Detection of the ellipsoidal and the relativistic beaming effects in the CoRoT-3 lightcurve

TL;DR

This paper detects and analyzes the ellipsoidal and relativistic beaming effects in the lightcurve of CoRoT-3b, providing observational evidence of these phenomena in a massive exoplanet/brown dwarf system.

Contribution

It presents the first detection of both ellipsoidal and relativistic beaming effects in the CoRoT-3 lightcurve, confirming theoretical predictions.

Findings

Detected ellipsoidal modulation with 59+/-9 ppm amplitude

Detected relativistic beaming with 27+/-9 ppm amplitude

Observed phases and amplitudes match theoretical models

Abstract

CoRoT-3b is a 22 Jupiter-mass massive-planet/brown-dwarf object, orbiting an F3-star with a period of 4.3 days. We analyzed the out-of-transit CoRoT-3 red-channel lightcurve obtained by the CoRoT mission and detected the ellipsoidal modulation, with half the orbital period and amplitude of 59+/-9 ppm (parts per million) and the relativistic beaming effect, with the orbital period and an amplitude of 27+/-9 ppm. Phases and amplitudes of both modulations were consistent with our theoretical approximation.