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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: http://hdl.handle.net/10761/1377

Data: 7-mar-2013
Autori: Ballerini, Paola
Titolo: Effects of starspots activity on optical and near infrared observations of planetary transits
Abstract: In this thesis, I report on the effects that magnetic stellar activity of solar-type stars induces on stellar light curves involved in the photometric technique for the detection and characterization of transiting extra-solar planets that is one of the most effective detection methods, the first being the radial velocity technique. Stellar magnetic activity is a source of noise in the study of the transits of extra-solar planets since it induces flux variations that significantly affect the transit depth determination and the derivations of planetary and stellar parameters. Surface brightness inhomogeneities, such as starspots or bright faculae, on star disc have an intrinsic dependence on wavelength and thus on the stellar colours. The colour dependence of stellar activity may significantly influence the characterization of planetary atmospheres since it produces stellar flux variations that may mimic those due to the presence of molecular or atomic species in the transmitted planetary spectra. In this thesis I focus on the effects due essentially to stellar spots present in the visible hemisphere of solar-type stars. The proposed method is a theoretical one, aiming to predict the starspot-induced effects with the use of stellar atmospheric models and I present a systematic approach to quantify the corresponding stellar flux variations as a function of wavelength bands. Therefore I consider a star with spots covering a given fraction of its disc and model the variability in both the UBVRIJHK photometric system and the Spitzer/IRAC wavebands for dwarf stars from G to M spectral types. Then I compare starspot-induced flux variations in these different passbands with planetary transits and quantify how they affect the determination of the planetary radius and the analysis of the transmission spectroscopy in the study of planetary atmospheres. My results suggest that the monitoring of the systems by using broad-band photometry, from visible to infrared, helps to constrain spots effects by estimating the R parameter, i.e. the ratio of the relative variations in the stellar fluxes at short wavelength optical bands (e.g., U or B) to near-infrared ones (e.g., J or K). Its numerical value can be used to distinguish starspot brightness dips from planetary transits in a single stellar light curve. In addition to the perturbations in the measurement of the planetary radius, the perturbations in the transit light curve profiles due to starspots can affect the determinations of orbital parameters, i.e., the relative semi-major axis and the inclination of the planetary orbit, that are directly derived by fitting procedure of the transit light curves. These distortions in the transit light curves have a significant impact on the derivation of stellar parameters and, above all, on the stellar density thus bothering the stellar evolutionary estimates. The results derived from the synthetic photometric analysis are presented and discussed in Ballerini et al. 2012.
InArea 02 - Scienze fisiche

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