Measurements of Spin-Orbit Angles for Transiting Systems: Toward an Understanding of the Migration History of Exoplanets [Hardcover]

This thesis presents accurate analyses of the spin-orbit angle for many remarkable transiting exoplanetary systems, including the first measurement of the Rossiter-McLaughlin effect for a multiple transiting system.

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The author presents the observational methods needed to probe the spin-orbit angle, the relation between the stellar spin axis and planetary orbital axis. Measurements of the spin-orbit angle provide us a unique and valuable opportunity to understand the origin of close-in giant exoplanets, called hot Jupiters .

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The first method introduced involves observations of the Rossiter-McLaughlin effect (RM effect). The author points out the issues with the previous theoretical modeling of the RM effect and derives a new and improved theory. Applications of the new theory to observational data are also presented for a number of remarkable systems, and the author shows that the new theory minimizes the systematic errors by applying it to the observational data.

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The author also describes another method for constraining the spin-orbit angle: by combining the measurements of stellar flux variations due to dark spots on the stellar surface, with the projected stellar rotational velocity measured via spectroscopy, the spin-orbit angles along the line-of-sight are constrained for the transiting exoplanetary systems reported by the Kepler space telescope.

Introduction.- Evolution History of Extrasolar Planetary Systems.- Improved Modeling of the Rossiter-McLaughlin Effect.- New Observations and Improved Analyses of the Rossiter-McLaughlin Effect.- Toward the Measurements of Spin-Orbit Relations for Small Planets.- Summary and Future Prospects.Dr. Teruyuki Hirano The University of Tokyo Current affiliation : Tokyo Institute of Technology hirano@geo.titech.ac.jp

This thesis presents accurate analyses of the spin-orbit angle for manyls-