Speaker
Description
Circumbinary planets (CBPs), planets orbiting binary star systems, offer unique insights into planet formation. However, they are challenging to detect using traditional methods. While photometric surveys such as Kepler and TESS have led to the discovery of around a dozen transiting CBPs, the majority of these systems lack precise mass measurements due to limitations of transit-based methods. Radial velocity (RV) observations provide a direct way to measure planetary masses and detect non-transiting CBPs.
Two circumbinary planets with some of the largest uncertainties on planet mass from the known catalogue are Kepler-38b - an <122 Earth Mass planet orbiting an 18.8d binary, and Kepler-1647b - an 483±206 Earth Mass planet orbiting an 11.3d binary. Kepler-1647b is notable for its unusually wide 1108-day orbit beyond the stability limit. I will present an analysis of CARMENES RV data of these faint targets (V~13.5) to establish detection limits for additional planets, and update mass constraints using a full photodynamical fit.
| Talk category | Plenary |
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