Non-detection of Contamination by Stellar Activity in the Spitzer Transit Light Curves of TRAPPIST-1
Abstract
We apply the transit light curve self-contamination technique of Morris et al. to search for the effect of stellar activity on the transits of the ultracool dwarf TRAPPIST-1 with 2018 Spitzer photometry. The self-contamination method fits the transit light curves of planets orbiting spotted stars, allowing the host star to be a source of contaminating positive or negative flux that influences the transit depths but not the ingress/egress durations. We find that none of the planets show statistically significant evidence for self-contamination by bright or dark regions of the stellar photosphere. However, we show that small-scale magnetic activity, analogous in size to the smallest sunspots, could still be lurking undetected in the transit photometry.
- Publication:
-
The Astrophysical Journal
- Pub Date:
- August 2018
- DOI:
- arXiv:
- arXiv:1808.02808
- Bibcode:
- 2018ApJ...863L..32M
- Keywords:
-
- planets and satellites: fundamental parameters;
- planets and satellites: terrestrial planets;
- stars: activity;
- stars: late-type;
- stars: magnetic field;
- Astrophysics - Solar and Stellar Astrophysics;
- Astrophysics - Earth and Planetary Astrophysics
- E-Print:
- Accepted for publication in ApJL