Search

Radial velocities (RVs) measured from high-resolution stellar spectra are routinely used to detect and characterise orbiting exoplanet companions. The different lines present in stellar spectra are created by several species, which are non-uniformly affected by stellar variability features such as spots or faculae. Stellar variability distorts the shape of the spectral absorption lines from which precise RVs are measured, posing one of the main problems in the study of exoplanets. In this work we aim to study how the spectral lines present in M dwarfs are independently impacted by stellar activity. We used CARMENES optical spectra of six active early- and mid-type M dwarfs to compute line-by-line RVs and study their correlation with several well-studied proxies of stellar activity. We are able to classify spectral lines based on their sensitivity to activity in five M dwarfs displaying high levels of stellar activity. We further used this line classification to compute RVs with activity-sensitive lines and less sensitive lines, enhancing or mitigating stellar activity effects in the RV time series. For specific sets of the least activity-sensitive lines, the RV scatter decreases by ~ 2 to 5 times the initial one, depending on the star. Finally, we compare these lines in the different stars analysed, finding the sensitivity to activity to vary from star to star. Despite the high density of lines and blends present in M dwarf stellar spectra, we find that a line-by-line approach is able to deliver precise RVs. Line-by-line RVs are also sensitive to stellar activity effects, and they allow for an accurate selection of activity-insensitive lines to mitigate activity effects in RV. However, we find stellar activity effects to vary in the same insensitive lines from star to star., Comment: Accepted for publication in A&A

We obtained deep images of G 196-3 B and VHS J1256-1257 b with the NOrthern Extended Millimeter Array (NOEMA) at 1.3 mm. These data were combined with recently published Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA) and Very Large Array (VLA) data of VHS J1256-1257 b at 0.87 mm and 0.9 cm, respectively. Neither G 196-3 B nor VHS J1256-1257 b were detected in the NOEMA, ALMA and VLA data. At 1.3 mm, we imposed flux upper limits of 0.108 mJy (G 196-3 B) and 0.153 mJy (VHS J1256-1257 b) with a 3-sigma confidence. Using the flux upper limits at the millimeter and radio wavelength regimes, we derived maximum values of 0.016 M$_{\rm Earth}$ and 0.004 M$_{\rm Earth}$ for the mass of any cold dust that might be surrounding G 196-3 B and VHS J1256-1257 b, respectively. We put our results in the context of other deep millimeter observations of free-floating and companion objects with substellar masses smaller than 20 M$_{\rm Jupiter}$ and ages between 1 and a few hundred million years. Only two very young objects are detected out of a few tens concluding, as other groups did before, that the disks around these very low-mass objects must have small masses and possibly reduced sizes. If debris disks around substellar objects scale down in a similar manner as protoplanetary disks do, millimeter observations of moderately young brown dwarfs and planets must be at least two orders of magnitude deeper for being able to detect and characterize their surrounding debris disks., Comment: Accepted fro publication in A&A

Open Access article, published by EDP Sciences, under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited., Context. Despite being a prominent subset of the exoplanet population discovered in the past three decades, the nature and provenance of sub-Neptune-sized planets is still one of the open questions in exoplanet science. Aims. For planets orbiting bright stars, precisely measuring the orbital and planet parameters of the system is the best approach to distinguish between competing theories regarding their formation and evolution. Methods. We obtained 69 new radial velocity observations of the mid-M dwarf G 9–40 with the CARMENES instrument to measure for the first time the mass of its transiting sub-Neptune planet, G 9–40 b, discovered in data from the K2 mission. Results. Combined with new observations from the TESS mission during Sectors 44, 45, and 46, we are able to measure the radius of the planet to an uncertainty of 3.4% (Rb = 1.900 ± 0.065 R⊕) and determine its mass with a precision of 16% (Mb = 4.00 ± 0.63 M⊕). The resulting bulk density of the planet is inconsistent with a terrestrial composition and suggests the presence of either a water-rich core or a significant hydrogen-rich envelope. Conclusions. G 9–40 b is referred to as a keystone planet due to its location in period-radius space within the radius valley. Several theories offer explanations for the origin and properties of this population and this planet is a valuable target for testing the dependence of those models on stellar host mass. By virtue of its brightness and small size of the host, it joins L 98-59 d as one of the two best warm (Teq ~ 400 K) sub-Neptunes for atmospheric characterization with JWST, which will probe cloud formation in sub-Neptune-sized planets and break the degeneracies of internal composition models. © R. Luque et al. 2022., This work was supported by the KESPRINT (www.kesprint.science.) collaboration, an international consortium devoted to the characterization and research of exoplanets discovered with space-based missions. This paper includes data collected by the Kepler and TESS missions, obtained from the MAST data archive at the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI). Funding for the Kepler mission is provided by the NASA Science Mission Directorate. Funding for the TESS mission is provided by the NASA Explorer Program. STScI is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc., under NASA contract NAS 5–26555. We acknowledge the use of public TESS data from pipelines at the TESS Science Office and at the TESS Science Processing Operations Center. Resources supporting this work were provided by the NASA High-End Computing (HEC) Program through the NASA Advanced Supercomputing (NAS) Division at Ames Research Center for the production of the SPOC data products. This article is partly based on observations made with the MuSCAT2 instrument, developed by ABC, at Telescopio Carlos Sánchez operated on the island of Tenerife by the IAC in the Spanish Observatorio del Teide. CARMENES is an instrument at the Centro Astronómico Hispano-Alemán (CAHA) at Calar Alto (Almeria, Spain), operated jointly by the Junta de Andalucía and the Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía (CSIC). CARMENES was funded by the Max-Planck-Gesellschaft (MPG), the Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC), the Ministerio de Economia y Competitividad (MINECO) and the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) through projects FICTS-2011-02, ICTS-2017-07-CAHA-4, and CAHA16-CE-3978, and the members of the CARMENES Consortium with additional contributions. IRD is operated by the Astrobiology Center of the National Institute of Natural Sciences of Japan. R.L. acknowledges funding from University of La Laguna through the Margarita Salas Fellowship from the Spanish Ministry of Universities ref. UNI/551/2021-May 26 under the EU Next Generation funds and from the Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación, through project PID2019-109522GB-C52, and the Centre of Excellence “Severo Ochoa” award to the Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía (SEV-2017-0709). This work is partly supported by JSPS KAKENHI Grant Numbers 18H05442, 15H02063, 22000005, JP18H05439, JP21K20376 and JST CREST Grant Number JPMJCR1761. C.C. acknowledges financial support from the ERDF through project AYA2016-79425-C3-1/2/3-P. C.M.P. acknowledges the support of the Swedish National Space Agency (DNR 65/19). H.J.D. acknowledges support from the Spanish Research Agency of the Ministry of Science and Innovation (AEI-MICINN) under grant PID2019-107061GB-C66. P.K. acknowledges the support from the grant LTT-20015. K.W.F.L. was supported by Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft grants RA714/14-1 within the DFG Schwerpunkt SPP 1992, Exploring the Diversity of Extrasolar Planets. This work was supported by the DFG Research Unit FOR2544 “Blue Planets around Red Stars” G.M. has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement No. 895525.

High-resolution spectroscopy studies of ultra-hot Jupiters have been key in our understanding of exoplanet atmospheres. Observing into the atmospheres of these giant planets allows for direct constraints on their atmospheric compositions and dynamics while laying the groundwork for new research regarding their formation and evolution environments. Two of the most well-studied ultra-hot Jupiters are WASP-76b and WASP-121b, with multiple detected chemical species and strong signatures of their atmospheric dynamics. We take a new look at these two exceptional ultra-hot Jupiters by reanalyzing the transit observations taken with ESPRESSO at the Very Large Telescope and attempt to detect additional species. To extract the planetary spectra of the two targets, we corrected for the telluric absorption and removed the stellar spectrum contributions. We then exploited new synthetic templates that were specifically designed for ultra-hot Jupiters in combination with the cross-correlation technique to unveil species that remained undetected by previous analyses. We add a novel detection of Ba+ to the known atmospheric compositions of WASP-76b and WASP-121b, the heaviest species detected to date in any exoplanetary atmosphere, with additional new detections of Co and Sr+ and a tentative detection of Ti+ for WASP-121b. We also confirm the presence of Ca+, Cr, Fe, H, Li, Mg, Mn, Na, and V on both WASP-76b and WASP-121b, with the addition of Ca, Fe+, and Ni for the latter. Finally, we also confirm the clear asymmetric absorption feature of Ca+ on WASP-121b, with an excess absorption at the bluer wavelengths and an effective planet radius beyond the Roche lobe. This indicates that the signal may arise from the escape of planetary atmosphere., 21 pages, 16 figures. Published in A&A Volume 666, October 2022 - Letter to the Editor

We report the characterisation of a multi-planetary system composed of five exoplanets orbiting the K-dwarf HD~23472 (TOI-174). In addition to the two super-Earths that were previously confirmed, we confirm and characterise three Earth-size planets in the system using ESPRESSO radial velocity observations. The planets of this compact system have periods of $P_d \sim 3.98\,$, $P_e \sim 7.90\,$, $P_f \sim 12.16\,$, $P_b \sim 17.67,\,$ and $P_c \sim 29.80\,$days and radii of $R_d \sim 0.75\,$ , $R_e \sim 0.82,$, $R_f \sim 1.13\,$, $R_b \sim 2.01,\,$ and, $R_c \sim 1.85\,$ \REarth. Because of its small size, its proximity to planet d's transit, and close resonance with planet d, planet e was only recently found. The planetary masses were estimated to be $M_d =0.54\pm0.22$, $M_e =0.76\pm0.30$, $M_f =0.64_{-0.39}^{+0.46}$, $M_b = 8.42_{-0.84}^{+0.83}$, and $M_c = 3.37_{-0.87}^{+0.92}$ \MEarth. These planets are among the lightest planets, with masses measured using the radial velocity method, demonstrating the very high precision of the ESPRESSO spectrograph. We estimated the composition of the system's five planets and found that their gas and water mass fractions increase with stellar distance, suggesting that the system was shaped by irradiation. The high density of the two inner planets ($\rho_d = 7.5_{-3.1}^{+3.9}$ and $\rho_e = 7.5_{-3.0}^{+3.9}\, \mathrm{g.cm^{-3}}$) indicates that they are likely to be super-Mercuries. This is supported by the modelling of the internal structures of the planets, which also suggests that the three outermost planets have significant water or gas content If the existence of two super-Mercuries in the system is confirmed, this system will be the only one known to feature two super-Mercuries, making it an excellent testing bed for theories of super-Mercuries formation. (Abridged), Comment: 24 pages, 13 figures, Published in A&A

We analyze two high-resolution spectral transit time series of the hot Jupiter HAT-P-32 b obtained with the CARMENES spectrograph. Our new XMM-Newton X-ray observations of the system show that the fast-rotating F-type host star exhibits a high X-ray luminosity of 2.3e29~erg/s (5-100 A), corresponding to a flux of 6.9e4 erg/cm**2/s at the planetary orbit, which results in an energy-limited escape estimate of about 1e13 g/s for the planetary mass-loss rate. The spectral time series show significant, time-dependent absorption in the Halpha and He I triplet lines with maximum depths of about 3.3% and 5.3%. The mid-transit absorption signals in the Halpha and He I lines are consistent with results from one-dimensional hydrodynamic modeling, which also yields mass-loss rates on the order of 1e13 g/s. We observe an early ingress of a redshifted component of the transmission signal, which extends into a redshifted absorption component, persisting until about the middle of the optical transit. While a super-rotating wind can explain redshifted ingress absorption, we find that an up-orbit stream, transporting planetary mass in the direction of the star, also provides a plausible explanation for the pre-transit signal. This makes HAT-P-32 a benchmark system for exploring atmospheric dynamics via transmission spectroscopy., Accepted for publication in A&A

We observed two transits of the iconic gas giant HD 209458b between 380 and 780 nm, using the high-resolution ESPRESSO spectrograph. The derived planetary transmission spectrum exhibits features at all wavelengths where the parent star shows strong absorption lines, for example, Na I, Mg I, Fe I, Fe II, Ca I, V I, Hα, and K I. We interpreted these features as the signature of the deformation of the stellar line profiles due to the Rossiter-McLaughlin effect, combined with the centre-to-limb effects on the stellar surface, which is in agreement with similar reports recently presented in the literature. We also searched for species that might be present in the planetary atmosphere but not in the stellar spectra, such as TiO and VO, and obtained a negative result. Thus, we find no evidence of any planetary absorption, including previously reported Na I, in the atmosphere of HD 209458b. The high signal-to-noise ratio in the transmission spectrum (~1700 at 590 nm) allows us to compare the modelled deformation of the stellar lines in assuming different one-dimensional stellar atmospheric models. We conclude that the differences among various models and observations remain within the precision limits of the data. However, the transmission light curves are better explained when the centre-to-limb variation is not included in the computation and only the Rossiter-McLaughlin deformation is considered. This demonstrates that ESPRESSO is currently the best facility for spatially resolving the stellar surface spectrum in the optical range using transit observations and carrying out empirical validations of stellar models.

Comparisons of the alignment of exoplanets with a common host star can be used to distinguish among concurrent evolution scenarios. However, multi-planet systems usually host mini-Neptunes and super-Earths, whose size make orbital architecture measurements challenging. We introduce the Rossiter-McLaughlin effect Revolutions technique, which can access spin-orbit angles of small planets by exploiting the full information contained in spectral transit time series. We validated the technique on published HARPS-N data of the mini-Neptune HD3167c, refining its high sky-projected spin-orbit angle (-108.9+5.4-5.5 deg), and we applied it to new ESPRESSO observations of the super-Earth HD3167b, revealing an aligned orbit (-6.6+6.6-7.9 deg). Surprisingly different variations in the contrast of the stellar lines occulted by the planets can be reconciled with a latitudinal dependence of the stellar line shape. In this scenario, a joint fit to both datasets constrains the inclination of the star (111.6+3.1-3.3 deg) and the 3D spin-orbit angles of HD3167b (29.5+7.2-9.4 deg) and HD3167c (107.7+5.1-4.9 deg). The projected spin-orbit angles do not depend on the model for the line contrast variations, and so, with a mutual inclination of 102.3+7.4-8.0 deg, we conclude that the two planets are on perpendicular orbits. This could be explained by HD3167b being strongly coupled to the star and retaining its primordial alignment, whereas HD3167c would have been brought to a nearly polar orbit via secular gravitational interactions with an outer companion. Follow-up observations and dynamical evolution simulations are required to search for this companion and explore this scenario. HD3167b is the smallest exoplanet with a confirmed spectroscopic Rossiter-McLaughlin signal. Our new technique opens the way to determining the orbital architectures of the super-Earth and Earth-sized planet populations., Comment: 20 pages, 19 figures, accepted for publication in A&A (14 September 2021)

The bright star $��$ Men was chosen as the first target for a radial velocity follow-up to test the performance of ESPRESSO, the new high-resolution spectrograph at the ESO's Very-Large Telescope (VLT). The star hosts a multi-planet system (a transiting 4 M$_\oplus$ planet at $\sim$0.07 au, and a sub-stellar companion on a $\sim$2100-day eccentric orbit) which is particularly appealing for a precise multi-technique characterization. With the new ESPRESSO observations, that cover a time span of 200 days, we aim to improve the precision and accuracy of the planet parameters and search for additional low-mass companions. We also take advantage of new photometric transits of $��$ Men c observed by TESS over a time span that overlaps with that of the ESPRESSO follow-up campaign. We analyse the enlarged spectroscopic and photometric datasets and compare the results to those in the literature. We further characterize the system by means of absolute astrometry with Hipparcos and Gaia. We used the spectra of ESPRESSO for an independent determination of the stellar fundamental parameters. We present a precise characterization of the planetary system around $��$ Men. The ESPRESSO radial velocities alone (with typical uncertainty of 10 cm/s) allow for a precise retrieval of the Doppler signal induced by $��$ Men c. The residuals show an RMS of 1.2 m/s, and we can exclude companions with a minimum mass less than $\sim$2 M$_\oplus$ within the orbit of $��$ Men c). We improve the ephemeris of $��$ Men c using 18 additional TESS transits, and in combination with the astrometric measurements, we determine the inclination of the orbital plane of $��$ Men b with high precision ($i_{b}=45.8^{+1.4}_{-1.1}$ deg). This leads to the precise measurement of its absolute mass $m_{b}=14.1^{+0.5}_{-0.4}$ M$_{Jup}$, and shows that the planetary orbital planes are highly misaligned., Accepted for publication on A&A

Multiband photometric transit observations (spectro-photometric) have been used mostly so far to retrieve broadband transmission spectra of transiting exoplanets in order to study their atmospheres. An alternative method was proposed, and has only been used once, to recover broadband transmission spectra using chromatic Rossiter-McLaughlin observations. We use the chromatic Rossiter-McLaughlin technique on archival and new observational data obtained with the HARPS and CARMENES instruments to retrieve transmission spectra of HD 189733b. The combined results cover the widest retrieved broadband transmission spectrum of an exoplanet obtained from ground-based observation. Our retrieved spectrum in the visible wavelength range shows the signature of a hazy atmosphere, and also includes an indication for the presence of sodium and potassium. These findings all agree with previous studies. The combined visible and near-infrared transmission spectrum exhibits a strong steep slope that may have several origins, such as a super-Rayleigh slope in the atmosphere of HD 189733b, an unknown systematic instrumental offset between the visible and near-infrared, or a strong stellar activity contamination. The host star is indeed known to be very active and might easily generate spurious features in the retrieved transmission spectra. Using our CARMENES observations, we assessed this scenario and place an informative constraint on some properties of the active regions of HD 189733. We demonstrate that the presence of starspots on HD 189733 can easily explain our observed strong slope in the broadband transmission spectrum., 10 pages, 8 figures, 4 tables, accepted for publication in A&A

Aims: Our objective is the optical and near-infrared spectroscopic characterisation of 2MASS J0249-0557 c, a recently discovered young planetary mass companion to the $��$ Pictoris member 2MASS J0249-0557. Methods: Using the Visible and Infrared Survey Telescope for Astronomy (VISTA) Hemisphere Survey (VHS) and the Two Micron All Sky Survey (2MASS) data, we independently identified the companion 2MASS J0249-0557 c. We obtained low-resolution optical spectroscopy of this object using the Optical System for Imaging and low-intermediate-Resolution Integrated Spectroscopy (OSIRIS) spectrograph at the Gran Telescopio Canarias (GTC), and near-infrared spectroscopy using the Son of Isaac (SofI) spectrograph on the New Technology Telescope (NTT). Results: We classified 2MASS J0249-0557 c with a spectral type of L2.5$\pm$0.5 in the optical and L3$\pm$1 in the near-infrared. We identified spectroscopic indicators of youth that are compatible with the age of the $��$ Pictoris moving group. We also detect a strong H$��$ emission, with a pEW of -90$^{+20}_{-40}$A, which seems persistent in time. This indicates strong chromospheric activity or disk accretion. Although many M-type brown dwarfs have strong H$��$ emission, this target is one of the very few L-type planetary mass objects in which this strong H$��$ emission has been detected. Lithium absorption at 6708 A is observed with pEW $\lesssim$ 5A. We also computed the binding energy of 2MASS J0249-0557 c and obtained an (absolute) upper limit of $U=(-8.8\pm4.4) 10^{32}$ J. Conclusions: Similarly to other young brown dwarfs and isolated planetary mass objects, strong H$��$ emission is also present in young planetary mass companions at ages of some dozen million years. We also found that 2MASS J0249-0557 c is one of the wide substellar companions with the lowest binding energy known to date., 10 pages, 9 figures. Accepted for publication in A&A

Context: Recently, the He I triplet at 10830 �� has been rediscovered as an excellent probe of the extended and possibly evaporating atmospheres of close-in transiting planets. This has already resulted in detections of this triplet in the atmospheres of a handful of planets, both from space and from the ground. However, while a strong signal is expected for the hot Jupiter HD 209458 b, only upper limits have been obtained so far. Aims: Our goal is to measure the helium excess absorption from HD 209458 b and assess the extended atmosphere of the planet and possible evaporation. Methods: We obtained new high-resolution spectral transit time-series of HD 209458 b using CARMENES at the 3.5 m Calar Alto telescope, targeting the He I triplet at 10830 �� at a spectral resolving power of 80 400. The observed spectra were corrected for stellar absorption lines using out of transit data, for telluric absorption using the molecfit software, and for the sky emission lines using simultaneous sky measurements through a second fibre. Results: We detect He I absorption at a level of 0.91 $\pm$ 0.10 % (9 $��$) at mid-transit. The absorption follows the radial velocity change of the planet during transit, unambiguously identifying the planet as the source of the absorption. The core of the absorption exhibits a net blueshift of 1.8 $\pm$ 1.3 km s$^{-1}$. Possible low-level excess absorption is seen further blueward from the main absorption near the centre of the transit, which could be caused by an extended tail. However, this needs to be confirmed. Conclusions: Our results further support a close relationship between the strength of planetary absorption in the helium triplet lines and the level of ionising, stellar X-ray and extreme-UV irradiation.

Resumen del trabajo presentado al American Physical Society (APS) March Meeting, celebrado del 4 al 8 de 2019 en Boston, Massachusetts (USA)., We thank Spanish FIS2016-76058 and CM S2013/MIT-2850. IMDEA Nanociencia acknowledges the 'Severo Ochoa' Program (SEV-2016-0686). DG thanks RYC-2012-09864, S2013/MIT-3007 and AG and DG thank ESP2015-65597.

Small planets around low-mass stars often show orbital periods in a range that corresponds to the temperate zones of their host stars which are therefore of prime interest for planet searches. Surface phenomena such as spots and faculae create periodic signals in radial velocities and in observational activity tracers in the same range, so they can mimic or hide true planetary signals. We aim to detect Doppler signals corresponding to planetary companions, determine their most probable orbital configurations, and understand the stellar activity and its impact on different datasets. We analyze 22 years of data of the M1.5V-type star Gl49 (BD+61 195) including HARPS-N and CARMENES spectrographs, complemented by APT2 and SNO photometry. Activity indices are calculated from the observed spectra, and all datasets are analyzed with periodograms and noise models. We investigate how the variation of stellar activity imprints on our datasets. We further test the origin of the signals and investigate phase shifts between the different sets. To search for the best-fit model we maximize the likelihood function in a Markov Chain Monte Carlo approach. As a result of this study, we are able to detect the super-Earth Gl49b with a minimum mass of 5.6 Ms. It orbits its host star with a period of 13.85d at a semi-major axis of 0.090 au and we calculate an equilibrium temperature of 350 K and a transit probability of 2.0%. The contribution from the spot-dominated host star to the different datasets is complex, and includes signals from the stellar rotation at 18.86d, evolutionary time-scales of activity phenomena at 40-80d, and a long-term variation of at least four years.

We present three transit observations of HD 189733 b obtained with the high-resolution spectrograph CARMENES at Calar Alto. A strong absorption signal is detected in the near-infrared He I triplet at 10830 �� in all three transits. During mid-transit, the mean absorption level is $0.88\pm0.04$ % measured in a $\pm$10 km s$^{-1}$ range at a net blueshift of $-3.5\pm0.4$ km s$^{-1}$ (10829.84--10830.57 ��). The absorption signal exhibits radial velocities of $+6.5\pm3.1$ km s$^{-1}$ and $-12.6\pm1.0$ km s$^{-1}$ during ingress and egress, respectively; measured in the planetary rest frame. We show that stellar activity related pseudo-signals interfere with the planetary atmospheric absorption signal. They could contribute as much as 80% of the observed signal and might also affect the radial velocity signature, but pseudo-signals are very unlikely to explain the entire signal. The observed line ratio between the two unresolved and the third line of the He I triplet is $2.8\pm0.2$, which strongly deviates from the value expected for an optically thin atmospheres. When interpreted in terms of absorption in the planetary atmosphere, this favors a compact helium atmosphere with an extent of only 0.2 planetary radii and a substantial column density on the order of $4\times 10^{12}$ cm$^{-2}$. The observed radial velocities can be understood either in terms of atmospheric circulation with equatorial superrotation or as a sign of an asymmetric atmospheric component of evaporating material. We detect no clear signature of ongoing evaporation, like pre- or post-transit absorption, which could indicate material beyond the planetary Roche lobe, or radial velocities in excess of the escape velocity. These findings do not contradict planetary evaporation, but only show that the detected helium absorption in HD 189733 b does not trace the atmospheric layers that show pronounced escape signatures., 13 pages, 12 figures, accepted for publication in A&A

We present measurements of the superconducting and charge-density-wave (CDW) critical temperatures (Tc and TCDW) as a function of pressure in the transition metal dichalchogenides 2H-TaSe2 and 2H-TaS2. Resistance and susceptibility measurements show that Tc increases from temperatures below 1 K up to 8.5 K at 9.5 GPa in 2H-TaS2 and 8.2 K at 23 GPa in 2H-TaSe2. We observe a kink in the pressure dependence of TCDW at about 4 GPa that we attribute to the lock-in transition from incommensurate CDW to commensurate CDW. Above this pressure, the commensurate TCDW slowly decreases, coexisting with superconductivity within our full pressure range, D.C.F. gratefully acknowledges support from the Brazilian agencies CAPES and CNPq. This work was partially supported by the French National Research Agency through the project Subrissyme ANR-12-JS04-0003- 01 and by the Spanish MINECO (FIS2014-54498-R, MAT- 2014-56143-R, MDM-2014-0377, and MDM-2015-0538), by the Comunidad de Madrid through program Nanofrontmag, and by the European Union (Graphene Flagship Contract No. CNECT-ICT-604391 and COST MP1201 action). The susceptibility versus temperature data at high pressures, where the strong increase in Tc was first noticed, were taken by the late V. G. Tissen of the Institute of Solid State Physics, Chernogolovka, Russia, during his sabbatical stay in Madrid, which was financed by MINECO

Póster presentado en la 12th European Conference on Thermoelectrics (ECT2014), celebrada en Madrid del 24 al 26 de septiembre de 2014., The characterization of the electrical conductivity of thin films is mandatory in all materials but particularly in thermoelectricity, its measurement is crucial in order to be able to determine the power factor and the figure of merit. A technique that could be used to carry out electrical measurements on thin films is the four probe technique. However, the spreading of the current due to the electrical field or the influence of the electrical contact resistances complicate the determination and analysis of the electrical conductivity of the film. In order to overcome these problems, we carried out a mesa attack on Bi2Te3 films grown by electrodeposition technique, which are hold on a Si substrate with a gold layer of 150nm. The goal is fabricating pillars whose later film resistivity analysis could approach to the 1D electrical model, which cannot be taken into account when dealing with a big film area. For that purpose, a lithography process was done on films with different thicknesses, which consist of a pattern of disks with different diameters ranging between 120µm and 60µm diameter. After the lithography, we evaporated 100nm of gold on top of the disks that would act as the top electrode. Then, we removed the photoresist and we performed a mesa attack with diluted nitric acid (1:2.5). As a result, we obtained pillars as the ones showed in Figure 1. On these pillars, I-V curves with the four probe technique were taken and the resistances of the pillars were determined. Representing the resistance of the pillars versus the inverse of the area of the pillar, the total resistivity of the films, which includes the contact resistances between the electrodes and the pillar, is obtained. Finally, to determine the electrical contact resistance and obtain the pure electrical resistivity of the film, these measurements were performed on different pillar thicknesses. The experimental results have been double-checked with COMSOL simulations of the four probe experiments carried out here, observing a good agreement between them.

We report a characterization of surfaces of the dichalcogenide TaSe2 using scanning tunneling microscopy and spectroscopy at 150 mK. When the top layer has the 2H structure and the layer immediately below the 1T structure, we find a singular spatial dependence of the tunneling conductance below 1 K, changing from a zero-bias peak on top of Se atoms to a gap in between Se atoms. The zero-bias peak is additionally modulated by the commensurate 3a0 × 3a0 charge-density wave of 2H-TaSe2. Multilayers of 2H-TaSe2 show a spatially homogeneous superconducting gap with a critical Temperature also of 1 K. We discuss possible origins for the peculiar tunneling conductance in single layers, This work was supported by the EU (ERC Advanced Grant SPINMOL and COST MP-1201), the Spanish MINECO (Consolider-Ingenio in Molecular Nanoscience, CSD2007-00010 and projects FIS2011-23488, MAT2011-25046, MAT2011-22785 and ACI-2009-0905, co-financed by FEDER), by the Comunidad de Madrid (program Nanobiomagnet) and the Generalitat Valenciana (Programs Prometeo and ISIC-NANO)

We report on the discovery of a fourth component in the HD 221356 star system, previously known to be formed by an F8V, slightly metal-poor primary ([Fe/H]=-0.26), and a distant M8V+L3V pair. In our ongoing common proper motion search based on VISTA Hemisphere Survey (VHS) and 2MASS catalogues, we have detected a faint (J=13.76+/-0.04 mag) co-moving companion of the F8 star located at angular separation of 12.13+/-0.18 arcsec (position angle of 221.8+/-1.7), corresponding to a projected distance of ~312 AU at 26 pc. Near-infrared spectroscopy of the new companion, covering the 1.5-2.4 micron wavelength range with a resolving power of R~600, indicates an L1+/-1 spectral type. Using evolutionary models the mass of the new companion is estimated at ~0.08 solar masses, which places the object close to the stellar-substellar borderline. This multiple system provides an interesting example of objects with masses slightly above and below the hydrogen burning mass limit. The low mass companions of HD 221356 have slightly bluer colours than field dwarfs with similar spectral type, which is likely a consequence of the sub-solar metallicity of the system., Comment: 7 pages, 4 figures, accepted for publication in MNRAS

A dedicated mission to investigate exoplanetary atmospheres represents a major milestone in our quest to understand our place in the universe by placing our Solar System in context and by addressing the suitability of planets for the presence of life. EChO—the Exoplanet Characterisation Observatory—is a mission concept specifically geared for this purpose. EChO will provide simultaneous, multi-wavelength spectroscopic observations on a stable platform that will allow very long exposures. The use of passive cooling, few moving parts and well established technology gives a low-risk and potentially long-lived mission. EChO will build on observations by Hubble, Spitzer and ground-based telescopes, which discovered the first molecules and atoms in exoplanetary atmospheres. However, EChO’s configuration and specifications are designed to study a number of systems in a consistent manner that will eliminate the ambiguities affecting prior observations. EChO will simultaneously observe a broad enough spectral region—from the visible to the mid-infrared—to constrain from one single spectrum the temperature structure of the atmosphere, the abundances of the major carbon and oxygen bearing species, the expected photochemically-produced species and magnetospheric signatures. The spectral range and resolution are tailored to separate bands belonging to up to 30 molecules and retrieve the composition and temperature structure of planetary atmospheres. The target list for EChO includes planets ranging from Jupiter-sized with equilibrium temperatures T eq up to 2,000 K, to those of a few Earth masses, with T eq \u223c 300 K. The list will include planets with no Solar System analog, such as the recently discovered planets GJ1214b, whose density lies between that of terrestrial and gaseous planets, or the rocky-iron planet 55 Cnc e, with day-side temperature close to 3,000 K. As the number of detected exoplanets is growing rapidly each year, and the mass and radius of those detected steadily decreases, the target list will be constantly adjusted to include the most interesting systems. We have baselined a dispersive spectrograph design covering continuously the 0.4–16 μm spectral range in 6 channels (1 in the visible, 5 in the InfraRed), which allows the spectral resolution to be adapted from several tens to several hundreds, depending on the target brightness. The instrument will be mounted behind a 1.5 m class telescope, passively cooled to 50 K, with the instrument structure and optics passively cooled to \u223c45 K. EChO will be placed in a grand halo orbit around L2. This orbit, in combination with an optimised thermal shield design, provides a highly stable thermal environment and a high degree of visibility of the sky to observe repeatedly several tens of targets over the year. Both the baseline and alternative designs have been evaluated and no critical items with Technology Readiness Level (TRL) less than 4–5 have been identified. We have also undertaken a first-order cost and development plan analysis and find that EChO is easily compatible with the ESA M-class mission framework.

The Moon's changeable aspect during a lunar eclipse is largely attributable to variations in the refracted unscattered sunlight absorbed by the terrestrial atmosphere that occur as the satellite crosses the Earth's shadow. The contribution to the Moon's aspect from sunlight scattered at the Earth's terminator is generally deemed minor. However, our analysis of a published spectrum of the 16 August 2008 lunar eclipse shows that diffuse sunlight is a major component of the measured spectrum at wavelengths shorter than 600 nm. The conclusion is supported by two distinct features, namely the spectrum's tail at short wavelengths and the unequal absorption by an oxygen collisional complex at two nearby bands. Our findings are consistent with the presence of the volcanic cloud reported at high northern latitudes following the 7-8 August 2008 eruption in Alaska of the Kasatochi volcano. The cloud both attenuates the unscattered sunlight and enhances moderately the scattered component, thus modifying the contrast between the two contributions., Comment: Accepted for publication in Geophysical Research Letters

We report the discovery of 47 new T dwarfs in the Fourth Data Release (DR4) from the Large Area Survey (LAS) of the UKIRT Infrared Deep Sky Survey with spectral types ranging from T0 to T8.5. These bring the total sample of LAS T dwarfs to 80 as of DR4. In assigning spectral types to our objects we have identified 8 new spectrally peculiar objects, and divide 7 of them into two classes. H2O-H-early have a H2O-H index that differs with the H2O-J index by at least 2 sub-types. CH4-J-early have a CH4-J index that disagrees with the H20-J index by at least 2 subtypes. We have ruled out binarity as a sole explanation for both types of peculiarity, and suggest that they may represent hitherto unrecognised tracers of composition and/or gravity. Clear trends in z'(AB)-J and Y-J are apparent for our sample, consistent with weakening absorption in the red wing of the KI line at 0.77microns with decreasing effective temperature. We have used our sample to estimate space densities for T6-T9 dwarfs. By comparing our sample to Monte-Carlo simulations of field T dwarfs for various mass functions of the form phi(M) \propto M^-alpha, we have placed weak constraints on the form of the field mass function. Our analysis suggests that the substellar mass function is declining at lower masses, with negative values of alpha preferred. This is at odds with results for young clusters that have been generally found to have alpha > 0., 23 pages, 10 figures. MNRAS accepted. Version 2 includes omitted authors.

Ultra-cool dwarfs of the L spectral type (Teff=1400-2200K) are known to have dusty atmospheres. Asymmetries of the dwarf surface may arise from rotationally-induced flattening and dust-cloud coverage, and may result in non-zero linear polarisation through dust scattering. We aim to study the heterogeneity of ultra-cool dwarfs' atmospheres and the grain-size effects on the polarisation degree in a sample of nine late M, L and early T dwarfs. We obtain linear polarimetric imaging measurements using FORS1 at the Very Large Telescope, in the Bessel I filter, and for a subset in the Bessel R and the Gunn z filters. We measure a polarisation degree of (0.31+/-0.06)% for LHS102BC. We fail to detect linear polarisation in the rest of our sample, with upper-limits on the polarisation degree of each object of 0.09% to 0.76% (95% CL). For those targets we do not find evidence of large-scale cloud horizontal structure in our data. Together with previous surveys, our results set the fraction of ultra-cool dwarfs with detected linear polarisation to (30+10-6)% (1-sigma). For three brown dwarfs, our observations indicate polarisation degrees different (at the 3-sigma level) than previously reported, giving hints of possible variations. Our results fail to correlate with the current model predictions for ultra-cool dwarf polarisation for a flattening-induced polarisation, or with the variability studies for a polarisation induced by an hetereneous cloud cover. This stresses the intricacy of each of those tasks, but may as well proceed from complex and dynamic atmospheric processes., Comment: 8 pages, 2 figures, accepted by A&A. Reference problem and a few typos corrected; improved error treatment of Zapatero Osorio et al (2005) data, leading to minor differences in the results

The young $��$-Orionis cluster is an important location for understanding the formation and evolution of stars, brown dwarfs, and planetary-mass objects. Its metallicity, although being a fundamental parameter, has not been well determined yet. We present the first determination of the metallicity of nine young late-type stars in $��$-Orionis. Using the optical and near-infrared broadband photometry available in the literature we derive the effective temperatures for these nine cluster stars, which lie in the interval 4300--6500 K (1--3 \Msuno). These parameters are employed to compute a grid of synthetic spectra based on the code MOOG and Kurucz model atmospheres. We employ a $��^2$-minimization procedure to derive the stellar surface gravity and atmospheric abundances of Al, Ca, Si, Fe, Ni and Li, using multi-object optical spectroscopy taken with WYFFOS+AF2 at at the William Herschel Telescope ($��/����\sim7500$). The average metallicity of the $��$-Orionis cluster is [Fe/H] $ = -0.02\pm0.09\pm0.13$ (random and systematic errors). The abundances of the other elements, except lithium, seem to be consistent with solar values. Lithium abundances are in agreement with the "cosmic" $^7$Li abundance, except for two stars which show a $\log ��(\mathrm{Li})$ in the range 3.6--3.7 (although almost consistent within the error bars). There are also other two stars with $\log ��(\mathrm{Li})\sim 2.75$. We derived an average radial velocity of the $��$-Orionis cluster of $28\pm4$km/s. The $��$-Orionis metallicity is roughly solar., Accepted for publication in Astronomy and Astrophysics

We present a new estimate of the lithium abundance in the atmosphere of the brown dwarf LP 944-20. Our analysis is based on a self-consistent analysis of low, intermediate and high resolution optical and near-infrared spectra. We obtain log N(Li) = 3.25 +/-0.25 using fits of our synthetic spectra to the Li I resonance line doublet profiles observed with VLT/UVES and AAT/SPIRAL. This lithium abundance is over two orders of magnitude larger than previous estimates in the literature. In order to obtain good fits of the resonance lines of K I and Rb I and better fits to the TiO molecular absorption around the Li I resonance line, we invoke a semi-empirical model atmosphere with the dusty clouds located above the photosphere. The lithium abundance, however, is not changed by the effects of the dusty clouds. We discuss the implications of our estimate of the lithium abundance in LP 944-20 for the understanding of the properties of this benchmark brown dwarf., 14 pages, 17 figs, accepted by MNRAS (upgraded version)

We present an RI photometric survey covering an area of 430 arcmin^2 around the multiple star Sigma Orionis. The observations were conducted with the 0.8 m IAC-80 Telescope at the Teide Observatory. The survey limiting R and I magnitudes are 22.5 and 21, and completeness magnitudes 21 and 20, respectively. We have selected 53 candidates from the I vs. R-I colour-magnitude diagram (I=14-20) that follow the previously known photometric sequence of the cluster. Adopting an age of 2-4 Myr for the cluster, we find that these objects span a mass range from 0.35 Msol to 0.015 Msol. We have performed J-band photometry of 52 candidates and Ks photometry for 12 of them, with the result that 50 follow the expected infrared sequence for the cluster, thus confirming with great confidence that the majority of the candidates are bona fide members. JHKs photometry from the Two Micron All Sky Survey (2MASS) is available for 50 of the candidates and are in good agreement with our data. Out of 48 candidates, which have photometric accuracies better than 0.1 mag in all bands, only three appear to show near-infrared excesses., Comment: Acepted to be published in Astronomische Nachrichten. 9 pages, 7 figures

We present intermediate- and low-resolution optical spectra around Halpha and LiI 6708 A for a sample of 25 low mass stars and 2 brown dwarfs with confirmed membership in the pre-main sequence stellar sigma Orionis cluster. Our observations are intended to investigate the age of the cluster. The spectral types derived for our target sample are found to be in the range K6-M8.5, which corresponds to a mass interval of roughly 1.2-0.02 Msun on the basis of state-of-the-art evolutionary models. Radial velocities (except for one object) are found to be consistent with membership in the Orion complex. All cluster members show considerable Halpha emission and LiI in absorption, which is typical of very young ages. We find that our pseudo-equivalent widths appear rather dispersed (and intense in the case of Halpha) for objects cooler than M3.5 spectral class, occurring at the approximate mass where low mass stars are expected to become fully convective. The least massive brown dwarf in our sample, SOri 45 (M8.5, ~0.02 Msun), displays variable Halpha emission and a radial velocity that differs from the cluster mean velocity. Tentative detection of forbidden lines in emission indicates that this brown dwarf may be accreting mass from a surrounding disk. We also present recent computations of LiI curves of growth for low gravities and for the temperature interval (about 4000-2600 K) of our sample. The comparison of our observations to these computations allows us to infer that no lithium depletion has yet taken place in sigma Orionis, and that the observed pseudo-equivalent widths are consistent with a cluster initial lithium abundance close to the cosmic value. Hence, the upper limit to the sigma Orionis cluster age can be set at 8 Myr, with a most likely value around 2-4 Myr., Comment: 17 pages (figures included). Accepted for publication in A&A

We present synthetic optical spectra in the range 640-930 nm of a sample of field L dwarfs and the brown dwarf GL229B. Our computations show that Li, Na, K, Rb, and Cs govern the spectra of these objects, with Na and K contributing significantly to block the optical emergent radiation. Molecular absorptions of TiO, VO, CrH, FeH and CaH also dominate in the early L-types showing a strength that progressively decreases for later types. We find that the densities of these molecules in the atmospheres are considerably smaller by larger factors than those predicted by the chemical equilibrium. In order to reproduce the overall shape of the optical spectra an additional opacity (AdO) is required to be implemented in the computations. We have modelled it with a simple law [a0 (nu / nu0)^N, N=4], and found that this provides a good fit to the data. This AdO could be due to molecular/dust absorption or to dust scattering. The EWs and intensities of the alkali lines are highly affected by this opacity. The Li line at 670.8 nm, widely used as a substellarity discriminator, is more affected by the AdO than by the natural depletion of neutral Li. Our computations display a rather strong feature even at Teffs around 1000 K; depending on the Teff and on the amount of dust in the atmospheres of very cool dwarfs, it might be possible to detect Li even at temperatures this cool. Changes in the physical conditions of dust formation in L-type dwarfs will cause variability of the alkali lines., Comment: Accepted for publication in A&A. 12 pages (figures included)

We present first-season infrared (IR) and optical photometry and spectroscopy of the Type Ia Supernova 1998bu in M96. We also report optical polarimetry of this event. SN1998bu is one of the closest type Ia Supernovae of modern times and the distance of its host galaxy is well-determined. We find that SN1998bu is both photometrically and spectroscopically normal. However, the extinction to this event is unusually high, with Av=1.0 +/-0.11. We find that SN1998bu peaked at an intrinsic Mv=-19.37 +/-0.23. Adopting a distance modulus of 30.25 (Tanvir et al. 1999) and using Phillips et al.'s (1999) relations for the Hubble constant we obtain Ho=70.4 +/-4.3 km/s/Mpc. Combination of our IR photometry with those of Jha et al. (1999) provides one of the most complete early-phase IR light curves for a SN Ia published so far. In particular, SN 1998bu is the first normal SN Ia for which good pre-maximum (in the B band) IR coverage has been obtained. It reveals that the J, H and K light curves peak about 5 days earlier than the flux in the B-band curve., Comment: 22 pages, 9 figues, accepted for publication by MNRAS

We have obtained near-IR observations of some of the faintest objects so far known towards the Pleiades cluster, with the aim of investigating the sequence that connects cluster very low-mass (VLM) stars with substellar objects. We find that IR data combined with optical magnitudes are a useful tool to discriminate cluster members from foreground/background late-type field stars contaminating optical surveys. The bottom of the Pleiades sequence is clearly defined by the faint HHJ objects as the VLM stars approaching the substellar limit (SL), by the transition object PPl15, which will barely ignite its H content, and by the two brown dwarfs (BDs) Calar3 and Teide1. Binarity amongst cluster members could account for the large dispersion observed in the faint end of the IR colour- magnitude diagrams. Two objects in our sample, namely HHJ6 and PPl15, are overluminous compared to other members, suggesting probable binarity. We have reproduced the photometric measurements of both of them by combining the magnitudes of cluster VLM stars and BDs and using the most recent theoretical evolutionary tracks. The likely masses of the components are slightly above the SL for HHJ6, while they are 0.080 and 0.045+-0.010 Msun for PPl15. These masses are consistent with the constraints imposed by the published Li observations of these Pleiads. We find a single object IR sequence in the Pleiades connecting VLM stars and BDs. We propose that the SL (~0.075 Msun) in the Pleiades (~120 Myr) takes place at absolute magnitudes M(I,J,H,K)=12.4, 10.1, 9.4, 9.0 (~M7). Cluster members fainter by 0.2mag in I and by 0.1mag in K should be proper BDs. The star-BD frontier in the Hyades would be located at M(I,J,H,K)=15.0, 11.6, 10.8, 10.4 (~M9). For ages older than 1000 Myr we estimate that BDs are fainter than M(K)=10.9 (later than M9.5)., Comment: 9 pages, 4 Postscript figures, A&A in press

The acronym ESPRESSO stems for Echelle SPectrograph for Rocky Exoplanets and Stable Spectroscopic Observations; this instrument will be the next VLT high resolution spectrograph. The spectrograph will be installed at the Combined-Coud\'e Laboratory of the VLT and linked to the four 8.2 m Unit Telescopes (UT) through four optical Coud\'e trains. ESPRESSO will combine efficiency and extreme spectroscopic precision. ESPRESSO is foreseen to achieve a gain of two magnitudes with respect to its predecessor HARPS, and to improve the instrumental radial-velocity precision to reach the 10 cm/s level. It can be operated either with a single UT or with up to four UTs, enabling an additional gain in the latter mode. The incoherent combination of four telescopes and the extreme precision requirements called for many innovative design solutions while ensuring the technical heritage of the successful HARPS experience. ESPRESSO will allow to explore new frontiers in most domains of astrophysics that require precision and sensitivity. The main scientific drivers are the search and characterization of rocky exoplanets in the habitable zone of quiet, nearby G to M-dwarfs and the analysis of the variability of fundamental physical constants. The project passed the final design review in May 2013 and entered the manufacturing phase. ESPRESSO will be installed at the Paranal Observatory in 2016 and its operation is planned to start by the end of the same year., Comment: 12 pages, figures included, accepted for publication in Astron. Nachr

This paper reports on the detailed characterisation of the K2-111 planetary system with K2, WASP, and ASAS-SN photometry as well as high-resolution spectroscopic data from HARPS-N and ESPRESSO. The host, K2-111, is confirmed to be a mildly evolved (logg=4.17), iron-poor ([Fe/H]=−0.46), but alpha-enhanced ([α/Fe]=0.27), chromospherically quiet, very old thick disc G2 star. A global fit, performed by using PyORBIT shows that the transiting planet, K2-111b, orbits with a period Pb=5.3518±0.0004 d, and has a planet radius of 1.82+0.11−0.09 R⊕ and a mass of 5.29+0.76−0.77 M⊕, resulting in a bulk density slightly lower than that of the Earth. The stellar chemical composition and the planet properties are consistent with K2-111b being a terrestrial planet with an iron core mass fraction lower than the Earth. We announce the existence of a second signal in the radial velocity data that we attribute to a non-transiting planet, K2-111c, with an orbital period of 15.6785±0.0064 days, orbiting in near-3:1 mean-motion resonance with the transiting planet, and a minimum planet mass of 11.3±1.1 M⊕. Both planet signals are independently detected in the HARPS-N and ESPRESSO data when fitted separately. There are potentially more planets in this resonant system, but more well-sampled data are required to confirm their presence and physical parameters.

The bright star π Men was chosen as the first target for a radial velocity follow-up to test the performance of ESPRESSO, the new high-resolution spectrograph at the ESO's Very-Large Telescope (VLT). The star hosts a multi-planet system (a transiting 4 M⊕ planet at ∼0.07 au, and a sub-stellar companion on a ∼2100-day eccentric orbit) which is particularly appealing for a precise multi-technique characterization. With the new ESPRESSO observations, that cover a time span of 200 days, we aim to improve the precision and accuracy of the planet parameters and search for additional low-mass companions. We also take advantage of new photometric transits of π Men c observed by TESS over a time span that overlaps with that of the ESPRESSO follow-up campaign. We analyse the enlarged spectroscopic and photometric datasets and compare the results to those in the literature. We further characterize the system by means of absolute astrometry with Hipparcos and Gaia. We used the spectra of ESPRESSO for an independent determination of the stellar fundamental parameters. We present a precise characterization of the planetary system around π Men. The ESPRESSO radial velocities alone (with typical uncertainty of 10 cm/s) allow for a precise retrieval of the Doppler signal induced by π Men c. The residuals show an RMS of 1.2 m/s, and we can exclude companions with a minimum mass less than ∼2 M⊕ within the orbit of π Men c). We improve the ephemeris of π Men c using 18 additional TESS transits, and in combination with the astrometric measurements, we determine the inclination of the orbital plane of π Men b with high precision (ib=45.8+1.4−1.1 deg). This leads to the precise measurement of its absolute mass mb=14.1+0.5−0.4 MJup, and shows that the planetary orbital planes are highly misaligned.

The detection and characterization of exoplanet atmospheres is currently one of the main drivers pushing the development of new observing facilities. In this context, high-resolution spectrographs are {proving} their potential and showing that high-resolution spectroscopy will be paramount in this field. We aim to make use of ESPRESSO high-resolution spectra, which cover two transits of HD209458b, to probe the broadband transmission optical spectrum of the planet. We applied the chromatic Rossiter-McLaughin method to derive the transmission spectrum of HD209458b. We compared the results with previous HST observations and with synthetic spectra. We recover a transmission spectrum of HD209458b similar to the one obtained with HST data. The models suggest that the observed signal can be explained by only Na, only TiO, or both Na and TiO, even though none is fully capable of explaining our observed transmission spectrum. Extra absorbers may be needed to explain the full dataset, though modeling approximations and observational errors can also be responsible for the observed mismatch. Using the chromatic Rossiter-McLaughlin technique, ESPRESSO is able to provide broadband transmission spectra of exoplanets from the ground, in conjunction with space-based facilities, opening good perspectives for similar studies of other planets.

We report optical observations of the GRB 980329 error box which represent the second earliest detection of the GRB 980329 optical transient. We determine R = 23.7 $\pm$ 0.5 mag on 29.89 March, which is consistent with R = 23.6 $\pm$ 0.2 mag as reported by Palazzi et al. (1998) on 29.99 March. Based on extrapolations of the light curve we claim that the R-band magnitude of the GRB 980329 host galaxy should lie in the range 26.8 mag $, Comment: 4 pages with three encapsulated PostScript figure included. Accepted for publication as a letter in Astronomy & Astrophysics

Euclid is a space-based survey mission from the European Space Agency designed to understand the origin of the Universe's accelerating expansion. It will use cosmological probes to investigate the nature of dark energy, dark matter and gravity by tracking their observational signatures on the geometry of the universe and on the cosmic history of structure formation. The mission is optimised for two independent primary cosmological probes: Weak gravitational Lensing (WL) and Baryonic Acoustic Oscillations (BAO). The Euclid payload consists of a 1.2 m Korsch telescope designed to provide a large field of view. It carries two instruments with a common field-of-view of ~0.54 deg2: the visual imager (VIS) and the near infrared instrument (NISP) which contains a slitless spectrometer and a three bands photometer. The Euclid wide survey will cover 15,000 deg2 of the extragalactic sky and is complemented by two 20 deg2 deep fields. For WL, Euclid measures the shapes of 30-40 resolved galaxies per arcmin2 in one broad visible R+I+Z band (550-920 nm). The photometric redshifts for these galaxies reach a precision of dz/(1+z) < 0.05. They are derived from three additional Euclid NIR bands (Y, J, H in the range 0.92-2.0 micron), complemented by ground based photometry in visible bands derived from public data or through engaged collaborations. The BAO are determined from a spectroscopic survey with a redshift accuracy dz/(1+z) =0.001. The slitless spectrometer, with spectral resolution ~250, predominantly detects Ha emission line galaxies. Euclid is a Medium Class mission of the ESA Cosmic Vision 2015-2025 programme, with a foreseen launch date in 2019. This report (also known as the Euclid Red Book) describes the outcome of the Phase A study., 116 pages, with executive summary and table of contents

We have obtained low resolution optical spectra of 15 isolated planetary mass objects (IPMOs) in the σ Orionis cluster, and derived spectral types by comparison with nearby M and L dwarfs. The spectral types are in the range late M -mid L, in agreement with our expectations based on colors and magnitudes for bona fide members. Therefore, most of these objects have masses below the deuterium burning limit. About 2/3 show Hα in emission at our spectral resolution. From our spectroscopic and photometric data, we infer that three IPMOs in this sample may be binaries with components of similar masses. These results confirm that the substellar mass function of the σ Orionis cluster, in the form dN/dM, keeps rising in the planetary domain.

The study of exoplanet atmospheres is essential to understand the formation, evolution and composition of exoplanets. The transmission spectroscopy technique is playing a significant role in this domain. In particular, the combination of state-of-the-art spectrographs at low- and high-spectral resolution is key to our understanding of atmospheric structure and composition. Two transits of the close-in sub Saturn-mass planet,WASP-127b, have been observed with ESPRESSO in the frame of the Guaranteed Time Observations Consortium. Transit observations allow us to study simultaneously the system architecture and the exoplanet atmosphere. We found that this planet is orbiting its slowly rotating host star (veq sin(i)=0.53+/-0.07 km/s) on a retrograde misaligned orbit (lambda=-128.41+/-5.60 deg). We detected the sodium line core at the 9-sigma confidence level with an excess absorption of 0.3+/-0.04%, a blueshift of 2.7+/-0.79 km/s and a FWHM of 15.18+/-1.75 km/s. However, we did not detect the presence of other atomic species but set upper-limits of only few scale heights. Finally, we put a 3-sigma upper limit, to the average depth of the 1600 strongest water lines at equilibrium temperature in the visible band, of 38 ppm. This constrains the cloud-deck pressure between 0.3 and 0.5 mbar by combining our data with low-resolution data in the near-infrared and models computed for this planet. To conclude, WASP-127b, with an age of about 10 Gyr, is an unexpected exoplanet by its orbital architecture but also by the small extension of its sodium atmosphere (~7 scale heights). ESPRESSO allows us to take a step forward in the detection of weak signals, thus bringing strong constraints on the presence of clouds in exoplanet atmospheres. The framework proposed in this work can be applied to search for molecular species and study cloud-decks in other exoplanets.

In the past years, some extremely red brown dwarfs were found. They were believed to have low surface gravity, but many of their spectral characteristics were similar to those of high surface gravity brown dwarfs, showing that youth (or low surface gravity) spectral characteristics are poorly understood. We aim to test surface gravity indicators in late-M and early-L brown dwarf spectra using data obtained with the X-shooter spectrograph at the Very Large Telescope. We selected a benchmark sample of brown dwarfs members of Chamaeleon\,I ($\sim$2 Myr), Upper Scorpius (5$-$10~Myr), Pleiades (132$\pm$27 Myr), and Praesepe (590$-$790 Myr) with well-constrained ages, and similar metallicities. We provided a consistent spectral classification of the sample in the optical and in the near-infrared. We measured the equivalent widths of their alkali lines, finding that they have a moderate correlation with age, especially for objects with spectral types M8 and later. We used spectral indices defined in the literature to estimate surface gravity, finding that their gravity assignment is accurate for 75\% of our sample. We investigated the correlation between red colours and age, finding that after $\sim$10~Myr, the colour does not change significantly for our sample {with spectral types M6.0-L3.0}. In this case, red colours might be associated with circumstellar disks, {ring structures, extinction, or viewing angle}. Finally, we calculated the {bolometric luminosity}, {and $J$ and $K$ bolometric corrections} for our sample. We found that six objects are overluminous compared to other members of the same association. Those objects are also flagged as binary candidates by the $Gaia$ survey., Accepted for publication in MNRAS. The spectra will be available in the publisher version of this paper and in GitHub