Abstract
This chapter describes briefly the key aspects behind the derivation of precise radial velocities. I start by defining radial velocity precision in the context of astrophysics in general and exoplanet searches in particular. Next I discuss the different basic elements that constitute a spectrograph, and how these elements and overall technical choices impact on the derived radial velocity precision. Then I go on to discuss the different wavelength calibration and radial velocity calculation techniques, and how these are intimately related to the spectrograph’s properties. I conclude by presenting some interesting examples of planets detected through radial velocity, and some of the new-generation instruments that will push the precision limit further.
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Notes
- 1.
Which can be found, e.g., at http://optics.hanyang.ac.kr/~shsong/Grating%20handbook.pdf.
- 2.
Importantly, spectrographs with variable slit width separate the transmission of the spectrograph into transmission of the spectrograph × transmission of the slit, and detail the transmission of the latter as a function of its (tunable) properties.
- 3.
This error can be represented as a function of pixel i, becoming σ i and even characterize other sources of error, without loss of generality.
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Acknowledgements
I acknowledge support by Fundaçãdo para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT) through Investigador FCT contract of reference IF/01037/2013/CP1191/CT0001, and POPH/FSE (EC) by FEDER funding through the program “Programa Operacional de Factores de Competitividade - COMPETE”. I further acknowledge support from FCT in the form of an exploratory project of reference also IF/01037/2013/CP1191/CT0001. I acknowledge Peter Sport Café for showing me what a good gin tonic tastes like, and Mário João Monteiro, Mahmoudreza Oshagh and Vardan Adibekyan for reminding me that good science requires good statistics.
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Figueira, P. (2018). Deriving High-Precision Radial Velocities. In: Campante, T., Santos, N., Monteiro, M. (eds) Asteroseismology and Exoplanets: Listening to the Stars and Searching for New Worlds. Astrophysics and Space Science Proceedings, vol 49. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-59315-9_10
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