* Astronomy

Title: Accounting for velocity jitters in planet search surveys
Authors: Roman V. Baluev

The role of radial velocity (RV) jitters in extrasolar planet search surveys is discussed. Based on the maximum-likelihood principle, improved statistical algorithms for RV fitting and period search are developed. These algorithms incorporate a built-in jitter determination, so that resulting estimations of planetary parameters account for this jitter automatically. This approach is applied to RV data for several extrasolar planetary systems. It is shown that many RV planet search surveys suffer from periodic systematic errors which increase effective RV jitters and can lead to erratious conclusions. For instance, the planet candidate HD74156 d may be a false detection made due to annual systematic errors.

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