Diving Beneath the Sea of Stellar Activity: Chromatic Radial Velocities of the Young AU Mic Planetary System

Abstract

Abstract We present updated radial-velocity (RV) analyses of the AU Mic system. AU Mic is a young (22 Myr) early-M dwarf known to host two transiting planets— P b ∼ 8.46 days, <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" overflow="scroll"> <mml:msub> <mml:mrow> <mml:mi>R</mml:mi> </mml:mrow> <mml:mrow> <mml:mi>b</mml:mi> </mml:mrow> </mml:msub> <mml:mo>=</mml:mo> <mml:msubsup> <mml:mrow> <mml:mn>4.38</mml:mn> </mml:mrow> <mml:mrow> <mml:mo>−</mml:mo> <mml:mn>0.18</mml:mn> </mml:mrow> <mml:mrow> <mml:mo>+</mml:mo> <mml:mn>0.18</mml:mn> </mml:mrow> </mml:msubsup> <mml:mspace width="0.33em"/> <mml:msub> <mml:mrow> <mml:mi>R</mml:mi> </mml:mrow> <mml:mrow> <mml:mo>⊕</mml:mo> </mml:mrow> </mml:msub> </mml:math> , P c ∼ 18.86 days, <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" overflow="scroll"> <mml:msub> <mml:mrow> <mml:mi>R</mml:mi> </mml:mrow> <mml:mrow> <mml:mi>c</mml:mi> </mml:mrow> </mml:msub> <mml:mo>=</mml:mo> <mml:msubsup> <mml:mrow> <mml:mn>3.51</mml:mn> </mml:mrow> <mml:mrow> <mml:mo>−</mml:mo> <mml:mn>0.16</mml:mn> </mml:mrow> <mml:mrow> <mml:mo>+</mml:mo> <mml:mn>0.16</mml:mn> </mml:mrow> </mml:msubsup> <mml:mspace width="0.33em"/> <mml:msub> <mml:mrow> <mml:mi>R</mml:mi> </mml:mrow> <mml:mrow> <mml:mo>⊕</mml:mo> </mml:mrow> </mml:msub> </mml:math> . With visible RVs from Calar Alto high-Resolution search for M dwarfs with Exo-earths with Near-infrared and optical echelle Spectrographs (CARMENES)-VIS, CHIRON, HARPS, HIRES, M inerva -Australis, and Tillinghast Reflector Echelle Spectrograph, as well as near-infrared (NIR) RVs from CARMENES-NIR, CSHELL, IRD, iSHELL, NIRSPEC, and SPIRou, we provide a 5 σ upper limit to the mass of AU Mic c of M c ≤ 20.13 M ⊕ and present a refined mass of AU Mic b of <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" overflow="scroll"> <mml:msub> <mml:mrow> <mml:mi>M</mml:mi> </mml:mrow> <mml:mrow> <mml:mi>b</mml:mi> </mml:mrow> </mml:msub> <mml:mo>=</mml:mo> <mml:msubsup> <mml:mrow> <mml:mn>20.12</mml:mn> </mml:mrow> <mml:mrow> <mml:mo>−</mml:mo> <mml:mn>1.57</mml:mn> </mml:mrow> <mml:mrow> <mml:mo>+</mml:mo> <mml:mn>1.72</mml:mn> </mml:mrow> </mml:msubsup> <mml:mspace width="0.33em"/> <mml:msub> <mml:mrow> <mml:mi>M</mml:mi> </mml:mrow> <mml:mrow> <mml:mo>⊕</mml:mo> </mml:mrow> </mml:msub> </mml:math> . Used in our analyses is a new RV modeling toolkit to exploit the wavelength dependence of stellar activity present in our RVs via wavelength-dependent Gaussian processes. By obtaining near-simultaneous visible and near-infrared RVs, we also compute the temporal evolution of RV “color” and introduce a regressional method to aid in isolating Keplerian from stellar activity signals when modeling RVs in future works. Using a multiwavelength Gaussian process model, we demonstrate the ability to recover injected planets at 5 σ significance with semi-amplitudes down to ≈10 m s −1 with a known ephemeris, more than an order of magnitude below the stellar activity amplitude. However, we find that the accuracy of the recovered semi-amplitudes is ∼50% for such signals with our model.