Abstract:
This study searches Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) light curves for periodic photometric variability among kinematically selected nearby high-velocity dwarfs. Space motions recomputed from the Gaia Catalogue of Nearby Stars (GCNS) and Gaia DR3 yield a parent sample of 182 dwarf candidates with total velocity relative to the local standard of rest vLSR ≥ 180 km s-1. A brightness-prioritised archive search of the 100 brightest candidates provides usable TESS data for a 98-target subsample, to which all detection yields refer. Lomb-Scargle periodograms over 0.1-13 d are evaluated for 227 sector light curves after screening signals near the search boundaries and the harmonics of the spacecraft orbital period. Fourteen targets show consistent periods in multiple sectors and form the primary candidate tier; ten further targets with strong single-sector signals form a secondary, less confirmed tier. Candidate periods range from 1.668 to 8.600 d and are reported as periodic photometric variability rather than as confirmed rotation periods. Only one primary candidate has a period shorter than 2 d; its TESS aperture also contains a GCNS-bound companion at 2.76 arcsec, and the system is flagged for resolved follow-up. No significant correlations are found between period and LSR velocity, Gaia colour, or absolute G magnitude, and an exploratory test of a catalogue multiplicity indicator shows no statistically significant association with period detection (odds ratio 2.41; Fisher p=0.189). An indicative injection-recovery test on eight representative light curves shows high sensitivity to the tested short-period signals at a semi-amplitude of about 0.03 per cent, with marked incompleteness below 0.01 per cent. Period consistency, alias rejection, and the sensitivity test together define a compact candidate catalogue for high-spatial-resolution photometric and spectroscopic follow-up.
Full text version of this article in
PDF.
; Huang, G.
