Project Details
CARMENES Follow-up of Transiting Planets with TESS
Subject Area
Astrophysics and Astronomy
Term
since 2020
Project identifier
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 314665159
Transiting planets with mass determination from radial velocities (RV) are of great value for the characterization of extrasolar planets and their atmospheres. A significant increase in the number of planets for which radii, masses, and the presence of atmospheres are thoroughly investigated is one of the main goals of exoplanet research for the coming years. The combination of TESS and CARMENES provides the opportunity to achieve significant progress in finding and characterizing low-mass planets around low-mass stars. We propose to follow-up TESS transiting planet candidates with CARMENES to determine their mass, and to carry out transit spectroscopy in some targets in order to investigate the chromatic Rossiter-McLaughlin (RM) effect. Chromaticity in the RM effect can provide information on a wavelength-dependent planetary radius, which could be caused by Rayleigh scattering of its atmosphere or other atmospheric features. The data should also be analyzed together with project P3 with the aim to characterize the planetary atmosphere. The field is highly competitive and TESS follow-up is carried out by several groups world-wide. With CARMENES, we have the advantage of high RV precision in verycool stars, and our guaranteed time allows us flexible scheduling so that we can efficiently carry out follow-up programs.
DFG Programme
Research Units