StarSpotz: A Sensitive Probe of the Differential Rotation Profile of Stars using MOST Photometry
- Author(s)
- Bryce Croll, Gordon A. H. Walker, Rainer Kuschnig, Jaymie M. Matthews, Jason F. Rowe, Andrew Walker, Slavek M. Rucinski, Artie P. Hatzes, William D. Cochran, Russell M. Robb, David B. Guenther, Anthony F J Moffat, Dimitar Sasselov, Werner Wolfgang Weiss
- Abstract
MOST has detected the differential rotation of spots on a number of stars. We have developed the program StarSpotz to define the spots and derive the range in best-fit values of the relevant stellar parameters. Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) and Parallel Tempering techniques have been applied to eliminate the correlation among parameters and the non-uniqueness issues often associated with photometric spot-modeling. We illustrate the effectiveness of these techniques by applying them to MOST's recent observations of the spotted star epsilon Eridani. When combined with the accurate, near-continuous photometry returned by MOST, these techniques should be able to constrain theories of the exact nature of the differential rotation profiles of stars.
- Organisation(s)
- Department of Astrophysics
- External organisation(s)
- University of British Columbia (UBC), Sumus Technology Limited, University of Toronto, Thüringer Landessternwarte Tautenburg, University of Texas, Austin, University of Victoria, Saint Mary's University, University of Montreal, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
- Journal
- Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society
- Volume
- 38
- Pages
- 1217
- ISSN
- 0002-7537
- Publication date
- 2006
- Austrian Fields of Science 2012
- 1030 Physics, Astronomy
- Portal url
- https://ucrisportal.univie.ac.at/en/publications/032d2d77-f015-409c-8372-fe84d748713c