Are we far from testing general relativity with the transitting extrasolar planet HD 209458b ‘Osiris’?
✍ Scribed by L. Iorio
- Publisher
- Elsevier Science
- Year
- 2006
- Tongue
- English
- Weight
- 141 KB
- Volume
- 11
- Category
- Article
- ISSN
- 1384-1076
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✦ Synopsis
In this paper, we investigate the possibility of measuring the general relativistic gravitoelectric correction P (GE) to the orbital period P of the transitting exoplanet HD 209458b 'Osiris'. It turns out that the predicted magnitude of such an effect is $0.1 s, while the most recent determinations of the orbital period of HD 209458b with the photometric transit method are accurate to $0.01 s. It turns out that the major limiting factor is the error in the measurement of the projected semiamplitude of the star's radial velocity K M . Indeed, it affects the determination of the mass m of the planet which, in turn, induces a systematic error in the Keplerian period P (0) of $8 s. However, the present situation may change if future 1-2 orders of magnitude improvements in the Doppler spectroscopy technique will occur.