Tau Boo b: Hunting for reflected starlight
release_22oafh2jovcpflu6mgweltfxoi
by
F. Rodler, M. Kuerster, T. Henning
2010
Abstract
Aims. We attempt to detect starlight reflected from the hot Jupiter orbiting
the main-sequence star Tau Boo, in order to determine the albedo of the
planetary atmosphere, the orbital inclination of the planetary system and the
exact mass of the planetary companion.
Methods. We analyze high-precision, high-resolution spectra, collected over
two half nights using UVES at the VLT/UT2, by way of data synthesis. We
interpret our data using two different atmospheric models for hot Jupiters.
Results. Although a weak candidate signal appears near the most probable
radial velocity amplitude, its statistical significance is insufficient for us
to claim a detection. However, this feature agrees very well with a completely
independently obtained result by another research group, which searched for
reflected light from Tau Boo b. As a consequence of the non-detection of
reflected light, we place upper limits to the planet-to-star flux ratio at the
99.9% significance level. For the most probable orbital inclination around i =
46 degrees, we can limit the relative reflected radiation to be less than 5.7 x
10^-5 for grey albedo. This implies a geometric albedo smaller than 0.40,
assuming a planetary radius of 1.2 R_Jup .
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1002.1638v1
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