Search

Since we can resolve the surface of the Sun directly, we can explore the origin of radial-velocity variations induced by individual solar surface features such as faculae/plage, sunspots and granulation. I will present my recent investigation of the radial-velocity variations of the Sun as a star, based on high-resolution HARPS spectra of reflected sunlight and simultaneous images from the Solar Dynamics Observatory. We found that faculae are the dominant source of activity-induced radial-velocity variations, via suppression of convective blueshift. We investigated possible proxies for activity-induced radial-velocity variations and found that optical lightcurves can only provide a partial representation of these signals; the full-disc magnetic flux, however, is an excellent tracer. In addition to this dataset, the HARPS-N spectrograph has been operating with a new solar telescope feed since 2015 July. I will present results from the first year observations, which show radial-velocity variations of up to 7-8 m/s. Identifying proxies for solar radial-velocity variations is key to understanding the radial-velocity variability of other Sun-like stars, and is also essential for other investigations such as exoplanet detection surveys.

Since we can resolve the surface of the Sun directly, we can explore the origin of radial-velocity variations induced by individual solar surface features such as faculae/plage, sunspots and granulation. I will present my recent investigation of the radial-velocity variations of the Sun as a star, based on high-resolution HARPS spectra of reflected sunlight and simultaneous images from the Solar Dynamics Observatory. We found that faculae are the dominant source of activity-induced radial-velocity variations, via suppression of convective blueshift. We investigated possible proxies for activity-induced radial-velocity variations and found that optical lightcurves can only provide a partial representation of these signals; the full-disc magnetic flux, however, is an excellent tracer. In addition to this dataset, the HARPS-N spectrograph has been operating with a new solar telescope feed since 2015 July. I will present results from the first year observations, which show radial-velocity variations of up to 7-8 m/s. Identifying proxies for solar radial-velocity variations is key to understanding the radial-velocity variability of other Sun-like stars, and is also essential for other investigations such as exoplanet detection surveys. &nbsp

The detection of low-mass extra-solar planets through radial-velocity searches is currently limited by the intrinsic magnetic activity of the host stars. The correlated noise that arises from their natural radial-velocity variability can easily mimic or conceal the orbital signals of super-Earth and Earth-mass extra-solar planets. I developed an intuitive and robust data analysis framework in which the activity-induced variations are modelled with a Gaussian process that has the frequency structure of the photometric variations of the star, thus allowing me to determine precise and reliable planetary masses. I applied this technique to three recently discovered planetary systems: CoRoT-7, Kepler-78 and Kepler-10. I determined the masses of the transiting super-Earth CoRoT-7b and the small Neptune CoRoT-7c to be 4.73 ± 0.95 M⊕ and 13.56 ± 1.08 M⊕, respectively. The density of CoRoT-7b is 6.61 ± 1.72 g.cm⁻³, which is compatible with a rocky composition. I carried out Bayesian model selection to assess the nature of a previously identified signal at 9 days, and found that it is best interpreted as stellar activity. Despite the high levels of activity of its host star, I determined the mass of the Earth-sized planet Kepler-78b to be 1.76 ± 0.18 M⊕. With a density of 6.2(+1.8:-1.4) g.cm⁻³, it is also a rocky planet. I found the masses of Kepler-10b and Kepler-10c to be 3.31 ± 0.32 M⊕ and 16.25 ± 3.66 M⊕, respectively. Their densities, of 6.4(+1.1:-0.7) g.cm⁻³ and 8.1 ± 1.8 g.cm⁻³, imply that they are both of rocky composition – even the 2 Earth-radius planet Kepler-10c! In parallel, I deepened our understanding of the physical origin of stellar radial-velocity variability through the study of the Sun, which is the only star whose surface can be imaged at high resolution. I found that the full-disc magnetic flux is an excellent proxy for activity-induced radial-velocity variations; this result may become key to breaking the activity barrier in coming years. I also found that in the case of CoRoT-7, the suppression of convective blueshift leads to radial-velocity variations with an rms of 1.82 m.s⁻¹, while the modulation induced by the presence of dark spots on the rotating stellar disc has an rms of 0.46 m.s⁻¹. For the Sun, I found these contributions to be 2.22 m.s⁻¹ and 0.14 m.s⁻¹, respectively. These results suggest that for slowly rotating stars, the suppression of convective blueshift is the dominant contributor to the activity-modulated radial-velocity signal, rather than the rotational Doppler shift of the flux blocked by starspots.

In recent years, the search for Earth-mass planets using radial-velocity measurements has become increasingly limited by signals arising from stellar activity. Individual magnetic features induce localized changes in intensity and velocity, which combine to change the apparent radial velocity of the star. Therefore it is critical to identify an indicator of activity-driven radial-velocity variations on the timescale of stellar rotation periods. We use 617.3 nm photospheric filtergrams, magnetograms, and dopplergrams from SDO/HMI and 170.0 nm chromospheric filtergrams from AIA to identify magnetically-driven solar features and reconstruct the integrated solar radial velocity with six samples per day over the course of 2014. Breaking the solar image up into regions of umbrae, penumbrae, quiet Sun, network, and plages, we find a distinct variation in the center-to-limb intensity-weighted velocity for each region. In agreement with past studies, we find that the suppression of convective blueshift is dominated by plages and network, rather than dark photospheric features. In the future, this work will be highly useful for identifying indicators which correlate with rotationally modulated radial-velocity variations. This will allow us to break the activity barrier that currently precludes the precise characterization of exoplanet properties at the lowest masses., This work was supported by the NSF-REU solar physics program at SAO, grant number AGS-1560313. This work was performed in part under contract with the California Institute of Technology (Caltech)/Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) funded by NASA through the Sagan Fellowship Program executed by the NASA Exoplanet Science Institute.