scholarly journals The CARMENES search for exoplanets around M dwarfs

2020 ◽  
Vol 640 ◽  
pp. A50 ◽  
Author(s):  
F. F. Bauer ◽  
M. Zechmeister ◽  
A. Kaminski ◽  
C. Rodríguez López ◽  
J. A. Caballero ◽  
...  

The high-resolution, dual channel, visible and near-infrared spectrograph CARMENES offers exciting opportunities for stellar and exoplanetary research on M dwarfs. In this work we address the challenge of reaching the highest radial velocity precision possible with a complex, actively cooled, cryogenic instrument, such as the near-infrared channel. We describe the performance of the instrument and the work flow used to derive precise Doppler measurements from the spectra. The capability of both CARMENES channels to detect small exoplanets is demonstrated with the example of the nearby M5.0 V star CD Cet (GJ 1057), around which we announce a super-Earth (4.0 ± 0.4 M⊕) companion on a 2.29 d orbit.

2010 ◽  
Vol 6 (S276) ◽  
pp. 545-546 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andreas Quirrenbach ◽  
Pedro J. Amado ◽  
José A. Caballero ◽  
Holger Mandel ◽  
Reinhard Mundt ◽  
...  

AbstractCARMENES (Calar Alto high-Resolution search for M dwarfs with Exo-earths with Near-infrared and optical Echelle Spectrographs) is a next-generation instrument for the 3.5 m telescope at the Calar Alto Observatory. CARMENES will conduct a five-year exoplanet survey targeting ~300 M stars. The CARMENES instrument consists of two separate fiber-fed spectrographs covering the wavelength range from 0.52 to 1.7 μm at a spectral resolution of R = 85,000. The spectrographs are housed in a temperature-stabilized environment in vacuum tanks, to enable a 1 m/s radial velocity precision employing a simultaneous emission-line calibration.


Geosciences ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (8) ◽  
pp. 289 ◽  
Author(s):  
Serena Benatti

Exoplanet research has shown an incessant growth since the first claim of a hot giant planet around a solar-like star in the mid-1990s. Today, the new facilities are working to spot the first habitable rocky planets around low-mass stars as a forerunner for the detection of the long-awaited Sun-Earth analog system. All the achievements in this field would not have been possible without the constant development of the technology and of new methods to detect more and more challenging planets. After the consolidation of a top-level instrumentation for high-resolution spectroscopy in the visible wavelength range, a huge effort is now dedicated to reaching the same precision and accuracy in the near-infrared. Actually, observations in this range present several advantages in the search for exoplanets around M dwarfs, known to be the most favorable targets to detect possible habitable planets. They are also characterized by intense stellar activity, which hampers planet detection, but its impact on the radial velocity modulation is mitigated in the infrared. Simultaneous observations in the visible and near-infrared ranges appear to be an even more powerful technique since they provide combined and complementary information, also useful for many other exoplanetary science cases.


2016 ◽  
Vol 12 (S328) ◽  
pp. 46-53 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Quirrenbach ◽  
P.J. Amado ◽  
I. Ribas ◽  
A. Reiners ◽  
J.A. Caballero ◽  
...  

AbstractCARMENES is a pair of high-resolution (R ≳ 80, 000) spectrographs covering the wavelength range from 0.52 to 1.71 μm with only small gaps. The instrument has been optimized for precise radial velocity measurements. It was installed and commissioned at the 3.5 m telescope of the Calar Alto observatory in Southern Spain in 2015. The first large science program of CARMENES is a survey of ~300 M dwarfs, which started on Jan 1, 2016. We present an overview of the instrument, and provide a few examples of early science results.


2012 ◽  
Vol 8 (S293) ◽  
pp. 201-203
Author(s):  
Masashi Omiya ◽  
Bun'ei Sato ◽  
Hiroki Harakawa ◽  
Masayuki Kuzuhara ◽  
Teruyuki Hirano ◽  
...  

AbstractWe have a plan to conduct a Doppler planet search for low-mass planets around nearby middle-to-late M dwarfs using IRD. IRD is the near-infrared high-precision radial velocity instrument for the Subaru 8.2-m telescope. We expect to achieve the accuracy of the radial velocity measurements of 1 m/s using IRD with a frequency comb as a wavelengh calibrator. Thus, we would detect super-Earths in habitable zone and low-mass rocky planets in close-in orbits around late-M dwarfs. In this survey, we aim to understand and discuss statistical properties of low-mass planets around low-mass M dwarfs compared with those derived from theoretical simulations.


2020 ◽  
Vol 642 ◽  
pp. A22 ◽  
Author(s):  
V. M. Passegger ◽  
A. Bello-García ◽  
J. Ordieres-Meré ◽  
J. A. Caballero ◽  
A. Schweitzer ◽  
...  

Existing and upcoming instrumentation is collecting large amounts of astrophysical data, which require efficient and fast analysis techniques. We present a deep neural network architecture to analyze high-resolution stellar spectra and predict stellar parameters such as effective temperature, surface gravity, metallicity, and rotational velocity. With this study, we firstly demonstrate the capability of deep neural networks to precisely recover stellar parameters from a synthetic training set. Secondly, we analyze the application of this method to observed spectra and the impact of the synthetic gap (i.e., the difference between observed and synthetic spectra) on the estimation of stellar parameters, their errors, and their precision. Our convolutional network is trained on synthetic PHOENIX-ACES spectra in different optical and near-infrared wavelength regions. For each of the four stellar parameters, Teff, log g, [M/H], and v sin i, we constructed a neural network model to estimate each parameter independently. We then applied this method to 50 M dwarfs with high-resolution spectra taken with CARMENES (Calar Alto high-Resolution search for M dwarfs with Exo-earths with Near-infrared and optical Échelle Spectrographs), which operates in the visible (520–960 nm) and near-infrared wavelength range (960–1710 nm) simultaneously. Our results are compared with literature values for these stars. They show mostly good agreement within the errors, but also exhibit large deviations in some cases, especially for [M/H], pointing out the importance of a better understanding of the synthetic gap.


2018 ◽  
Vol 614 ◽  
pp. A76 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. V. Jeffers ◽  
P. Schöfer ◽  
A. Lamert ◽  
A. Reiners ◽  
D. Montes ◽  
...  

CARMENES is a spectrograph for radial velocity surveys of M dwarfs with the aim of detecting Earth-mass planets orbiting in the habitable zones of their host stars. To ensure an optimal use of the CARMENES guaranteed time observations, in this paper we investigate the correlation of activity and rotation for approximately 2200 M dwarfs, ranging in spectral type from M0.0 V to M9.0 V. We present new high-resolution spectroscopic observations with FEROS, CAFE, and HRS of approximately 500 M dwarfs. For each new observation, we determined its radial velocity and measured its Hα activity index and its rotation velocity. Additionally, we have multiple observations of many stars to investigate if there are any radial velocity variations due to multiplicity. The results of our survey confirm that early-M dwarfs are Hα inactive with low rotational velocities and that late-M dwarfs are Hα active with very high rotational velocities. The results of this high-resolution analysis comprise the most extensive catalogue of rotation and activity in M dwarfs currently available.


2019 ◽  
Vol 622 ◽  
pp. C1 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. S. Rajpurohit ◽  
F. Allard ◽  
S. Rajpurohit ◽  
R. Sharma ◽  
G. D. C. Teixeira ◽  
...  

2018 ◽  
Vol 620 ◽  
pp. A180 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. S. Rajpurohit ◽  
F. Allard ◽  
S. Rajpurohit ◽  
R. Sharma ◽  
G. D. C. Teixeira ◽  
...  

Context. Being the most numerous and oldest stars in the galaxy, M dwarfs are objects of great interest for exoplanet searches. The presence of molecules in their atmosphere complicates our understanding of their atmospheric properties. But great advances have recently been made in the modeling of M dwarfs due to the revision of solar abundances. Aims. We aim to determine stellar parameters of M dwarfs using high resolution spectra (R ∼ 90 000) simultaneously in the visible and the near-infrared. The high resolution spectra and broad wavelength coverage provide an unique opportunity to understand the onset of dust and cloud formation at cool temperatures. Furthermore, this study will help in understanding the physical processes which occur in a cool atmospheres, particularly, the redistribution of energy from the optical to the near-infrared. Methods. The stellar parameters of M dwarfs in our sample have been determined by comparing the high resolution spectra both in the optical and in the near-infrared simultaneously observed by CARMENES with the synthetic spectra obtained from the BT-Settl model atmosphere. The detailed spectral synthesis of these observed spectra both in the optical and in the near-infrared helps to understand the missing continuum opacity. Results. For the first time, we derive fundamental stellar parameters of M dwarfs using the high resolution optical and near-infrared spectra simultaneously. We determine Teff, log g and [M/H] for 292 M dwarfs of spectral type M0 to M9, where the formation of dust and clouds are important. The derived Teff for the sample ranges from 2300 to 4000 K, values of log g ranges from 4.5 ≤ logg ≤ 5.5 and the resulting metallicity ranges from −0.5 ≤ [M/H] ≤ +0.5. We have also explored the possible differences in Teff, log g and [M/H] by comparing them with other studies of the same sample of M dwarfs.


2008 ◽  
Vol 4 (S253) ◽  
pp. 157-161 ◽  
Author(s):  
James P. Lloyd ◽  
Agnieszka Czeszumska ◽  
Jerry Edelstein ◽  
David Erskine ◽  
Michael Feuerstein ◽  
...  

AbstractThe TEDI (TripleSpec - Exoplanet Discovery Instrument) is a dedicated instrument for the near-infrared radial velocity search for planetary companions to low-mass stars with the goal of achieving meters-per-second radial velocity precision. Heretofore, such planet searches have been limited almost entirely to the optical band and to stars that are bright in this band. Consequently, knowledge about planetary companions to the populous but visibly faint low-mass stars is limited. In addition to the opportunity afforded by precision radial velocity searches directly for planets around low mass stars, transits around the smallest M dwarfs offer a chance to detect the smallest possible planets in the habitable zones of the parent stars. As has been the the case with followup of planet candidates detected by the transit method requiring radial velocity confirmation, the capability to undertake efficient precision radial velocity measurements of mid-late M dwarfs will be required. TEDI has been commissioned on the Palomar 200” telescope in December 2007, and is currently in a science verification phase.


2012 ◽  
Vol 8 (S293) ◽  
pp. 68-70
Author(s):  
Duncan J. Wright ◽  
Christopher G. Tinney ◽  
Robert A. Wittenmyer

AbstractDetecting the small velocity amplitudes (≤ 10 m/s) produced by habitable zone rocky planets around M Dwarfs requires radial velocity precisions of a few m s−1. However, an iodine absorption cell, commonly used as a high precision wavelength reference on non-stabilised spectrographs, is not efficient for very red and faint objects like M Dwarfs. Instead, arc lamps have to be used. With the exception of the ultra-stabilised HARPS spectrograph, achieving ~m s−1 calibration with arc lamps has not been possible because typical spectrographs experience drifts of several hundred m s−1 due to local atmospheric changes in pressure and temperature. We outline and present results from an innovative differential wavelength calibration method that enables ~m s−1 precision from non-stabilised, high-resolution spectrographs. This technique allows the detection of rocky planets with radial velocity amplitudes of a few m s−1.


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