Authors

P. F. L. Maxted; D. R. Anderson; A. P. Doyle; M. Gillon; J. Harrington; N. Iro; E. Jehin; D. Lafreniere; B. Smalley;J. Southworth

Comments

Authors: contact us about adding a copy of your work at STARS@ucf.edu

Abbreviated Journal Title

Mon. Not. Roy. Astron. Soc.

Keywords

stars: individual: WASP-18; planetary systems; planets and satellites:; atmospheres; TRANSITING EXTRASOLAR PLANETS; UPSILON ANDROMEDAE B; SOLAR-TYPE STARS; HD 189733B; HOT JUPITERS; FUNDAMENTAL PARAMETERS; PHYSICAL-PROPERTIES; OHMIC DISSIPATION; THERMAL EMISSION; PHASE VARIATIONS; Astronomy & Astrophysics

Abstract

We present new light curves of the massive hot Jupiter system WASP-18 obtained with the Spitzer spacecraft covering the entire orbit at 3.6 and 4.5 mu m. These light curves are used to measure the amplitude, shape and phase of the thermal phase effect for WASP-18 b. We find that our results for the thermal phase effect are limited to an accuracy of about 0.01 per cent by systematic noise sources of unknown origin. At this level of accuracy we find that the thermal phase effect has a peak-to-peak amplitude approximately equal to the secondary eclipse depth, has a sinusoidal shape and that the maximum brightness occurs at the same phase as mid-occultation to within about 5 degrees at 3.6 mu m and to within about 10 degrees at 4.5 mu m. The shape and amplitude of the thermal phase curve imply very low levels of heat redistribution within the atmosphere of the planet. We also perform a separate analysis to determine the system geometry by fitting a light curve model to the data covering the occultation and the transit. The secondary eclipse depths we measure at 3.6 and 4.5 mu m are in good agreement with previous measurements and imply a very low albedo for WASP-18 b. The parameters of the system (masses, radii, etc.) derived from our analysis are also in good agreement with those from previous studies, but with improved precision. We use new high-resolution imaging and published limits on the rate of change of the mean radial velocity to check for the presence of any faint companion stars that may affect our results. We find that there is unlikely to be any significant contribution to the flux at Spitzer wavelengths from a stellar companion to WASP-18. We find that there is no evidence for variations in the times of eclipse from a linear ephemeris greater than about 100 s over 3 years.

Journal Title

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

Volume

428

Issue/Number

3

Publication Date

1-1-2013

Document Type

Article

Language

English

First Page

2645

Last Page

2660

WOS Identifier

WOS:000318230700060

ISSN

0035-8711

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