2016/04/10 by Elisabeth R. Newton, Jonathan Irwin, David Charbonneau +2 · 69 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #Astronomy and Astrophysical Research #Circumstellar habitable zone #Exoplanet #Habitability of orange dwarf systems #Kepler-47 #Planet #Planetary habitability #Rotation period #Scientific Research and Discoveries #Stars #Stellar, planetary, and galactic studies #Tidal locking #astro-ph.EP #astro-ph.SR
paper · pdf · doi:10.3847/2041-8205/821/1/l19
published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters 821(1), L19 (IOP Publishing) · Accepted to ApJ Letters 09 March 2016
openalex publication_date 2016/04/10 · arxiv created 2016/04/11 · arxiv updated 2016/04/27 · openalex created_date 2019/06/27 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/06
ABSTRACT Stellar activity and rotation frustrate the detection of exoplanets through the radial velocity technique. This effect is particularly of concern for M dwarfs, which can remain magnetically active for billions of years. We compile rotation periods for late-type stars and for the M dwarf planet-host sample in order to investigate the rotation periods of older field stars across the main sequence. We show that for stars with masses between 0.25 and 0.5 <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" overflow="scroll"> <mml:msub> <mml:mrow> <mml:mi>M</mml:mi> </mml:mrow> <mml:mrow> <mml:mo>⊙</mml:mo> </mml:mrow> </mml:msub> </mml:math> (M4V–M1V), the stellar rotation period typical of field stars coincides with the orbital periods of planets in the habitable zone. This will pose a fundamental challenge to the discovery and characterization of potentially habitable planets around early M dwarfs. Due to the longer rotation periods reached by mid M dwarfs and the shorter orbital period at which the planetary habitable zone is found, stars with masses between 0.1 and 0.25 <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" overflow="scroll"> <mml:msub> <mml:mrow> <mml:mi>M</mml:mi> </mml:mrow> <mml:mrow> <mml:mo>⊙</mml:mo> </mml:mrow> </mml:msub> </mml:math> (M6V–M4V) offer better opportunities for the detection of habitable planets via radial velocities.