Stellar Astrophysics Via Exoplanet Transits

研究人员将利用凌日行星的观测来测量基本的恒星和系外行星参数，并测量恒星与行星相互作用的高阶效应，如辐射、非球度、相位滞后和凌日时间变化。他们将使用开普勒任务提供的高精度光度测量以及轨道动力学代码来模拟光曲线的测量，以便约束恒星和行星结构的模型。他们还将在附近的山上进行多色光度测量。拉古纳天文台补充了开普勒的单色光曲线，最终提供了更好的日食双星温度和半径测量。该提案解释说，这项工作将对该领域具有更广泛的意义，因为它将以比目前可用的更高的精度提供工具和恒星特性的详细测量。由于行星质量和半径的不确定性最终取决于母星的质量和半径被确定得有多好，对恒星数据的分析和建模将对其他行星外项目有用。研究人员还将通过让本科生和研究生参与进来，将研究和教育结合起来，并在课堂上讨论他们的研究。

The investigators will use observations of transiting planets in order to measure fundamental stellar and exoplanet parameters, and to measure higher-order effects of the star-planet interactions, such as irradiation, non-sphericity, phase lags, and transit timing variations. They will model measurements of light-curves using high-precision photometry provided by the Kepler mission, along with orbital dynamics codes, in order to constrain models of stellar and planetary structure. They will also perform multicolor photometry at nearby Mt. Laguna Observatory to complement the single color light curves from Kepler and ultimately provide better temperature and radii measurements of eclipsing binary stars. The proposal explains that this work will have a broader significance to the field in that it will provide tools and detailed measurements of stellar properties at a higher precision than currently available. Since uncertainty in planetary masses and radii ultimately depends on how well the parent star's mass and radius are determined, analysis and modeling of the data on the stars will be useful to other exoplanetary projects. The investigators will also integrate research and education by involving undergraduate and graduate students and discuss their research in the classroom.