Periodic Halpha variations in GL 581: Further evidence for an activity origin to GL 581d

TL;DR

This study analyzes Halpha activity variations in GL 581 and finds they are correlated with radial velocity signals at the planet's orbital period, suggesting stellar activity, not a planet, causes the observed signals.

Contribution

It provides a detailed Fourier analysis of Halpha variations, demonstrating that stellar activity explains the radial velocity signals previously attributed to GL 581d.

Findings

Halpha variations are in phase opposition with radial velocity signals.

No significant change in amplitude ratio over time.

Stellar activity likely mimics planetary signals.

Abstract

Radial velocity measurements showed evidence that the M dwarf GL 581 might host a planet, GL 581d, in the so-called "habitable zone" of the star. A study of Halpha in GL 581 demonstrated that changes in this activity indicator correlated with radial velocity variations attributed to GL 581d. An exopplanet that was important for studies of planet habitability may be an artifact of stellar activity. Previous investigations analyzing the same activity data have reached different conclusions regarding the existence of GL 581d. We therfore investigated the Halpha variations for GL 581 to assess the nature of the radial velocity variations attributed to the possible planet GL 581d. We performed a Fourier analysis of the published Halpha measurements for GL 581d using a so-called pre-whitening process to isolate the variations at the orbital frequency of GL 581d. The frequency analysis yields five significant frequencies, one of which is associated with the 66.7 d orbital period of the presumed planet Gl 581d. The Halpha variations at this period show sine-like variations that are 180 degrees out-of-phase with the radial velocity variations of GL 581d. This is seen in thefull data set that spans almost 7 years, as well as a subset of the data that had good temporal sampling over 230 days. Furthermore, No significant temporal variations are found in the ratio of the amplitudes of the Halpha index and radial velocity variations. This provides additional evidence that the radial velocity signal attributed to GL 581d is in fact due to stellar activity.