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- Van Eylen, Vincent, et al.
(author)
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Masses and compositions of three small planets orbiting the nearby M dwarf L231-32 (TOI-270) and the M dwarf radius valley
- 2021
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In: Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. - : Oxford University Press (OUP). - 0035-8711 .- 1365-2966. ; 507:2, s. 2154-2173
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- We report on precise Doppler measurements of L231-32 (TOI-270), a nearby M dwarf (d = 22 pc, M = 0.39 M, R = 0.38 R), which hosts three transiting planets that were recently discovered using data from the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS). The three planets are 1.2, 2.4, and 2.1 times the size of Earth and have orbital periods of 3.4, 5.7, and 11.4 d. We obtained 29 high-resolution optical spectra with the newly commissioned Echelle Spectrograph for Rocky Exoplanet and Stable Spectroscopic Observations (ESPRESSO) and 58 spectra using the High Accuracy Radial velocity Planet Searcher (HARPS). From these observations, we find the masses of the planets to be 1.58 ± 0.26, 6.15 ± 0.37, and 4.78 ± 0.43 M, respectively. The combination of radius and mass measurements suggests that the innermost planet has a rocky composition similar to that of Earth, while the outer two planets have lower densities. Thus, the inner planet and the outer planets are on opposite sides of the 'radius valley'-a region in the radius-period diagram with relatively few members-which has been interpreted as a consequence of atmospheric photoevaporation. We place these findings into the context of other small close-in planets orbiting M dwarf stars, and use support vector machines to determine the location and slope of the M dwarf (Teff < 4000 K) radius valley as a function of orbital period. We compare the location of the M dwarf radius valley to the radius valley observed for FGK stars, and find that its location is a good match to photoevaporation and core-powered mass-loss models. Finally, we show that planets below the M dwarf radius valley have compositions consistent with stripped rocky cores, whereas most planets above have a lower density consistent with the presence of a H-He atmosphere.
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- Ortiz-Rodríguez, C. A., et al.
(author)
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Simulations of dynamo action in slowly rotating M dwarfs : Dependence on dimensionless parameters
- 2023
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In: Astronomy and Astrophysics. - : EDP Sciences. - 0004-6361 .- 1432-0746. ; 678
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Aims. The aim of this study is to explore the magnetic and flow properties of fully convective M dwarfs as a function of rotation period Prot and magnetic Reynolds ReM and Prandlt numbers PrM. Methods.We performed three-dimensional simulations of fully convective stars using a star-in-a-box set-up. This set-up allows global dynamo simulations in a sphere embedded in a Cartesian cube. The equations of non-ideal magnetohydrodynamics were solved with the Pencil Code. We used the stellar parameters of an M5 dwarf with 0.21 M⊙ at three rotation rates corresponding to rotation periods (Prot) of 43, 61, and 90 days, and varied the magnetic Prandtl number in the range from 0.1 to 10. Results. We found systematic differences in the behaviour of the large-scale magnetic field as functions of rotation and PrM. For the simulations with Prot = 43 days and PrM ≤ 2, we found cyclic large-scale magnetic fields. For PrM > 2, the cycles vanish and the field shows irregular reversals. In the simulations with Prot = 61 days for PrM ≤ 2, the cycles are less clear and the reversal are less periodic. In the higher PrM cases, the axisymmetric mean field shows irregular variations. For the slowest rotation case with Prot = 90 days, the field has an important dipolar component for PrM ≤ 5. For the highest PrM the large-scale magnetic field is predominantly irregular at mid-latitudes, with quasi-stationary fields near the poles. For the simulations with cycles, the cycle period length slightly increases with increasing ReM.
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