Retrieval of Precise Radial Velocities from High Resolution Near-Infrared Spectra of M Dwarfs
Abstract
We present a data analysis pipeline focused on obtaining precision radial velocities (RV) of M Dwarfs from spectra taken between 2.309 and 2.316 microns by the CSHELL spectrograph (R~46,000) at NASA's Infrared Telescope Facility with the aid of a methane isotopologue gas cell (see poster by Plavchan et al. at this meeting). The pipeline compares the observed spectra with a forward model defined by parameters that are optimized using a simplex amoeba algorithm. The stellar template is optimized simultaneously with the fit parameters in an iterative process. The pipeline accounts for temporal variations in the spectral wavelength solution, line spread function, and interference fringes due to instrumental effects. We apply our pipeline to the M Dwarfs GJ 15 A and GJ 876 and the M Giant SV Peg. For GJ 15 A, we are able to obtain 30 m/s RV precision. For the planet host GJ 876, the two most massive planets are easily retrievable from our RV curve. For SV Peg, the single night RV precision can be as low as 15 m/s, with < 5 m/s obtainable through data stacking.
- Publication:
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American Astronomical Society Meeting Abstracts #225
- Pub Date:
- January 2015
- Bibcode:
- 2015AAS...22525822G