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  • Dr. Jhon Galarza

Jhon
Galarza

Milky Way & Stellar Evolution

John Galarza is a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Observatories working on the chemical composition of planets and their host stars.

Profile photo of Dr. Jhon Galarza

Carnegie Fellow
Pasadena, CA

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Abstract
Among Neptunian mass exoplanets (20-50 M-circle plus), puffy hot Neptunes are extremely rare, and their unique combination of low mass and extended radii implies very low density (rho < 0.3 g cm(-3)). Over the last decade, only a few puffy planets have been detected and precisely characterized with both transit and radial velocity observations, most notably including WASP-107 b, TOI-1420 b, and WASP-193 b. In this paper, we report the discovery of TOI-1173 A b, a low-density ( rho=0.195-0.017+0.018 g cm(-3)) super-Neptune with P = 7.06 days in a nearly circular orbit around the primary G-dwarf star in the wide binary system TOI-1173 A/B. Using radial velocity observations with the MAROON-X and HIRES spectrographs and transit photometry from TESS, we determine a planet mass of M p = 27.4 +/- 1.7 M circle plus and radius of R p = 9.19 +/- 0.18 R circle plus. TOI-1173 A b is the first puffy super-Neptune planet detected in a wide binary system (projected separation similar to 11,400 au). We explore several mechanisms to understand the puffy nature of TOI-1173 A b and show that tidal heating is the most promising explanation. Furthermore, we demonstrate that TOI-1173 A b likely has maintained its orbital stability over time and may have undergone von-Zeipel-Lidov-Kozai migration followed by tidal circularization, given its present-day architecture, with important implications for planet migration theory and induced engulfment into the host star. Further investigation of the atmosphere of TOI-1173 A b will shed light on the origin of close-in low-density Neptunian planets in field and binary systems, while spin-orbit analyses may elucidate the dynamical evolution of the system.
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Abstract
The growing number of Milky Way satellites detected in recent years has introduced a new focus for stellar abundance analysis. Abundances of stars in satellites have been used to probe the nature of these systems and their chemical evolution. However, for most satellites, only centrally located stars have been examined. This paper presents an analysis of three stars in the Tucana V system, one in the inner region and two at similar to 10 ' (7-10 half-light radii) from the center. We find a remarkable chemical diversity between the stars. One star exhibits enhancements in rapid neutron-capture elements (an r-I star), and another is highly enhanced in C, N, and O but with low neutron-capture abundances (a CEMP-no star). The metallicities of the stars analyzed span more than 1 dex from [Fe/H] = -3.55 to -2.46. This, combined with a large abundance range of other elements like Ca, Sc, and Ni, confirms that Tuc V is an ultrafaint dwarf (UFD) galaxy. The variation in abundances, highlighted by [Mg/Ca] ratios ranging from +0.89 to -0.75, among the stars demonstrates that the chemical enrichment history of Tuc V was very inhomogeneous. Tuc V is only the second UFD galaxy in which stars located at large distances from the galactic center have been analyzed, along with Tucana II. The chemical diversity seen in these two galaxies, driven by the composition of the noncentral member stars, suggests that distant member stars are important to include when classifying faint satellites and that these systems may have experienced more complex chemical enrichment histories than previously anticipated.
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Abstract
Aims. We explore different scenarios to explain the chemical difference found in the remarkable giant-giant binary system HD 138202 + CD-30 12303. For the first time, we suggest how to distinguish these scenarios by taking advantage of the extensive convective envelopes of giant stars. Methods. We carried out a high-precision determination of stellar parameters and abundances by applying a full line-by-line differential analysis on GHOST high-resolution spectra. We used the FUNDPAR program with ATLAS12 model atmospheres and specific opacities calculated for an arbitrary composition through a doubly iterated method. Physical parameters were estimated with the isochrones package and evolutionary tracks were calculated via MIST models. Results. We found a significant chemical difference between the two stars (Delta[Fe/H] similar to 0.08 dex), which is largely unexpected considering the insensitivity of giant stars to planetary ingestion and diffusion effects. We tested the possibility of engulfment events by using several different combinations of stellar mass, ingested mass, metallicity of the engulfed object and different convective envelopes. However, the planetary ingestion scenario does not seem to explain the observed differences. For the first time, we distinguished the source of chemical differences using a giant-giant binary system. By ruling out other possible scenarios such as planet formation and evolutionary effects between the two stars, we suggest that primordial inhomogeneities might explain the observed differences. This remarkable result implies that the metallicity differences that were observed in at least some main-sequence binary systems might be related to primordial inhomogeneities rather than engulfment events. We also discuss the important implications of finding primordial inhomogeneities, which affect chemical tagging and other fields such as planet formation. We strongly encourage the use of giant-giant pairs. They are a relevant complement to main-sequence pairs for determining the origin of the observed chemical differences in multiple systems.
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Abstract
It has been suggested that small chemical anomalies observed in planet-hosting wide binary systems could be due to planet signatures, where the role of the planetary mass is still unknown. We search for a possible planet signature by analysing the T-C trends in the remarkable binary system HD 196067-HD 196068. At the moment, only HD 196067 is known to host a planet that is near the brown dwarf regime. We take advantage of the strong physical similarity between both stars, which is crucial to achieving the highest possible precision in stellar parameters and elemental chemical abundances. This system gives us a unique opportunity to explore whether a possible depletion of refractories in a binary system could be inhibited by the presence of a massive planet. We performed a line-by-line chemical differential study, employing the non-solar-scaled opacities, in order to reach the highest precision in the calculations. After differentially comparing both stars, HD 196067 displays a clear deficiency in refractory elements in the T-C plane, a lower iron content (0.051 dex), and also a lower Li I content (0.14 dex) than its companion. In addition, the differential abundances reveal a T-C trend. These targets represent the first cases of an abundance difference around a binary system hosting a super-Jupiter. Although we explored several scenarios to explain the chemical anomalies, none of them can be entirely ruled out. Additional monitoring of the system as well as studies of larger sample of wide binary systems hosting massive planets are needed to better understand the chemical abundance trend observed in HD 196067-68.
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Abstract
It has been suggested that beta Pic b has a supersolar metallicity and subsolar C/O ratio. Assuming solar carbon and oxygen abundances for the star beta Pic and therefore the planet's parent protoplanetary disk, beta Pic b's C/O ratio suggests that it formed via core accretion between its parent protoplanetary disk's H2O and CO2 ice lines. However, beta Pic b's high metallicity is difficult to reconcile with its mass M-p = 11.7 M-Jup. Massive stars can present peculiar photospheric abundances that are unlikely to record the abundances of their former protoplanetary disks. This issue can be overcome for early-type stars in moving groups by inferring the elemental abundances of the FGK stars in the same moving group that formed in the same molecular cloud and presumably share the same composition. We infer the photospheric abundances of the F dwarf HD 181327, a beta Pic moving group member that is the best available proxy for the composition of beta Pic b's parent protoplanetary disk. In parallel, we infer updated atmospheric abundances for beta Pic b. As expected for a planet of its mass formed via core-accretion beyond its parent protoplanetary disk's H2O ice line, we find that beta Pic b's atmosphere is consistent with stellar metallicity and confirm that it has superstellar carbon and oxygen abundances with a substellar C/O ratio. We propose that the elemental abundances of FGK dwarfs in moving groups can be used as proxies for the otherwise difficult-to-infer elemental abundances of early-type and late-type members of the same moving groups.
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