1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910254627203321

Autore

Haywood Raphaëlle D

Titolo

Radial-velocity Searches for Planets Around Active Stars [[electronic resource] /] / by Raphaëlle D. Haywood

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Cham : , : Springer International Publishing : , : Imprint : Springer, , 2016

ISBN

3-319-41273-6

Edizione

[1st ed. 2016.]

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (XV, 140 p. 60 illus., 57 illus. in color.)

Collana

Springer Theses, Recognizing Outstanding Ph.D. Research, , 2190-5053

Disciplina

629.4113

Soggetti

Observations, Astronomical

Astronomy—Observations

Astrophysics

Space sciences

Astrobiology

Astronomy, Observations and Techniques

Astrophysics and Astroparticles

Space Sciences (including Extraterrestrial Physics, Space Exploration and Astronautics)

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

"Doctoral thesis accepted by the University of St. Andrews, UK."

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references at the end of each chapters and index.

Nota di contenuto

Introduction: the Hunt for Extra-solar Planets -- A Toolkit to Detect Planets Around Active Stars -- Application to Observations of Planet-hosting Stars -- An Exploration into the Radial-velocity Variability of the Sun -- Conclusion.

Sommario/riassunto

This thesis develops new and powerful methods for identifying planetary signals in the presence of “noise” generated by stellar activity, and explores the physical origin of stellar intrinsic variability, using unique observations of the Sun seen as a star. In particular, it establishes that the intrinsic stellar radial-velocity variations mainly arise from suppression of photospheric convection by magnetic fields. With the advent of powerful telescopes and instruments we are now on the verge of discovering real Earth twins in orbit around other stars.



The intrinsic variability of the host stars themselves, however, currently remains the main obstacle to determining the masses of such small planets. The methods developed here combine Gaussian-process regression for modeling the correlated signals arising from evolving active regions on a rotating star, and Bayesian model selection methods for distinguishing genuine planetary signals from false positives produced by stellar magnetic activity. The findings of this thesis represent a significant step towards determining the masses of potentially habitable planets orbiting Sun-like stars. .