Identification and Removal of Noise Modes in Kepler Photometry

We present the transiting exoearth robust reduction algorithm (TERRA)-a novel framework for identifying and removing instrumental noise in Kepler photometry. We identify instrumental noise modes by finding common trends in a large ensemble of light curves drawn from the entire Kepler field of view. Strategically, these noise modes can be optimized to reveal transits having a specified range of timescales. For Kepler target stars of low photometric noise, TERRA produces ensemble-calibrated photometry having 33 ppm rms scatter in 12 hr bins, rendering individual transits of Earth-size planets around Sun-like stars detectable as similar to 3 sigma signals.