Astrometric detectability of systems with unseen companions: effects of the Earth orbital motion

Abstract

Astrometric detection of an unseen companion is based on analysis of apparent motion of its host star around the system's barycentre. Systems with orbital period close to one year may escape detection if orbital motion of their host stars are observationally indistinguishable from parallax effect. Additionally, the astrometric solution may produce a biased parallax estimation for such systems. We examine effects of orbital motion of the Earth on astrometric detectability in terms of correlation between the Earth's orbital position and position of the star relative to its system barycentre. The $\chi^2$ statistic for parallax estimation is calculated analytically, leading to expressions that relate the decrease in detectability and accompanying parallax bias to the position correlation function. The impact of the Earth's motion critically depends on the exoplanet's orbital period, diminishing rapidly as the period deviates from one year. Selection effects against one-year period systems is therefore expected. Statistical estimation shows that the corresponding loss of sensitivity results in a typical 10 per cent increase in detection threshold. Consideration of eccentric orbits shows that the Earth's motion has no effect on detectability for $e\ge0.5$. Dependence of detectability on other parameters, such as orbital phases and inclination of the orbit plane to the ecliptic, are smooth and monotonic because they are described by simple trigonometric functions.