A window on exoplanet dynamical histories: Rossiter-McLaughlin observations of WASP-13b and WASP-32b

Smalley; Maxted; Hellier

Abstract

We present Rossiter–McLaughlin observations of WASP-13b and WASP-32b and determine the sky-projected angle between the normal of the planetary orbit and the stellar rotation axis (?). WASP-13b and WASP-32b both have prograde orbits and are consistent with alignment with measured sky-projected angles of ?=8°+13-12 and ?=-2°+17-19, respectively. Both WASP-13 and WASP-32 have Teff < 6250 K, and therefore, these systems support the general trend that aligned planetary systems are preferentially found orbiting cool host stars. A Lomb–Scargle periodogram analysis was carried out on archival SuperWASP data for both systems. A statistically significant stellar rotation period detection (above 99.9 per cent confidence) was identified for the WASP-32 system with Prot = 11.6 ± 1.0 days. This rotation period is in agreement with the predicted stellar rotation period calculated from the stellar radius, R*, and vsin?i if a stellar inclination of i* = 90° is assumed. With the determined rotation period, the true 3D angle between the stellar rotation axis and the planetary orbit, ?, was found to be ? = 11° ± 14°. We conclude with a discussion on the alignment of systems around cool host stars with Teff < 6150 K by calculating the tidal dissipation time-scale. We find that systems with short tidal dissipation time-scales are preferentially aligned and systems with long tidal dissipation time-scales have a broad range of obliquities.

Citation

Smalley, Maxted, & Hellier. (2014). A window on exoplanet dynamical histories: Rossiter-McLaughlin observations of WASP-13b and WASP-32b. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 3392 -3401. https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stu520

• Acceptance Date: Mar 12, 2014
• Publication Date: Jun 1, 2014
• Journal: Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
• Print ISSN: 0035-8711
• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Pages: 3392 -3401
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stu520
• Keywords: techniques, photometric, radial velocities, stars, individual, WASP-13, WASP-32, planetary systems
• Publisher URL: https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stu520