Modeling Multi-Wavelength Stellar Astrometry. II. Determining Absolute Inclinations, Gravity Darkening Coefficients, and Spot Parameters of Single Stars with SIM Lite

TL;DR

This paper introduces a new multi-wavelength astrometric technique using SIM Lite to measure stellar inclinations, gravity darkening, and starspot parameters, enhancing stellar and exoplanet studies.

Contribution

The paper presents a novel method leveraging multi-wavelength astrometry to determine stellar inclinations, gravity darkening coefficients, and starspot characteristics with high precision.

Findings

Gravity darkening causes detectable wavelength-dependent astrometric shifts.

SIM Lite can measure starspot size, temperature, and position.

The technique improves calibration of stellar reference frames and exoplanet detection.

Abstract

We present a novel technique to determine the absolute inclination of single stars using multi-wavelength sub-milliarcsecond astrometry. The technique exploits the effect of gravity darkening, which causes a wavelength-dependent astrometric displacement parallel to a star's projected rotation axis. We find this effect is clearly detectable using SIM Lite for various giant stars and rapid rotators, and present detailed models for multiple systems using the REFLUX code. We also explore the multi-wavelength astrometric reflex motion induced by spots on single stars. We find that it should be possible to determine spot size, relative temperature, and some positional information for both giant and nearby main-sequence stars utilizing multi-wavelength SIM Lite data. This data will be extremely useful in stellar and exoplanet astrophysics, as well as supporting the primary SIM Lite mission through proper multi-wavelength calibration of the giant star astrometric reference frame, and reduction of noise introduced by starspots when searching for extrasolar planets.