Searching For 55 Cancri G: A Hardware-To-Planet Approach
Creators: name: García-Mejía, Juliana
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2017
Subjects: subject: MINERVA observatory
subject: http://astrothesaurus.org/uat/498

description: Humanity’s search for exoplanets has led to the discovery of rich and complex planetary systems unlike our own. With its five known planets and the tantalizing hint of more, 55 Cancri is one such system. This thesis takes a “hardware-to-planet” approach in order to search for 55 Cnc g – a sixth planet in the system – by means of the radial velocity (RV) method. This approach required an interdisciplinary effort that involved hardware, software, and analysis projects.

I envisioned using the MINERVA observatory (Mt.Hopkins, AZ) to obtain new 55 Cnc radial velocity data. Thus, at the instrumentation level, I set out to help expedite MINERVA’s ability to fulfill its primary science goal of becoming a dedicated Doppler-based detection facility. Through a collaborative effort, I helped install a new generation of fibers that transmit light from the telescopes to the spectrograph, and improved the throughput of the old set of fibers by a factor of ~ 10. I also helped repair the observatory from an unexpected mechanical failure, and carried out a two-stage snow-protection plan to prevent the failure from happening again. At the software level, I assessed the feasibility of incorporating a 22-parameter model into the MINERVA Doppler reduction pipeline to better characterize its instrumental profile. I found that the model is extremely sensitive to initial conditions, and an automated algorithm that independently fine-tunes the initial guess for each parameter is necessary to achieve convergence.

Ultimately, delays due to the fiber installation and the unexpected mechanical failure prevented me from obtaining original 55 Cnc data with MINERVA. Nonetheless, this thesis uses 1602 high precision radial velocity observations of 55 Cancri, including 200 new RVs from the 2017 Keck/HIRES data release, to present an updated study of the system. I employ the EXOFASTv2 IDL software package (Eastman et al., in prep) to obtain a 5-planet radial velocity model of the system, as well as its stellar and planetary parameter estimates and uncertainties. The derived parameters are consistent with literature values within 2σ. Fitting the 5-planet fit residuals with EXOFAST (Eastman et al., 2013) yields a significant signal in the periodogram, which could correspond to a sixth planet with a period \(P = 1736 {^{+16}_{-15}}\) days, a RV semi-amplitude \(K = 3.126 {^{+0.28}_{-0.25}}\) m s\(^{-1}\), and a semi-major axis \(a = 2.795{^{+0.019}_{-0.018}}\)AU. A period of ~ 1736 days places planet g in a 3:1 mean motion resonance (MMR) with planet d. Although dynamical stability analyses in the published literature allow such a planet, the signal could also stem from systematic errors such as stellar activity cycles. Therefore, I conclude this thesis by summarizing additional analysis that must be carried out before rejecting or confirming the existence of 55 Cnc g.
description: Astro 99
description: {"references": ["Alonso, R., Brown, T. M., Torres, G., et al. 2004, The Astrophysical Journal Letters, 613, L153", "Bakos, G., Noyes, R. W., Kovcs, G., et al. 2004, Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific, 116, 266", "Baranne, A., Queloz, D., Mayor, M., et al. 1996, A&amp;AS, 119, 373", "Bayes, M., &amp; Price, M. 1763, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London Series I, 53, 370", "Blitzstein, J. K., &amp; Hwang, J. 2015, Introduction to probability (CRC Press/Taylor &amp; Francis Group)", "Bond, I. A., Udalski, A., Jaroszy\u00b4 nski, M., et al. 2004, ApJ, 606, L155", "Bonfils, X., Delfosse, X., Udry, S., et al. 2013, A&amp;A, 549, A109", "Borucki, W., Koch, D., Batalha, N., et al. 2009, in IAU Symposium, Vol. 253, Transiting Planets, ed. F. Pont, D. Sasselov, &amp; M. J. Holman, 289\u2013299", "Borucki, W. J. 2010, ArXiv e-prints, arXiv:1006.2799", "Bottom, M., Muirhead, P. S., Swift, J. J., et al. 2014, in Proc. SPIE, Vol. 9147, Ground- based and Airborne Instrumentation for Astronomy V, 91472E", "Brown, T. 2013, Publications de l'Observatoire Astronomique de Beograd, 92, 91", "Butler, R. P., Marcy, G. W., Fischer, D. A., et al. 1999, ApJ, 526, 916", "Butler, R. P., Marcy, G. W., Williams, E., Hauser, H., &amp; Shirts, P. 1997, ApJ, 474, L115", "Butler, R. P., Marcy, G. W., Williams, E., et al. 1996, PASP, 108, 500", "Butler, R. P., Vogt, S. S., Marcy, G. W., et al. 2004, ApJ, 617, 580", "Butler, R. P., Vogt, S. S., Laughlin, G., et al. 2017, ArXiv e-prints, arXiv:1702.03571", "Campbell, B., &amp; Walker, G. A. H. 1979, PASP, 91, 540", "Campbell, B., Walker, G. A. H., &amp; Yang, S. 1988, in Astrophysics and Space Science Library, Vol. 144, IAU Colloq. 99: Bioastronomy - The Next Steps, ed. G. Marx, 83\u201390", "Casagrande, L., Portinari, L., &amp; Flynn, C. 2006, MNRAS, 373, 13", "Cassan, A., Kubas, D., Beaulieu, J.-P., et al. 2012, Nature, 481, 167", "Charbonneau, D., Brown, T. M., Latham, D. W., &amp; Mayor, M. 2000, ApJ, 529, L45", "Christian, D. J., Pollacco, D. L., Skillen, I., et al. 2006, MNRAS, 372, 1117", "Cosentino, R., Lovis, C., Pepe, F., et al. 2012, in Proc. SPIE, Vol. 8446, Ground-based and Airborne Instrumentation for Astronomy IV, 84461V", "Crane, J. D., Shectman, S. A., Butler, R. P., et al. 2010, in Proc. SPIE, Vol. 7735, Ground- based and Airborne Instrumentation for Astronomy III, 773553", "Cutri, R. M., Skrutskie, M. F., van Dyk, S., et al. 2003, VizieR Online Data Catalog, 2246", "Dawson, R. I., &amp; Fabrycky, D. C. 2010, ApJ, 722, 937", "de Bruijne, J. H. J., Rygl, K. L. J., &amp; Antoja, T. 2014, in EAS Publications Series, Vol. 67, EAS Publications Series, 23\u201329", "Demory, B.-O., Gillon, M., Deming, D., et al. 2011, A&amp;A, 533, A114", "Doppler, C. 1843, Abhandlungen d. k. Bhmischen Gesell. d. Wiss., 259, 79", "Dressing, C. D., &amp; Charbonneau, D. 2013, ApJ, 767, 95", "Ducati, J. R. 2002, VizieR Online Data Catalog, 2237", "Dumusque, X. 2012, PhD thesis, Observatory of Geneva \u00a1EMAIL\u00bfx.dumusque@unige.ch\u00a1/EMAIL\u00bf", "Eastman, J., Gaudi, B. S., &amp; Agol, E. 2013, PASP, 125, 83", "Eastman, J., Siverd, R., &amp; Gaudi, B. S. 2010, PASP, 122, 935", "Eggenberger, A., Udry, S., Mayor, M., et al. 2004, in Astronomical Society of the Pacific Conference Series, Vol. 321, Extrasolar Planets: Today and Tomorrow, ed. J. Beaulieu, A. Lecavelier Des Etangs, &amp; C. Terquem, 93", "Einstein, A. 1905, Annalen der Physik, 322, 132", "Endl, M., Robertson, P., Cochran, W. D., et al. 2012, ApJ, 759, 19", "Epicurus. 305, in Lives of eminent philosophers, ed. Diogenes &amp; R. D. Hicks (Cambridge, Mass,: The Loeb Classical Library)", "Fischer, D. A., Marcy, G. W., &amp; Spronck, J. F. P. 2014, ApJS, 210, 5", "Fischer, D. A., &amp; Valenti, J. 2005, ApJ, 622, 1102", "Fischer, D. A., Marcy, G. W., Butler, R. P., et al. 2008, ApJ, 675, 790", "Fischer, D. A., Anglada-Escude, G., Arriagada, P., et al. 2016, PASP, 128, 066001", "Ford, E. B. 2006, ApJ, 642, 505", "Foreman-Mackey, D., Hogg, D. W., Lang, D., &amp; Goodman, J. 2013, PASP, 125, 306", "Foreman-Mackey, D., Hogg, D. W., &amp; Morton, T. D. 2014, ApJ, 795, 64", "Fressin, F., Torres, G., Charbonneau, D., &amp; Kepler Team. 2013, in American Astronomical Society Meeting Abstracts, Vol. 221, American Astronomical Society Meeting Abstracts #221, 216.03", "Gaidos, E., Mann, A. W., Kraus, A. L., &amp; Ireland, M. 2016, MNRAS, 457, 2877", "Gazak, J. Z., Johnson, J. A., Tonry, J., et al. 2012, Advances in Astronomy, 2012, 697967", "Gelman, A., Carlin, J. B., Stern, H. S., &amp; Rubin, D. B. 2003, Bayesian Data Analysis, Second Edition (Chapman &amp; Hall/CRC Texts in Statistical Science), 2nd edn. (Chapman and Hall/CRC)", "Gelman, A., &amp; Rubin, D. B. 1992, Statist. Sci., 7, 457", "Gibson, S., Barnes, S. I., Hearnshaw, J., et al. 2012, in Proc. SPIE, Vol. 8446, Ground-based and Airborne Instrumentation for Astronomy IV, 844648", "Gould, A. 2003, ArXiv Astrophysics e-prints, astro-ph/0310577", "Gould, A., &amp; Loeb, A. 1992, ApJ, 396, 104", "Griffin, R., &amp; Griffin, R. 1973, MNRAS, 162, 255", "Halverson, S., Roy, A., Mahadevan, S., et al. 2015, ApJ, 806, 61", "Han, E., Wang, S. X., Wright, J. T., et al. 2014, PASP, 126, 827", "Hatzes, A. P., Cochran, W. D., Endl, M., et al. 2003, ApJ, 599, 1383", "Hauschildt, P. H., Allard, F., &amp; Baron, E. 1999, ApJ, 512, 377", "Haywood, R. D., Collier Cameron, A., Unruh, Y. C., et al. 2016, MNRAS, 457, 3637", "Henry, G. W. 2000, ApJ, 536, L47", "Howard, A. W., Johnson, J. A., Marcy, G. W., et al. 2009, ApJ, 696, 75", "Howard, A. W., Marcy, G. W., Johnson, J. A., et al. 2010, Science, 330, 653", "Howard, A. W., Johnson, J. A., Marcy, G. W., et al. 2011, ApJ, 730, 10", "Howard, A. W., Marcy, G. W., Bryson, S. T., et al. 2012, ApJS, 201, 15", "Howard, A. W., Sanchis-Ojeda, R., Marcy, G. W., et al. 2013, Nature, 503, 381", "Howe, A. R., Burrows, A., &amp; Verne, W. 2014, ApJ, 787, 173", "Huygens, C. 1762, Cosmotheoros [electronic resource] : or, conjectures concerning the inhabitants of the planets. Translated from the Latin of Christian Huygens, a new edition, corrected. edn. (printed for Robert Urie Glasgow), iv,123,[1]p.,plates ;", "Johnson, J. A., Aller, K. M., Howard, A. W., &amp; Crepp, J. R. 2010, PASP, 122, 905", "Johnson, J. A., Marcy, G. W., Fischer, D. A., et al. 2006, ApJ, 652, 1724", "Johnson, J. A., Clanton, C., Howard, A. W., et al. 2011, ApJS, 197, 26", "Jurgenson, C., Fischer, D., McCracken, T., et al. 2016, ArXiv e-prints, arXiv:1606.04413", "Kalas, P., Graham, J. R., Chiang, E., et al. 2008, Science, 322, 1345", "Kepler, J. 1609, Astronomia nova ..., seu physica coelestis, tradita commentariis de motibus stellae martis, doi:10.3931/e-rara-558", "Kley, W., Peitz, J., &amp; Bryden, G. 2004, A&amp;A, 414, 735", "Landolt, A. U. 1992, AJ, 104, 340", "Latham, D. W., Stefanik, R. P., Mazeh, T., Mayor, M., &amp; Burki, G. 1989, Nature, 339, 38", "Levenberg, K. 1944, Quart. Applied Math., 2, 164", "Lindegren, L., &amp; Dravins, D. 2003, A&amp;A, 401, 1185", "Lindegren, L., Babusiaux, C., Bailer-Jones, C., et al. 2008, in IAU Symposium, Vol. 248, A Giant Step: from Milli- to Micro-arcsecond Astrometry, ed. W. J. Jin, I. Platais, &amp; M. A. C. Perryman, 217\u2013223", "Lopez-Morales, M., Haywood, R. D., Coughlin, J. L., et al. 2016, ArXiv e-prints, arXiv:1609.07617", "Lucy, L. B., &amp; Sweeney, M. A. 1971, AJ, 76, 544", "Madhusudhan, N. 2012, ApJ, 758, 36", "Mahadevan, S., Ramsey, L., Bender, C., et al. 2012, in Proc. SPIE, Vol. 8446, Ground-based and Airborne Instrumentation for Astronomy IV, 84461S", "Maness, H., Martins, F., Trippe, S., et al. 2007, ApJ, 669, 1024", "Mao, S., &amp; Paczynski, B. 1991, ApJ, 374, L37", "Marcy, G. W., &amp; Butler, R. P. 1992, PASP, 104, 270", "\u2014. 1996, ApJ, 464, L147", "Marcy, G. W., Butler, R. P., Fischer, D. A., et al. 2002, ApJ, 581, 1375", "Marcy, G. W., Butler, R. P., Williams, E., et al. 1997, ApJ, 481, 926", "Marcy, G. W., Weiss, L. M., Petigura, E. A., et al. 2014, Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, 111, 12655", "Marquardt, D. W. 1963, Journal of the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics, 11, 431", "Mayor, M., &amp; Queloz, D. 1995, Nature, 378, 355", "Mayor, M., Pepe, F., Queloz, D., et al. 2003, The Messenger, 114, 20", "McArthur, B. E., Endl, M., Cochran, W. D., et al. 2004, ApJ, 614, L81", "Monet, D. G., Levine, S. E., Canzian, B., et al. 2003, AJ, 125, 984", "Mordasini, C., Alibert, Y., Klahr, H., &amp; Henning, T. 2012, A&amp;A, 547, A111", "Mugrauer, M., Neuh\u00e4user, R., Mazeh, T., et al. 2006, Astronomische Nachrichten, 327, 321", "Murray, C. D., &amp; Dermott, S. F. 2000, Solar System Dynamics", "Naef, D., Mayor, M., Beuzit, J. L., et al. 2004, A&amp;A, 414, 351", "Nelder, J. A. 1965, Proceedings of the Royal Society of London Series A, 283, 147", "Nelson, B. E., Ford, E. B., Wright, J. T., et al. 2014, MNRAS, 441, 442", "Newton, I. 1687, Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica. Auctore Js. Newton, doi:10.3931/e-rara-440", "Pepe, F., Cameron, A. C., Latham, D. W., et al. 2013, Nature, 503, 377", "Pepper, J., Pogge, R. W., DePoy, D. L., et al. 2007, PASP, 119, 923", "Pickering, E. C. 1890, The Observatory, 13, 80", "Plavchan, P., Latham, D., Gaudi, S., et al. 2015, ArXiv e-prints, arXiv:1503.01770", "Pr\u02c7 sa, A., &amp; Zwitter, T. 2005, ApJ, 628, 426", "Queloz, D., Mayor, M., Weber, L., et al. 2000, A&amp;A, 354, 99", "Raghavan, D., Henry, T. J., Mason, B. D., et al. 2006, ApJ, 646, 523", "Raymond, S. N., Barnes, R., &amp; Gorelick, N. 2008, ApJ, 689, 478", "Ricker, G. R., Winn, J. N., Vanderspek, R., et al. 2015, Journal of Astronomical Telescopes, Instruments, and Systems, 1, 014003", "Riddle, R. L., Hogstrom, K., Papadopoulos, A., Baranec, C., &amp; Law, N. M. 2014, in Proc. SPIE, Vol. 9152, Software and Cyberinfrastructure for Astronomy III, 91521E", "Rodriguez, J. E., Zhou, G., Vanderburg, A., et al. 2017, ArXiv e-prints, arXiv:1701.03807", "Santos, N. C., Bouchy, F., Mayor, M., et al. 2004, A&amp;A, 426, L19", "Schwab, C., Rakich, A., Gong, Q., et al. 2016, in Proc. SPIE, Vol. 9908, Ground-based and Airborne Instrumentation for Astronomy VI, 99087H", "Seager, S., Dotson, R., &amp; Institute, L. 2010, Exoplanets, Space Science Series (University of Arizona Press)", "Shvartzvald, Y., Udalski, A., Gould, A., et al. 2015, ApJ, 814, 111", "Southworth, J. 2008, MNRAS, 386, 1644", "Stapelfeldt, K. R., Brenner, M. P., Warfield, K. R., et al. 2014, in Proc. SPIE, Vol. 9143, Space Telescopes and Instrumentation 2014: Optical, Infrared, and Millimeter Wave, 91432K", "Struve, O. 1952, The Observatory, 72, 199", "Swift, J. J., Bottom, M., Johnson, J. A., et al. 2015, Journal of Astronomical Telescopes, Instruments, and Systems, 1, 027002", "Szentgyorgyi, A., Barnes, S., Bean, J., et al. 2014, in Proc. SPIE, Vol. 9147, Ground-based and Airborne Instrumentation for Astronomy V, 914726", "Takeda, G., Ford, E. B., Sills, A., et al. 2007, ApJS, 168, 297", "ter Braak, C. J. 2006, Statistics and Computing, 16, 239", "Torres, G., Andersen, J., &amp; Gim\u00b4 enez, A. 2010, A&amp;A Rev., 18, 67", "Torres, G., Bakos, G. \u00b4 A., Kov\u00b4 acs, G., et al. 2007, ApJ, 666, L121", "Traub, W. A. 2012, ApJ, 745, 20", "Valenti, J. A., Butler, R. P., &amp; Marcy, G. W. 1995, PASP, 107, 966", "Valenti, J. A., &amp; Fischer, D. A. 2005, ApJS, 159, 141", "van Belle, G. T., &amp; von Braun, K. 2009, ApJ, 694, 1085", "van Leeuwen, F. 2007, A&amp;A, 474, 653", "Vanderburg, A., Johnson, J. A., &amp; Muirhead, P. 2013, in American Astronomical Society Meeting Abstracts, Vol. 221, American Astronomical Society Meeting Abstracts #221, 149.08", "Vogel, H. C. 1889, Astronomische Nachrichten, 121, 241", "von Braun, K., Boyajian, T. S., ten Brummelaar, T. A., et al. 2011, ApJ, 740, 49", "Wang, S. X. 2016, PhD thesis, The Pennsylvania State University, doi:10.5281/zenodo.58227", "Wenger, M., Ochsenbein, F., Egret, D., et al. 2000, A&amp;AS, 143, 9", "Winn, J. N., Matthews, J. M., Dawson, R. I., et al. 2011, ApJ, 737, L18", "Wolszczan, A., &amp; Frail, D. A. 1992, Nature, 355, 145", "Yee, J. C., Albrow, M., Barry, R. K., et al. 2014, ArXiv e-prints, arXiv:1409.2759", "Yi, S., Demarque, P., Kim, Y.-C., et al. 2001, ApJS, 136, 417"]}