EDEN: Sensitivity Analysis and Transiting Planet Detection Limits for Nearby Late Red Dwarfs

Aidan Gibbs, Alex Bixel, Benjamin V. Rackham, Dániel Apai, Martin Schlecker, Néstor Espinoza, Luigi Mancini, Wen Ping Chen, Thomas Henning, Paul Gabor, Richard Boyle, Jose Perez Chavez, Allie Mousseau, Jeremy Dietrich, Quentin Jay Socia, Wing Ip, Chow Choong Ngeow, An Li Tsai, Asmita Bhandare, Victor MarianHans Baehr, Samantha Brown, Maximilian H berle, Miriam Keppler, Karan Molaverdikhani, Paula Sarkis

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

20 Scopus citations

Abstract

Small planets are common around late-M dwarfs and can be detected through highly precise photometry by the transit method. Planets orbiting nearby stars are particularly important as they are often the best-suited for future follow-up studies. We present observations of three nearby M dwarfs referred to as EIC-1, EIC-2, and EIC-3, and use them to search for transits and set limits on the presence of planets. On most nights our observations are sensitive to Earth-sized transiting planets, and photometric precision is similar to or better than TESS for faint late-M dwarfs of the same magnitude (I ≈ 15 mag). We present our photometry and transit search pipeline, which utilizes simple median detrending in combination with transit least-squares-based transit detection. For these targets, and transiting planets between one and two Earth radii, we achieve an average transit detection probability of ∼60% between periods of 0.5 and 2 days, ∼30% between 2 and 5 days, and ∼10% between 5 and 10 days. These sensitivities are conservative compared to visual searches.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Article number169
JournalAstronomical Journal
Volume159
Issue number4
DOIs
StatePublished - Apr 2020

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Astronomy and Astrophysics
  • Space and Planetary Science

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