The Astronomical Journal (Jan 2024)

κ Andromedae b Is a Fast Rotator from KPIC High-resolution Spectroscopy

  • Evan C. Morris,
  • Jason J. Wang,
  • Chih-Chun Hsu,
  • Jean-Baptiste Ruffio,
  • Jerry W. Xuan,
  • Jacques-Robert Delorme,
  • Callie Hood,
  • Marta L. Bryan,
  • Emily C. Martin,
  • Jacklyn Pezzato,
  • Dimitri Mawet,
  • Andrew Skemer,
  • Ashley Baker,
  • Randall Bartos,
  • Benjamin Calvin,
  • Sylvain Cetre,
  • Greg Doppmann,
  • Daniel Echeverri,
  • Luke Finnerty,
  • Michael P. Fitzgerald,
  • Nemanja Jovanovic,
  • Joshua Liberman,
  • Ronald Lopez,
  • Ben Sappey,
  • Tobias Schofield,
  • J. Kent Wallace,
  • Ji Wang

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-3881/ad4ecf
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 168, no. 4
p. 144

Abstract

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We used the Keck Planet Imager and Characterizer to obtain high-resolution ( R ∼ 35,000) K -band spectra of κ Andromedae b, a planetary-mass companion orbiting the B9V star, κ Andromedae A. We characterized its spin, radial velocity, and bulk atmospheric parameters through use of a forward-modeling framework to jointly fit planetary spectra and residual starlight speckles, obtaining likelihood-based posterior probabilities. We also detected H _2 O and CO in its atmosphere via cross correlation. We measured a $v\sin (i)$ value for κ Andromedae b of 38.42 ± 0.05 km s ^−1 , allowing us to extend our understanding of the population of close-in bound companions at higher rotation rates. This rotation rate is one of the highest spins relative to breakup velocity measured to date, at close to 50% of breakup velocity. We identify a radial velocity $-{17.35}_{-0.09}^{+0.05}$ km s ^−1 , which we use with existing astrometry and radial velocity measurements to update the orbital fit. We also measure an effective temperature of 1700 ± 100 K and a $\mathrm{log}(g)$ of 4.7 ± 0.5 cgs dex.

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