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Kepler-11 is a Solar Twin : Revising the Masses and Radii of Benchmark Planets via Precise Stellar Characterization

Bedell, Megan ; Bean, Jacob L. ; Meléndez, Jorge ; Mills, Sean M. ; Fabrycky, Daniel C. ; Freitas, Fabrício C. ; Ramírez, Ivan ; Asplund, Martin ; Liu, Fan LU orcid and Yong, David (2017) In Astrophysical Journal 839(2).
Abstract

The six planets of the Kepler-11 system are the archetypal example of a population of surprisingly low-density transiting planets revealed by the Kepler mission. We have determined the fundamental parameters and chemical composition of the Kepler-11 host star to unprecedented precision using an extremely high-quality spectrum from Keck-HIRES (R ≃ 67,000, S/N per pixel at 600 nm). Contrary to previously published results, our spectroscopic constraints indicate that Kepler-11 is a young main-sequence solar twin. The revised stellar parameters and new analysis raise the densities of the Kepler-11 planets by between 20% and 95% per planet, making them more typical of the emerging class of "puffy" close-in exoplanets. We obtain photospheric... (More)

The six planets of the Kepler-11 system are the archetypal example of a population of surprisingly low-density transiting planets revealed by the Kepler mission. We have determined the fundamental parameters and chemical composition of the Kepler-11 host star to unprecedented precision using an extremely high-quality spectrum from Keck-HIRES (R ≃ 67,000, S/N per pixel at 600 nm). Contrary to previously published results, our spectroscopic constraints indicate that Kepler-11 is a young main-sequence solar twin. The revised stellar parameters and new analysis raise the densities of the Kepler-11 planets by between 20% and 95% per planet, making them more typical of the emerging class of "puffy" close-in exoplanets. We obtain photospheric abundances of 22 elements and find that Kepler-11 has an abundance pattern similar to that of the Sun with a slightly higher overall metallicity. We additionally analyze the Kepler light curves using a photodynamical model and discuss the tension between spectroscopic and transit/TTV-based estimates of stellar density.

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author
; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
planets and satellites: fundamental parameters, stars: abundances, stars: fundamental parameters, techniques: spectroscopic
in
Astrophysical Journal
volume
839
issue
2
article number
94
publisher
American Astronomical Society
external identifiers
  • wos:000399876200003
  • scopus:85018957719
ISSN
0004-637X
DOI
10.3847/1538-4357/aa6a1d
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
a704a72a-9c9a-4a5b-aaf2-3ec12b5a831c
date added to LUP
2017-06-01 09:18:59
date last changed
2024-01-28 19:24:58
@article{a704a72a-9c9a-4a5b-aaf2-3ec12b5a831c,
  abstract     = {{<p>The six planets of the Kepler-11 system are the archetypal example of a population of surprisingly low-density transiting planets revealed by the Kepler mission. We have determined the fundamental parameters and chemical composition of the Kepler-11 host star to unprecedented precision using an extremely high-quality spectrum from Keck-HIRES (R ≃ 67,000, S/N per pixel at 600 nm). Contrary to previously published results, our spectroscopic constraints indicate that Kepler-11 is a young main-sequence solar twin. The revised stellar parameters and new analysis raise the densities of the Kepler-11 planets by between 20% and 95% per planet, making them more typical of the emerging class of "puffy" close-in exoplanets. We obtain photospheric abundances of 22 elements and find that Kepler-11 has an abundance pattern similar to that of the Sun with a slightly higher overall metallicity. We additionally analyze the Kepler light curves using a photodynamical model and discuss the tension between spectroscopic and transit/TTV-based estimates of stellar density.</p>}},
  author       = {{Bedell, Megan and Bean, Jacob L. and Meléndez, Jorge and Mills, Sean M. and Fabrycky, Daniel C. and Freitas, Fabrício C. and Ramírez, Ivan and Asplund, Martin and Liu, Fan and Yong, David}},
  issn         = {{0004-637X}},
  keywords     = {{planets and satellites: fundamental parameters; stars: abundances; stars: fundamental parameters; techniques: spectroscopic}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{04}},
  number       = {{2}},
  publisher    = {{American Astronomical Society}},
  series       = {{Astrophysical Journal}},
  title        = {{Kepler-11 is a Solar Twin : Revising the Masses and Radii of Benchmark Planets via Precise Stellar Characterization}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/aa6a1d}},
  doi          = {{10.3847/1538-4357/aa6a1d}},
  volume       = {{839}},
  year         = {{2017}},
}