Repeatability and Accuracy of Exoplanet Eclipse Depths Measured with Post-Cryogenic Spitzer

TL;DR

This study evaluates the repeatability and accuracy of exoplanet eclipse depth measurements with Spitzer IRAC, demonstrating that current methods can achieve near photon-limited precision and reliably assess measurement errors.

Contribution

The paper compares seven noise removal techniques, showing that three methods achieve results within three times the photon noise limit and that most methods accurately estimate their errors.

Findings

Eclipse depth estimates are repeatable within 156 ppm across epochs.

Most techniques' error estimates match the scatter in measurements.

Three methods achieve results within three times the photon limit of the true eclipse depth.

Abstract

We examine the repeatability, reliability, and accuracy of differential exoplanet eclipse depth measurements made using the InfraRed Array Camera (IRAC) on the Spitzer Space Telescope during the post-cryogenic mission. We have re-analyzed an existing 4.5 {\mu}m data set, consisting of 10 observations of the XO-3b system during secondary eclipse, using seven different techniques for removing correlated noise. We find that, on average, for a given technique, the eclipse depth estimate is repeatable from epoch to epoch to within 156 parts per million (ppm). Most techniques derive eclipse depths that do not vary by more than a factor 3 of the photon noise limit. All methods but one accurately assess their own errors: for these methods, the individual measurement uncertainties are comparable to the scatter in eclipse depths over the 10 epoch sample. To assess the accuracy of the techniques as well as to clarify the difference between instrumental and other sources of measurement error, we have also analyzed a simulated data set of 10 visits to XO-3b, for which the eclipse depth is known. We find that three of the methods (BLISS mapping, Pixel Level Decorrelation, and Independent Component Analysis) obtain results that are within three times the photon limit of the true eclipse depth. When averaged over the 10 epoch ensemble, 5 out of 7 techniques come within 60 ppm of the true value. Spitzer exoplanet data, if obtained following current best practices and reduced using methods such as those described here, can measure repeatable and accurate single eclipse depths, with close to photon-limited results.