Definition
The Rossiter-McLaughlin (RM) effect is a spectroscopic effect that occurs in a stellar system with a transiting planet. In such a system, in addition to the photometric effect of the transiting planet which manifests itself as a decrease in the flux received from the star, the obscuration of the disk of the star during the transit causes changes in the disk-integrated spectrum of the star known as the Rossiter-McLaughlin (RM) effect. As a star rotates, the portion of its disk that approaches the observer will have its spectrum Doppler shiftedto shorter wavelengths (to the blue), whereas the portion that rotates away from the observer will be red shifted. When a planet transits the star, its passage in front of the star’s disk disturbs the abovementioned star’s rotational Doppler shift. When the planet blocks the blue-shifted part, the spectrum appears slightly red shifted. The situation is reversed when the planet covers a portion of the red-shifted segment of the stellar...
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References and Further Reading
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Haghighipour, N. (2015). Rossiter-McLaughlin Effect. In: Gargaud, M., et al. Encyclopedia of Astrobiology. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-44185-5_5308
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