There is a unique solution of the planet and star parameters from a planet transit light curve with two or more transits if the planet has a circular orbit and the light curve is observed in a band pass where limb darkening is negligible. The existence of this unique solution is very useful for current planet transit surveys for several reasons. First, there is an analytic solution that allows ...

We report on the orbital architectures of Kepler systems having multiple planet candidates identified in the analysis of data from the first six quarters of Kepler data and reported by Batalha et al. (2013). These data show 899 transiting planet candidates in 365 multiple-planet systems and provide a powerful means to study the statistical properties of planetary systems. Using a generic massra...

We present PLANet: an active network architecture and implementation. In addition to a standard suite of Internet-like services, PLANet has two key programmability features: 1. all packets contain programs 2. router functionality may be extended dynamically Packet programs are written in our special purpose programming language PLAN, the Packet Language for Active Networks, while dynamic router...

Doppler measurements of the M4 dwarf star, Gliese 876, taken at both Lick and Keck Observatory reveal periodic, Keplerian velocity variations with a period of 61 days. The orbital fit implies that the companion has a mass of, M = 2.1 MJUP/ sin i, an orbital eccentricity of, e = 0.27±0.03, and a semimajor axis of, a = 0.21 AU. The planet is the first found around an M dwarf, and was drawn from a...

The computation of the magnification of a finite source by an arbitrary gravitational lens can be reduced from a two-dimensional to a one-dimensional integral using a generalization of Stoke’s theorem. For a large source lensed by a planetarysystem whose planet lies at the position where one of the two images would be in the absence of a planet, the integral can be done analytically. If the pla...

Tidal dissipation within a short-period transiting extrasolar planet perturbed by a companion object can drive orbital evolution of the system to a so-called tidal fixed point, in which the apsidal lines of the transiting planet and its perturber are aligned, and for which variations in the orbital eccentricities of both planet and perturber are damped out. Maintenance of the fixed-point apsida...

Aims. We examine the uncertainties in current planetary models and we quantify their impact on the planet cooling histories and mass-radius relationships. These uncertainties include (i) the differences between the various equations of state used to characterize the heavy material thermodynamical properties, (ii) the distribution of heavy elements within planetary interiors, (iii) their chemica...

We analyze the nonlinear, two-dimensional response of a gaseous, viscous protoplanetary disk to the presence of a planet of one Jupiter mass (1MJ ) and greater that orbits a 1M⊙ star by using the ZEUS hydrodynamics code with high resolution near the planet’s Roche lobe. The planet is assumed to be in a circular orbit about the central star and is not allowed to migrate. A gap is formed about th...

The satellite COROT will search for close-in exo-planets around a few thousand stars using the transit search method. The COROT mission holds the promise of detecting numerous exo-planets. Together with radial velocity follow-up observations, the masses of the detected planets will be known. We have devised a method for predicting the expected planetary populations and compared it to the alread...

This paper presents a new six degree-of-freedom parallel mechanism platform, which can be used as a basis for general motion simulators. The unique feature of the platform is that it enables unlimited continuous 360-degree spin in any rotational axes plus finite X, Y, and Z-axis translation motion. The first part of the paper deals with the kinematic design issue of the platform including singu...