TY - JOUR
T1 - The detailed chemical composition of the terrestrial planet host Kepler-10
AU - Liu, F.
AU - Yong, D.
AU - Asplund, M.
AU - Ramírez, I.
AU - Meléndez, J.
AU - Gustafsson, B.
AU - Howes, L. M.
AU - Roederer, I. U.
AU - Lambert, D. L.
AU - Bensby, T.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2015 The Authors.
PY - 2016/3/1
Y1 - 2016/3/1
N2 - Chemical abundance studies of the Sun and solar twins have demonstrated that the solar composition of refractory elements is depleted when compared to volatile elements, which could be due to the formation of terrestrial planets. In order to further examine this scenario, we conducted a line-by-line differential chemical abundance analysis of the terrestrial planet host Kepler-10 and 14 of its stellar twins. Stellar parameters and elemental abundances ofKepler-10 and its stellar twins were obtained with very high precision using a strictly differential analysis of high quality Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope, Hobby-Eberly Telescope and Magellan spectra. When compared to the majority of thick disc twins, Kepler-10 shows a depletion in the refractory elements relative to the volatile elements, which could be due to the formation of terrestrial planets in the Kepler-10 system. The average abundance pattern corresponds to ~13 Earth masses, while the two known planets in Kepler-10 system have a combined ~20 Earth masses. For two of the eight thick disc twins, however, no depletion patterns are found. Although our results demonstrate that several factors [e.g. planet signature, stellar age, stellar birth location and Galactic chemical evolution (GCE)] could lead to or affect abundance trends with condensation temperature, we find that the trends give further support for the planetary signature hypothesis.
AB - Chemical abundance studies of the Sun and solar twins have demonstrated that the solar composition of refractory elements is depleted when compared to volatile elements, which could be due to the formation of terrestrial planets. In order to further examine this scenario, we conducted a line-by-line differential chemical abundance analysis of the terrestrial planet host Kepler-10 and 14 of its stellar twins. Stellar parameters and elemental abundances ofKepler-10 and its stellar twins were obtained with very high precision using a strictly differential analysis of high quality Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope, Hobby-Eberly Telescope and Magellan spectra. When compared to the majority of thick disc twins, Kepler-10 shows a depletion in the refractory elements relative to the volatile elements, which could be due to the formation of terrestrial planets in the Kepler-10 system. The average abundance pattern corresponds to ~13 Earth masses, while the two known planets in Kepler-10 system have a combined ~20 Earth masses. For two of the eight thick disc twins, however, no depletion patterns are found. Although our results demonstrate that several factors [e.g. planet signature, stellar age, stellar birth location and Galactic chemical evolution (GCE)] could lead to or affect abundance trends with condensation temperature, we find that the trends give further support for the planetary signature hypothesis.
KW - Planets and satellites: formation
KW - Planets and satellites: terrestrial planets
KW - Stars: abundances
KW - Stars: individual: Kepler-10
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84963786309&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1093/mnras/stv2821
DO - 10.1093/mnras/stv2821
M3 - Article
SN - 0035-8711
VL - 456
SP - 2636
EP - 2646
JO - Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
JF - Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
IS - 3
ER -