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Abstract
The search for terrestrial-mass extra-solar planets using radial velocities is currently struggling to see through the “fog” of stellar variability that overwhelms and mimics the periodic Doppler signals from small planets. In this thesis, two new analysis methodologies are proposed to disentangle planetary Doppler signals from stellar jitter.
FourIEr phase SpecTrum Analysis (FIESTA) explores the variability of spectral line profiles in Fourier space. It seeks to measure line deformation in the language of “shifts” of the Fourier basis functions, resulting in measurable corrections for the impact of stellar jitter.
The Gauss-Hermite functions provide an alternate orthogonal decomposition of spectral line profiles. The even and odd components of Gauss-Hermite decompositions can be used to track periodicities associated with both planetary Doppler shifts and stellar variability, and extract both planetary and activity-induced (i.e. linked to stellar rotation period) periodicities.