the photometric time series of sectors 14, 20, and 21 of the TESS space mission. We confirm the planetary nature of the transit signal, which has a period of 3.44 d, by using precise RV measurements with the CARMENES, HARPS-N, and iSHELL spectrographs, supplemented by high-resolution imaging and ground-based photometry. A comparison of the properties derived for TOI-1235 b with theoretical models reveals that the planet has a rocky composition, with …