Date of Award

8-7-2007

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Physics and Astronomy

First Advisor

Harold A. McAlister - Chair

Second Advisor

Todd J. Henry

Third Advisor

Douglas R. Gies

Fourth Advisor

Theo A. ten Brummelaar

Fifth Advisor

Nikolaus Dietz

Abstract

Until the last decade or so, our entire knowledge of planets around Sun-like stars consisted of those in our own Solar System. This is no longer the case. Over 200 planets have been discovered through radial velocity surveys and photometric studies, both of which depend on observing the planet's effects on its host star. Much of our knowledge of the planets orbiting these stars is uncertain, based on assumptions about the stars' masses and the planets' orbital inclinations. This dissertation is comprised of two main sections. The first involves measuring the angular diameters for a sample of exoplanet host stars using Georgia State University's CHARA Array in order to learn more about the nature of these stars. These direct angular measurements are not dependent on the exoplanet systems' inclinations or the masses of the stars. Improved angular diameters lead to linear diameters when combined with HIPPARCOS parallax measurements, which in turn tell us of the stars' ages and masses. Of the 82 exoplanet systems observable with the CHARA Array, 31 host stars were observed and stellar angular diameters were measured for 26 systems. In the special case of an exoplanet system with a transiting planet, this direct measurement of the star's angular diameter leads to a direct measurement of the planet's diameter, when the planet-to-star-radii ratio is known from photometric studies. This was done for HD 189733. The star's angular diameter is 0.377 +/- 0.024 mas, which produces a stellar linear radius of 0.779 +/- 0.052 R_Sun and a planetary diameter of 1.19 +/- 0.08 R_Jupiter. The second part of this project involved the inspection of the exoplanet systems for stellar companions masquerading as planets. From radial velocity studies alone, it is impossible to distinguish between a planet in a high-inclination orbit and a low-mass stellar companion in a low-inclination orbit. Using the CHARA Array, it was possible to rule out certain secondary spectral types for each exoplanet system observed by studying the errors in the diameter fit and searching for separated fringe packets. While no definitive stellar companions were found, two expolanet systems, upsilon Andromedae and rho Coronae Borealis, exhibited behavior that were not consistent with the host star being a simple limb-darkened disk.

DOI

https://doi.org/10.57709/1059822

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