NPOI Observations of the Exoplanet Host kappa Coronae Borealis and Their Implications for the Star's and Planet's Masses and Ages

Abstract

We used the Navy Precision Optical Interferometer to measure the limb-darkened angular diameter of the exoplanet host star kappa CrB and obtained a value of 1.543 +/- 0.009 mas. We calculated its physical radius (5.06 +/- 0.04 R_Sun) and used photometric measurements from the literature with our diameter to determine kappa CrB's effective temperature (4788 +/- 17 K) and luminosity (12.13 +/- 0.09 L_Sun). We then placed the star on an H-R diagram to ascertain the star's age (3.42 +0.32/-0.25 Gyr) and mass (1.47 +/- 0.04 M_Sun) using a metallicity of [Fe/H] = +0.15. With this mass, we calculated the system's mass function with the orbital elements from a variety of sources, which produced a range of planetary masses: m_p sin i = 1.61 to 1.88 M_Jup. We also updated the extent of the habitable zone for the system using our new temperature.

13 pages, 2 figures, 2 tables; accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journal Letters