Search

Swan bands - characteristic molecular absorption features of the C2 molecule - are a spectroscopic signature of carbon- enhanced stars. They can also be used to identify carbon-enhanced metal- poor (CEMP) stars. The GALAH (GALactic Archaeology with Hermes) is a magnitude-limited survey of stars producing high-resolution, high- signal-to-noise spectra. We used 627 708 GALAH spectra to search for carbon-enhanced stars with a supervised and unsupervised classification algorithm, relying on the imprint of the Swan bands. We identified 918 carbon-enhanced stars, including 12 already described in the literature. An unbiased selection function of the GALAH survey allows us to perform a population study of carbon-enhanced stars. Most of them are giants, out of which we find 28 CEMP candidates. A large fraction of our carbon- enhanced stars with repeated observations show variation in radial velocity, hinting that there is a large fraction of variables among them. 32 of the detected stars also show strong Lithium enhancement in their spectra.

In many ways, the HR8799 system resembles our Solar system more closely than any other discovered to date - albeit on a larger, younger, and more dramatic scale - featuring four giant planets and two debris belts. The first belt lies beyond the orbit of the outer planet, and mirrors our Solar system's Edgeworth-Kuiper belt. The second belt lies interior to the orbit of the inner planet, HR8799e, and is analogous to our Asteroid Belt. With such a similar architecture, the system is a valuable laboratory for examining exoplanet dynamics, and the interaction between debris disks and planets. In recent years, HR8799's outer disk has been relatively well characterised, primarily using the Herschel Space Observatory. In contrast, the inner disk, too close to HR8799 to be spatially resolved by Herschel, remains poorly understood. This leaves significant questions over both the location of the planetesimals responsible for producing the observed dust, and the physical properties of those grains. We have performed extensive simulations of HR8799's inner, unresolved debris belt, using UNSW Australia's supercomputing facility, Katana. Here, we present the results of integrations following the evolution of a belt of dynamically hot debris interior to the orbit of HR8799e, for a period of 60 Myr, using an initial population of 500,000 massless test particles. These simulations have enable the characterisation of the extent and structure of the inner belt, revealing that its outer edge must lie interior to the 3:1 mean-motion resonance with HR8799, at approximately 7.5au, and highlighting the presence of fine structure analogous to the Solar system's Kirkwood gaps. In the future, out results will allow us to calculate a first estimate of the small-body impact rate and water delivery prospects for any potential terrestrial planet(s) that might lurk, undetected, in the inner system., Comment: Published in the peer-reviewed proceedings of the 14th Australian Space Research Conference, held at the University of South Australia, Adelaide, 29th September - 1st October 2014. Proceedings ISBN: 13: 978-0-9775740-8-7; Editors: Wayne Short & Iver Cairns Note: arXiv abstract slightly abridged to meet the maximum allowed length