Search

We analyze spectroscopic and photometric data to determine the projected inclinations of stars in 11 open clusters, placing constraints on the spin-axis distributions of six clusters. We combine these results with four additional clusters studied by Healy & McCullough (2020) and Healy et al. (2021) to perform an ensemble analysis of their spins. We find that eight out of ten constrained clusters (80%) have spin-axis orientations consistent with isotropy, and we establish a lower limit of four out of ten (40%) isotropic clusters at 75% confidence, assuming no correlation of spins between clusters. We also identify two clusters whose spin-axis distributions can be better described by a model consisting of an aligned fraction of stars combined with an isotropic distribution. However, the inclination values of these stars may be influenced by systematic error, and the small number of stars modeled as aligned in these two clusters precludes the interpretation that their stellar subsets are physically aligned. Overall, no cluster displays an unambiguous signature of spin alignment, and 97% of the stars in our sample are consistent with isotropic orientations in their respective clusters. Our results offer support for the dominance of turbulence over ordered rotation in clumps and do not suggest alignment of rotation axes and magnetic fields in protostars., 35 pages, 15 figures, accepted for publication in ApJ

The metallicity dependence of the wide-binary fraction in stellar populations plays a critical role in resolving the open question of wide binary formation. In this paper, we investigate the metallicity ([Fe/H]) and age dependence of the wide-binary fraction (binary separations between $10^3$ and $10^4$ AU) for field F and G dwarfs within 500 pc by combining their metallicity and radial velocity measurements from LAMOST DR5 with the astrometric information from Gaia DR2. We show that the wide-binary fraction strongly depends on the metallicity: as metallicity increases, the wide-binary fraction first increases, peaks at [Fe/H]$\simeq 0$, and then decreases at the high metallicity end. The wide-binary fraction at [Fe/H]$=0$ is about two times larger than that at [Fe/H]$=-1$ and [Fe/H]$=+0.5$. This metallicity dependence is dominated by the thin-disk stars. Using stellar kinematics as a proxy of stellar age, we show that younger stars have a higher wide-binary fraction at fixed metallicity close to solar. We propose that multiple formation channels are responsible for the metallicity and age dependence. In particular, the positive metallicity correlation at [Fe/H]$0$ can be inherited from the similar metallicity dependence of close binaries, and radial migration may play a role in enhancing the wide-binary fraction around the solar metallicity., Accepted by MNRAS. Fig 3 and 7 are the key results

Little is known about the origin of the fastest stars in the Galaxy. Our understanding of the Milky Way and surrounding dwarf galaxies chemical evolution history allows us to use the chemical composition of a star to investigate its origin, and say whether a star was formed in-situ or was accreted. However, the fastest stars, the hypervelocity stars, are young and massive and their chemical composition has not yet been analyzed. Though it is difficult to analyze the chemical composition of a massive young star, we are well versed in the analysis of late-type stars. We have used high-resolution ARCES/3.5m Apache Point Observatory, MIKE/Magellan spectra to study the chemical details of 15 late-type hypervelocity stars candidates. With Gaia EDR3 astrometry and spectroscopically determined radial velocities we found total velocities with a range of $274$ - $520$ km s$^{-1}$ and mean value of $381$ km s$^{-1}$. Therefore, our sample stars are not fast enough to be classified as Hypervelocity stars, and are what is known as extreme-velocity stars. Our sample has a wide iron abundance range of $-2.5 \le \mathrm{[Fe/H]} \le -0.9$. Their chemistry indicate that at least 50\% of them are accreted extragalactic stars, with iron-peak elements consistent with prior sub-Chandrasekhar mass type Ia supernova enrichment. Without indication of binary companions, their chemical abundances and orbital parameters are indicative that they are the accelerated tidal debris of disrupted dwarf galaxies., Comment: Accepted for publication at AJ; 23 pages; 6 Figures; 4 Tables

It has been shown that hot Jupiters systems with massive, hot stellar primaries exhibit a wide range of stellar obliquities. On the other hand, hot Jupiter systems with low-mass, cool primaries often have stellar obliquities close to zero. Efficient tidal interactions between hot Jupiters and the convective envelopes present in lower-mass main sequence stars have been a popular explanation for these observations. If this explanation is accurate, then aligned systems should be older than misaligned systems. Likewise, the convective envelope mass of a hot Jupiter's host star should be an effective predictor of its obliquity. We derive homogeneous stellar parameters -- including convective envelope masses -- for hot Jupiter host stars with high-quality sky-projected obliquity inferences. Using a thin disk stellar population's Galactic velocity dispersion as a relative age proxy, we find that hot Jupiter host stars with larger-than-median obliquities are older than hot Jupiter host stars with smaller-than-median obliquities. The relative age difference between the two populations is larger for hot Jupiter host stars with smaller-than-median fractional convective envelope masses and is significant at the 3.6-$\sigma$ level. We identify stellar mass, not convective envelope mass, as the best predictor of stellar obliquity in hot Jupiter systems. The best explanation for these observations is that many hot Jupiters in misaligned systems arrived in the close proximity of their host stars long after their parent protoplanetary disks dissipated. The dependence of observed age offset on convective envelope mass suggests that tidal realignment contributes to the population of aligned hot Jupiters orbiting stars with convective envelopes., Comment: 35 pages, 9 figures, and 6 tables in aastex631 format; accepted for publication in AJ

Since planet occurrence and primordial atmospheric retention probability increase with period, the occurrence-weighted median planets discovered by transit surveys may bear little resemblance to the low-occurrence, short-period planets sculpted by atmospheric escape ordinarily used to calibrate mass--radius relations and planet formation models. An occurrence-weighted mass--radius relation for the low-mass planets discovered so far by transit surveys orbiting solar-type stars requires both occurrence-weighted median Earth-mass and Neptune-mass planets to have a few percent of their masses in hydrogen/helium (H/He) atmospheres. Unlike the Earth that finished forming long after the protosolar nebula was dissipated, these occurrence-weighted median Earth-mass planets must have formed early in their systems' histories. The existence of significant H/He atmospheres around Earth-mass planets confirms an important prediction of the core-accretion model of planet formation. It also implies core masses $M_{\text{c}}$ in the range $2~M_{\oplus}\lesssim M_{\text{c}}\lesssim 8~M_{\oplus}$ that can retain their primordial atmospheres. If atmospheric escape is driven by photoevaporation due to extreme ultraviolet (EUV) flux, then our observation requires a reduction in the fraction of incident EUV flux converted into work usually assumed in photoevaporation models. If atmospheric escape is core driven, then the occurrence-weighted median Earth-mass planets must have large Bond albedos. In contrast to Uranus and Neptune that have at least 10% of their masses in H/He atmospheres, these occurrence-weighted median Neptune-mass planets are H/He poor. The implication is that they experienced collisions or formed in much shorter-lived and/or hotter parts of their parent protoplanetary disks than Uranus and Neptune's formation location in the protosolar nebula., 23 pages, 7 figures, and 1 table in aastex631 format; accepted for publication in ApJ

It is uncertain whether or not low-mass Population III stars ever existed. While limits on the number density of Population III stars with $M_{\ast} \approx 0.8~M_{\odot}$ have been derived using Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) data, little is known about the occurrence of Population III stars at lower masses. In the absence of reliable parallaxes, the spectra of metal-poor main sequence (MPMS) stars with $M_{\ast} \lesssim 0.8~M_{\odot}$ can easily be confused with cool white dwarfs. To resolve this ambiguity, we present a classifier that differentiates between MPMS stars and white dwarfs based on photometry and/or spectroscopy without the use of parallax information. We build and train our classifier using state-of-the-art theoretical spectra and evaluate it on existing SDSS-based classifications for objects with reliable Gaia DR2 parallaxes. We then apply our classifier to a large catalog of objects with SDSS photometry and spectroscopy to search for MPMS candidates. We discover several previously unknown candidate extremely metal-poor (EMP) stars and recover numerous confirmed EMP stars already in the literature. We conclude that archival SDSS spectroscopy has already been exhaustively searched for EMP stars. We predict that the lowest-mass primordial-composition stars will have redder optical-to-infrared colors than cool white dwarfs at constant effective temperature due to surface gravity-dependent collision-induced absorption from molecular hydrogen. We suggest that the application of our classifier to data produced by next-generation spectroscopic surveys will set stronger constraints on the number density of low-mass Population III stars in the Milky Way., Comment: 16 pages, 5 figures, and 1 table in aastex63 format; accepted for publication in AJ

Globular clusters can form inside their host galaxies at high redshift when gas densities were higher and gas-rich mergers were common. They can also form inside lower-mass galaxies that have since been accreted and tidally disrupted, leaving their globular cluster complement bound to higher-mass halos. We argue that the age-metallicity-specific orbital energy relation in a galaxy's globular cluster system can be used to identify its origin. Gas-rich mergers should produce tightly bound systems in which metal-rich clusters are younger than metal-poor clusters. Globular clusters formed in massive disks and then scattered into a halo should have no relationship between age and specific orbital energy. Accreted globular clusters should produce weakly bound systems in which age and metallicity are correlated with each other but inversely correlated with specific orbital energy. We use precise relative ages, self-consistent metallicities, and space-based proper motion-informed orbits to show that the Milky Way's metal-poor globular cluster system lies in a plane in age-metallicity-specific orbital energy space. We find that relatively young or metal-poor globular clusters are weakly bound to the Milky Way, while relatively old or metal-rich globular clusters are tightly bound to the Galaxy. While metal-rich globular clusters may be formed either in situ or ex situ, our results suggest that metal-poor clusters formed outside of the Milky Way in now-disrupted dwarf galaxies. We predict that this relationship between age, metallicity, and specific orbital energy in a $L^{*}$ galaxy's globular cluster system is a natural outcome of galaxy formation in a $\Lambda$CDM universe., Comment: 20 pages, 4 figures, and 5 tables in aastex63 format; accepted for publication in AJ

While it is well established that giant-planet occurrence rises rapidly with host star metallicity, it is not yet clear if small-planet occurrence around late-type dwarf stars depends on host star metallicity. Using the Kepler Data Release 25 planet candidate list and its completeness data products, we explore planet occurrence as a function of metallicity in the Kepler field's late-type dwarf stellar population. We find that planet occurrence increases with metallicity for all planet radii $R_{\mathrm{p}}$ down to at least $R_{\mathrm{p}}\approx2~R_{\oplus}$ and that in the range $2~R_{\oplus}\lesssim R_{\mathrm{p}}\lesssim 5~R_{\oplus}$ planet occurrence scales linearly with metallicity $Z$. Extrapolating our results, we predict that short-period planets with $R_{\mathrm{p}}\lesssim 2~R_{\oplus}$ should be rare around early M dwarf stars with $\mathrm{[M/H]}\lesssim-0.5$ or late M dwarf stars with $\mathrm{[M/H]}\lesssim+0.0$. This dependence of planet occurrence on metallicity observed in the Kepler field emphasizes the need to control for metallicity in estimates of planet occurrence for late-type dwarf stars like those targeted by Kepler's K2 extension and the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS). We confirm the theoretical expectation that the small planet occurrence--host star metallicity relation is stronger for low-mass stars than for solar-type stars. We establish that the expected solid mass in planets around late-type dwarfs in the Kepler field is comparable to the total amount of planet-making solids in their protoplanetary disks. We argue that this high efficiency of planet formation favors planetesimal accretion over pebble accretion as the origin of the small planets observed by Kepler around late-type dwarf stars., Comment: 13 pages, 6 figures, and 6 Tables in aastex63 format; accepted for publication in AJ

Intrinsically luminous giant stars in the Milky Way are the only potential volume-complete tracers of the distant disk, bulge, and halo. The chemical abundances of metal-poor giants also reflect the compositions of the earliest star-forming regions, providing the initial conditions for the chemical evolution of the Galaxy. However, the intrinsic rarity of metal-poor giants combined with the difficulty of efficiently identifying them with broad-band optical photometry has made it difficult to exploit them for studies of the Milky Way. We re-derive a giant star photometric selection using existing public g-band and narrow-band DDO51 photometry obtained in the Kepler field. Our selection is simple and yields a contamination rate of main-sequence stars of $\lesssim$1% and a completeness of about 80% for giant stars with $T_{\rm eff} \lesssim 5250$ K - subject to the selection function of the spectroscopic surveys used to estimate these rates, and the magnitude range considered ($11\lesssim g\lesssim 15$). While the DDO51 filter is known to be sensitive to stellar surface gravity, we further show that the mid-infrared colours of DDO51-selected giants are strongly correlated with spectroscopic metallicity. This extends the infrared selection developed by Schlaufman & Casey, demonstrating that the principal contaminants in their selection can be efficiently removed by the photometric separation of dwarfs and giants. This implies that any similarly efficient dwarf/giant discriminant (e.g., Gaia) can be used with WISE colours to select samples of giant stars with high completeness and low contamination. We employ our photometric selection to identify three metal-poor giant candidates in the Kepler field with global asteroseismic parameters and find that masses inferred for these three stars using standard asteroseismic scaling relations are systematically over-estimated by 20-175%. [abridged], Accepted to MNRAS

The chemical abundances of a galaxy's metal-poor stellar population can be used to investigate the earliest stages of its formation and chemical evolution. The Magellanic Clouds are the most massive of the Milky Way's satellite galaxies and are thought to have evolved in isolation until their recent accretion by the Milky Way. Unlike the Milky Way's less massive satellites, little is know about the Magellanic Clouds' metal-poor stars. We have used the mid-infrared metal-poor star selection of Schlaufman & Casey (2014) and archival data to target nine LMC and four SMC giants for high-resolution Magellan/MIKE spectroscopy. These nine LMC giants with $-2.4\lesssim[\text{Fe/H}]\lesssim-1.5$ and four SMC giants with $-2.6\lesssim[\text{Fe/H}]\lesssim-2.0$ are the most metal-poor stars in the Magellanic Clouds yet subject to a comprehensive abundance analysis. While we find that at constant metallicity these stars are similar to Milky Way stars in their $\alpha$, light, and iron-peak elemental abundances, both the LMC and SMC are enhanced relative to the Milky Way in the $r$-process element europium. These abundance offsets are highly significant, equivalent to $3.9\sigma$ for the LMC, $2.7\sigma$ for the SMC, and $5.0\sigma$ for the complete Magellanic Cloud sample. We propose that the $r$-process enhancement of the Magellanic Clouds' metal-poor stellar population is a result of the Magellanic Clouds' isolated chemical evolution and long history of accretion from the cosmic web combined with $r$-process nucleosynthesis on a timescale longer than the core-collapse supernova timescale but shorter than or comparable to the thermonuclear (i.e., Type Ia) supernova timescale., Comment: Accepted for publication in The Astronomical Journal. 30 pages, 7 figures, and 5 tables

A primary goal of exoplanet characterization is to use a planet's current composition to understand how that planet formed. For example, the C/O ratio has long been recognized as carrying important information on the chemistry of volatile species. Refractory elements, like Fe, Mg, and Si, are usually not considered in this conversation because they condense into solids like Fe(s) or MgSiO$_3$ and would be removed from the observable, gaseous atmosphere in exoplanets cooler than about 2000~K. However, planets hotter than about 2000~K, called ultra-hot Jupiters (UHJs), are warm enough to largely avoid the condensation of refractory species. In this paper, we explore the insight that the measurement of refractory abundances can provide into a planet's origins. Through refractory-to-volatile elemental abundance ratios, we can estimate a planet's atmospheric rock-to-ice fraction and constrain planet formation and migration scenarios. We first relate a planet's present-day refractory-to-volatile ratio to its rock-to-ice ratio from formation using various compositional models for the rocky and icy components of the protoplanetary disk. We discuss potential confounding factors like the sequestration of heavy metals in the core and condensation. We then show such a measurement using atmospheric retrievals of the low-resolution UV-IR transmission spectrum of WASP-121b with PETRA, from which we estimate a refractory-to-volatile ratio of 5.0$^{+6.0}_{-2.7}\times$ solar and a rock-to-ice ratio greater than 2/3. This result is consistent with significant atmospheric enrichment by rocky planetismals. Lastly, we discuss the rich future potential for measuring refractory-to-volatile ratios in ultra-hot Jupiters with the arrival of JWST and by combining observations at low- and high-resolution., 20 pages, 9 Figures. Accepted for publication in ApJ

While cooler giant planets are often observed with non-zero eccentricities, the short-period circular orbits of hot Jupiters suggest that they lose orbital energy and angular momentum due to tidal interactions with their host stars. However, orbital decay has never been unambiguously observed. We use data from Gaia Data Release 2 to show that hot Jupiter host stars have a smaller Galactic velocity dispersion than a similar population of stars without hot Jupiters. Since Galactic velocity dispersion is correlated with age, this observation implies that the population of hot Jupiter host stars is on average younger than the field population. The best explanation for this inference is that tidal interactions cause hot Jupiters to inspiral while their host stars are on the main sequence. This observation requires that the typical modified stellar tidal quality factor $Q_{\ast}^{'}$ for solar-type stars be in the range $\log_{10}{Q_{\ast}^{'}} \lesssim 7$., Comment: 12 pages, 5 figures, and 2 tables in aastex62 format; accepted for publication in AJ

Here we present the discovery of 895 s-process-rich candidates from 454,180 giant stars observed by the Large Sky Area Multi-Object Fibre Spectroscopic Telescope (LAMOST) using a data-driven approach. This sample constitutes the largest number of s-process enhanced stars ever discovered. Our sample includes 187 s-process-rich candidates that are enhanced in both barium and strontium, 49 stars with significant barium enhancement only and 659 stars that show only a strontium enhancement. Most of the stars in our sample are in the range of effective temperature and log g typical of red giant branch (RGB) populations, which is consistent with our observational selection bias towards finding RGB stars. We estimate that only a small fraction (0.5 per cent) of binary configurations are favourable for s-process enriched stars. The majority of our s-process-rich candidates (95 per cent) show strong carbon enhancements, whereas only five candidates (less than 3 percent) show evidence of sodium enhancement. Our kinematic analysis reveals that 97 percent of our sample are disc stars, with the other 3 percent showing velocities consistent with the Galactic halo. The scaleheight of the disc is estimated to be zh=0.634kpc, comparable with values in the literature. A comparison with the yields from asymptotic giant branch (AGB) models suggests that the main neutron source responsible for the Ba and Sr enhancements is the 13C(alpha,n)16O reaction. We conclude that the s-process-rich candidates may have received their overabundances via mass transfer from a previous ABG companion with an initial mass in the range 1-3Msun., Comment: 9 pages, 6 figures

The bulge is the oldest component of the Milky Way. Since numerous simulations of Milky Way formation have predicted that the oldest stars at a given metallicity are found on tightly bound orbits, the Galaxy's oldest stars are likely metal-poor stars in the inner bulge with small apocenters (i.e., $R_{\mathrm{apo}}\lesssim4$ kpc). In the past, stars with these properties have been impossible to find due to extreme reddening and extinction along the line of sight to the inner bulge. We have used the mid-infrared metal-poor star selection of Schlaufman & Casey (2014) on Spitzer/GLIMPSE data to overcome these problems and target candidate inner bulge metal-poor giants for moderate-resolution spectroscopy with AAT/AAOmega. We used those data to select three confirmed metal-poor giants ($[\mathrm{Fe/H}]=-3.15,-2.56,-2.03$) for follow-up high-resolution Magellan/MIKE spectroscopy. A comprehensive orbit analysis using Gaia DR2 astrometry and our measured radial velocities confirms that these stars are tightly bound inner bulge stars. We determine the elemental abundances of each star and find high titanium and iron-peak abundances relative to iron in our most metal-poor star. We propose that the distinct abundance signature we detect is a product of nucleosynthesis in the Chandrasekhar-mass thermonuclear supernova of a CO white dwarf accreting from a helium star with a delay time of about 10 Myr. Even though chemical evolution is expected to occur quickly in the bulge, the intense star formation in the core of the nascent Milky Way was apparently able to produce at least one Chandrasekhar-mass thermonuclear supernova progenitor before chemical evolution advanced beyond $[\mathrm{Fe/H}]\sim-3$., AAS Accepted in July 24, 2020. 25 pages, 9 figures

We investigate a possible correlation between the solid surface density Σ of the minimum-mass extrasolar nebula (MMEN) and the host star mass M★ and metallicity [Fe/H]. Leveraging on the precise host star properties from the California-Kepler Survey (CKS), we found that Σ= 50⁺³³₋₂₀ g cm ⁻² (a/1 au)^(−1.75±0.07) (M★/M⊙)^(1.04±0.22) 10^(0.22±0.05[Fe/H]) for Kepler-like systems (1–4R⊕; a < 1 au). The strong M★ dependence is reminiscent of previous dust continuum results that the solid disk mass scales with M★. The weaker [Fe/H] dependence shows that sub-Neptune planets, unlike giant planets, form readily in lower metallicity environment. The innermost region (a < 0.1 au) of an MMEN maintains a smooth profile despite a steep decline of planet occurrence rate: a result that favors the truncation of disks by corotating magnetospheres with a range of rotation periods, rather than the sublimation of dust. The Σ of Kepler multitransiting systems shows a much stronger correlation with M★ and [Fe/H] than singles. This suggests that the dynamically hot evolution that produced single systems also partially removed the memory of formation in disks. Radial-velocity planets yielded a MMEN very similar to CKS planets; transit-timing-variation planets' postulated convergent migration history is supported by their poorly constrained MMEN. We found that lower mass stars have a higher efficiency of forming/retaining planets: for Sun-like stars, about 20% of the solid mass within ~1 au are converted/preserved as sub-Neptunes, compared to 70% for late-K to early-M stars. This may be due to the lower binary fraction, lower giant-planet occurrence, or the longer disk lifetime of lower mass stars.

Ultra-short-period (USP) planets are a newly recognized class of planets with periods shorter than one day and radii smaller than about 2 Earth radii. It has been proposed that USP planets are the solid cores of hot Jupiters that lost their gaseous envelopes due to photo-evaporation or Roche lobe overflow. We test this hypothesis by asking whether USP planets are associated with metal-rich stars, as has long been observed for hot Jupiters. We find the metallicity distributions of USP-planet and hot-Jupiter hosts to be significantly different ($p = 3\times 10^{-4}$), based on Keck spectroscopy of Kepler stars. Evidently, the sample of USP planets is not dominated by the evaporated cores of hot Jupiters. The metallicity distribution of stars with USP planets is indistinguishable from that of stars with short-period planets with sizes between 2--4~$R_\oplus$. Thus it remains possible that the USP planets are the solid cores of formerly gaseous planets smaller than Neptune., Comment: AJ, in press

We present a detailed analysis of high-resolution, high S/N spectra for 5 Aquarius stream stars observed with the MIKE spectrograph on the Magellan Clay telescope. Our sample represents one third of the 15 known members in the stream. We find the stream is not mono-metallic: the metallicity ranges from [Fe/H] = -0.63 to -1.58. No anti-correlation in Na-O abundances is present, and we find a strong positive Mg-Al relationship, similar to that observed in the thick disk. We find no evidence that the stream is a result of a disrupted classical globular cluster, contrary to a previously published claim. High [(Na, Ni, alpha)/Fe] and low [Ba/Y] abundance ratios in the stream suggests it is not a tidal tail from a disrupted dwarf galaxy, either. The stream is chemically indistinguishable from Milky Way field stars with the exception of one candidate, C222531-145437. From its position, velocity, and detailed chemical abundances, C222531-145437 is likely a star that was tidally disrupted from omega-Centauri. We propose the Aquarius stream is Galactic in origin, and could be the result from a disk-satellite perturbation in the Milky Way thick disk on the order of a few Gyr ago: derived orbits, UVW velocities, and angular momenta of the Aquarius members offer qualitative support for our hypothesis. Assuming C222531-145437 is a tidally disrupted member of omega-Centauri, this system is the most likely disk perturber. In the absence of compelling chemical and/or dynamical evidence that the Aquarius stream is the tidal tail of a disrupted satellite, we advocate the "Aquarius group" as a more appropriate description. Like the Canis Major over-density, as well as the Hercules and Monoceros groups, the Aquarius group joins the list of kinematically-identified substructures that are not actually accreted material: they are simply part of the rich complexity of the Milky Way structure., Comment: Accepted to MNRAS. Updated to journal version

It is unknown whether or not low-mass stars can form at low metallicity. While theoretical simulations of Population III (Pop III) star formation show that protostellar disks can fragment, it is impossible for those simulations to discern if those fragments survive as low-mass stars. We report the discovery of a low-mass star on a circular orbit with orbital period P = 34.757 +/- 0.010 days in the ultra metal-poor (UMP) single-lined spectroscopic binary system 2MASS J18082002--5104378. The secondary star 2MASS J18082002--5104378 B has a mass M_2 = 0.14_{-0.01}^{+0.06} M_Sun, placing it near the hydrogen-burning limit for its composition. The 2MASS J18082002--5104378 system is on a thin disk orbit as well, making it the most metal-poor thin disk star system by a considerable margin. The discovery of 2MASS J18082002--5104378 B confirms the existence of low-mass UMP stars and its short orbital period shows that fragmentation in metal-poor protostellar disks can lead to the formation and survival of low-mass stars. We use scaling relations for the typical fragment mass and migration time along with published models of protostellar disks around both UMP and primordial composition stars to explore the formation of low-mass Pop III stars via disk fragmentation. We find evidence that the survival of low-mass secondaries around solar-mass UMP primaries implies the survival of solar-mass secondaries around Pop III primaries with masses 10 M_Sun < M_Star < 100 M_Sun. If true, this inference suggests that solar-mass Pop III stars formed via disk fragmentation could survive to the present day., 19 pages, 5 figures, and 6 tables in aastex62 format; accepted for publication in ApJ

Of the 26 transiting exoplanet systems with measurements of the Rossiter-McLaughlin (RM) effect, eight have now been found to be significantly spin-orbit misaligned in the plane of the sky. Unfortunately, the RM effect only measures the angle between the orbit of a transiting exoplanet and the spin of its host star projected in the plane of sky, leaving unconstrained the compliment misalignment angle between the orbit of the planet and the spin of its host star along the line of sight. I use a simple model of stellar rotation benchmarked with observational data to statistically identify ten exoplanet systems from a sample of 75 for which there is likely a significant degree of misalignment along the line of sight between the orbit of the planet and the spin of its host star. I find that HAT-P-7, HAT-P-14, HAT-P-16, HD 17156, Kepler-5, Kepler-7, TrES-4, WASP-1, WASP-12, and WASP-14 are likely spin-orbit misaligned along the line of sight. All ten systems have host stellar masses M_star in the range 1.2 M_sun, 16 pages, 5 figures, and 2 tables in emulateapj format; submitted to ApJ in original form 24 December 2009, resubmitted in response to referee report 1 June 2010

We simulate a Kepler-like observation of a theoretical exoplanet population and we show that the observed orbital period distribution of the Kepler giant planet candidates is best matched by an average stellar specific dissipation function Q_* in the interval 10^6 ~< Q_* ~< 10^7. In that situation, the few super-Earths that are driven to orbital periods P < 1 day by dynamical interactions in multiple-planet systems will survive tidal disruption for a significant fraction of the main-sequence lifetimes of their stellar hosts. Consequently, though these very-hot super-Earths are not characteristic of the overall super-Earth population, their substantial transit probability implies that they should be significant contributors to the full super-Earth population uncovered by Kepler. As a result, the CoRoT-7 system may be the first representative of a population of very-hot super-Earths that we suggest should be found in multiple-planet systems preferentially orbiting the least-dissipative stellar hosts in the Kepler sample., 9 pages and 5 figures in emulateapj format; accepted for publication in ApJL

Existing exoplanet radial velocity surveys are complete in the planetary mass-semimajor axis (Mp-a) plane over the range 0.1 AU < a < 2.0 AU where Mp >~ 100 M_Earth. We marginalize over mass in this complete domain of parameter space and demonstrate that the observed semimajor axis distribution is inconsistent with models of planet formation that use the full Type I migration rate derived from a linear theory and that do not include the effect of the ice line on the disk surface density profile. However, the efficiency of Type I migration can be suppressed by both nonlinear feedback and the barriers introduced by local maxima in the disk pressure distribution, and we confirm that the synthesized Mp-a distribution is compatible with the observed data if we account for both retention of protoplanetary embryos near the ice line and an order-of-magnitude reduction in the efficiency of Type I migration. The validity of these assumption can be checked because they also predict a population of short-period rocky planets with a range of masses comparable to that of the Earth as well as a "desert" in the Mp-a distribution centered around Mp ~ 30-50 M_Earth and a < 1 AU. We show that the expected "desert" in the Mp-a plane will be discernible by a radial velocity survey with 1 m/s precision and n ~ 700 radial velocity observations of program stars., 15 pages, 6 figures, and 1 table in preprint format; accepted for publication in ApJ

The LIGO interferometers are operating as gravitational wave observatories, with a noise level near an order of magnitude of the goal and the first scientific data recently taken. This data has been analyzed for four different categories of gravitational wave sources; millisecond bursts, inspiralling binary neutron stars, periodic waves from a known pulsar, and stochastic background. Research and development is also underway for the next generation LIGO detector, Advanced LIGO.

We report on a search for gravitational waves from binary black hole inspirals in the data from the second science run of the LIGO interferometers. The search focused on binary systems with component masses between 3 and 20 solar masses. Optimally oriented binaries with distances up to 1 Mpc could be detected with efficiency of at least 90%. We found no events that could be identified as gravitational waves in the 385.6 hours of data that we searched., 18 pages, 8 figures

We perform a wide parameter space search for continuous gravitational waves over the whole sky and over a large range of values of the frequency and the first spin-down parameter. Our search method is based on the Hough transform, which is a semi-coherent, computationally efficient, and robust pattern recognition technique. We apply this technique to data from the second science run of the LIGO detectors and our final results are all-sky upper limits on the strength of gravitational waves emitted by unknown isolated spinning neutron stars on a set of narrow frequency bands in the range 200-$400 $Hz. The best upper limit on the gravitational wave strain amplitude that we obtain in this frequency range is $4.43\times 10^{-23}$., Comment: 22 pages, 21 figures, to be submitted to Phys. Rev. D

Data collected by the GEO 600 and LIGO interferometric gravitational wave detectors during their first observational science run were searched for continuous gravitational waves from the pulsar J1939+2134 at twice its rotation frequency. Two independent analysis methods were used and are demonstrated in this paper: a frequency domain method and a time domain method. Both achieve consistent null results, placing new upper limits on the strength of the pulsar’s gravitational wave emission. A model emission mechanism is used to interpret the limits as a constraint on the pulsar’s equatorial ellipticity.

For 17 days in August and September 2002, the LIGO and GEO interferometer gravitational wave detectors were operated in coincidence to produce their first data for scientific analysis. Although the detectors were still far from their design sensitivity levels, the data can be used to place better upper limits on the flux of gravitational waves incident on the earth than previous direct measurements. This paper describes the instruments and the data in some detail, as a companion to analysis papers based on the first data., 41 pages, 9 figures 17 Sept 03: author list amended, minor editorial changes

We present the analysis of between 50 and 100 hrs of coincident interferometric strain data used to search for and establish an upper limit on a stochastic background of gravitational radiation. These data come from the first LIGO science run, during which all three LIGO interferometers were operated over a 2-week period spanning August and September of 2002. The method of cross-correlating the outputs of two interferometers is used for analysis. We describe in detail practical signal processing issues that arise when working with real data, and we establish an observational upper limit on a f^{-3} power spectrum of gravitational waves. Our 90% confidence limit is Omega_0 h_{100}^2 < 23 in the frequency band 40 to 314 Hz, where h_{100} is the Hubble constant in units of 100 km/sec/Mpc and Omega_0 is the gravitational wave energy density per logarithmic frequency interval in units of the closure density. This limit is approximately 10^4 times better than the previous, broadband direct limit using interferometric detectors, and nearly 3 times better than the best narrow-band bar detector limit. As LIGO and other worldwide detectors improve in sensitivity and attain their design goals, the analysis procedures described here should lead to stochastic background sensitivity levels of astrophysical interest., 26 pages, 17 figures

Kepler has identified over 600 multiplanet systems, many of which have several planets with orbital distances smaller than that of Mercury -- quite different from the Solar System. Because these systems may be difficult to explain in the paradigm of core accretion and disk migration, it has been suggested that they formed in situ within protoplanetary disks with high solid surface densities. The strong connection between giant planet occurrence and stellar metallicity is thought to be linked to enhanced solid surface densities in disks around metal-rich stars, so the presence of a giant planet can be a detectable sign of planet formation in a high solid surface density disk. I formulate quantitative predictions for the frequency of long-period giant planets in these in situ models of planet formation by translating the proposed increase in disk mass into an equivalent metallicity enhancement. I rederive the scaling of giant planet occurrence with metallicity as P_gp = 0.05_{-0.02}^{+0.02} x 10^{(2.1 +/- 0.4) [M/H]} = 0.08_{-0.03}^{+0.02} x 10^{(2.3 +/- 0.4) [Fe/H]} and show that there is significant tension between the frequency of giant planets suggested by the minimum mass extrasolar nebula scenario and the observational upper limits. This fact suggests that high-mass disks alone cannot explain the observed properties of the close-in Kepler multiplanet systems and that migration is still a necessary contributor to their formation. More speculatively, I combine the metallicity scaling of giant planet occurrence with recently published small planet occurrence rates to estimate the number of Solar System analogs in the Galaxy. I find that in the Milky Way there are perhaps 4 x 10^6 true Solar System analogs with an FGK star hosting both a terrestrial planet in the habitable zone and a long-period giant planet companion., Comment: 16 pages, 7 figures, and 2 tables in emulateapj format; submitted to ApJ

We find that Kepler exoplanet candidate (EC) host stars are preferentially metal-rich, including the low-mass stellar hosts of small-radius ECs. The last observation confirms a tentative hint that there is a correlation between the metallicity of low-mass stars and the presence of low-mass and small-radius exoplanets. In particular, we compare the J-H--g-r color-color distribution of Kepler EC host stars with a control sample of dwarf stars selected from the ~150,000 stars observed during Q1 and Q2 of the Kepler mission but with no detected planets. We find that at J-H = 0.30 characteristic of solar-type stars, the average g-r color of stars that host giant ECs is 4-sigma redder than the average color of the stars in the control sample. At the same time, the average g-r color of solar-type stars that host small-radius ECs is indistinguishable from the average color of the stars in the control sample. In addition, we find that at J-H = 0.62 indicative of late K dwarfs, the average g-r color of stars that host small-radius ECs is 4-sigma redder than the average color of the stars in the control sample. These offsets are unlikely to be caused by differential reddening, age differences between the two populations, or the presence of giant stars in the control sample. Stellar models suggest that the first color offset is due to a 0.2 dex enhancement in [Fe/H] of the giant EC host population at M_star = 1 M_Sun, while Sloan photometry of M 67 and NGC 6791 suggests that the second color offset is due to a similar [Fe/H] enhancement of the small-radius EC host population at M_star = 0.7 M_Sun. These correlations are a natural consequence of the core-accretion model of planet formation., Comment: 15 pages, 8 figures, and 1 table in emulateapj format; accepted for publication in ApJ