Abstract
The radial velocity (RV) method has provided the foundation for the research field of exoplanets. It created the field by discovering the first exoplanets and then blazed a trail by detecting over 1000 exoplanets in orbit around other stars. The method also plays a vital role in transit searches by providing the planetary mass needed to calculate the bulk density of the exoplanet. The RV method requires a wide range of techniques: novel instrumentation for making precise RV measurements, clever techniques for extracting the periodic signals due to planets from the RV data, tools for assessing their statistical significance, and programs for calculating the Keplerian orbital parameters. Finally, RV measurements have become so precise that the measurement error is now dominated by the intrinsic stellar noise. New tools have to be developed to extract planetary signals from RV variability originating from the star. In these series of lectures I will cover (1) basic instrumentation for stellar radial velocity methods, (2) methods for achieving high radial velocity precision, (3) finding periodic signals in radial velocity data, (4) Keplerian orbits, (5) sources of errors for radial velocity measurements, and (6) dealing with the contribution of stellar noise to the radial velocity measurement.
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Notes
- 1.
In this case i ∗ refers to the inclination of the stellar rotation axis. This is not to be confused with the i that we later use to refer to the inclination of the orbital axis. The two are not necessarily the same value.
- 2.
It has become a common practice in RV exoplanet discoveries to plot period along the abscissa. I prefer to use frequency as this does not distort the periodogram. I will frequently interchange the use of period with frequency in the discussion. You can easily go from one to the other using the frequency-to-period converter on your hand calculator, i.e. the “1∕x” key.
- 3.
Frequency is often measured as angular frequency which is related to the period by ω = 2π∕P. Throughout this paper when I refer to a frequency it is merely the inverse of the period, or day−1.
- 4.
Historically the radial velocity amplitude is denoted by the variable K and is often referred to as the K-amplitude.
- 5.
The bias level is a voltage offset applied to the data to ensure that no negative data values enter the analog-to-digital converter.
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Acknowledgements
I thank Michael Perryman for his wonderful handbook on exoplanets, the first real textbook that covers all aspects of exoplanet science. It made preparation of some of my lectures much easier. I would like to thank the organizers V. Bozza, L. Mancini, and A. Sozzetti for putting on a great school on exoplanet detection methods and for being such wonderful hosts during my time in Vietri sul Mare. I also thank my fellow lecturers for teaching me some things and for the time spent together, in particular Andrew Collier Cameron. It is always good to spend some time with a long time friend and colleague, especially on the Amalfi Coast! And last but not least I thank the students for their attention, patience, and enthusiasm. Because of them I will watch more Lewis Black videos in order to improve my lecture style.
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Hatzes, A.P. (2016). The Radial Velocity Method for the Detection of Exoplanets. In: Bozza, V., Mancini, L., Sozzetti, A. (eds) Methods of Detecting Exoplanets. Astrophysics and Space Science Library, vol 428. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-27458-4_1
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