Abstract
Barnard’s star is among the most studied stars given its proximity to the Sun. It is often considered the radial velocity (RV) standard for fully convective stars due to its RV stability and ...equatorial decl. Recently, an
M
sin
i
=
3.3
M
⊕
super-Earth planet candidate with a 233 day orbital period was announced by Ribas et al. New observations from the near-infrared Habitable-zone Planet Finder (HPF) Doppler spectrometer do not show this planetary signal. We ran a suite of experiments on both the original data and a combined original + HPF data set. These experiments include model comparisons, periodogram analyses, and sampling sensitivity, all of which show the signal at the proposed period of 233 days is transitory in nature. The power in the signal is largely contained within 211 RVs that were taken within a 1000 day span of observing. Our preferred model of the system is one that features stellar activity without a planet. We propose that the candidate planetary signal is an alias of the 145 day rotation period. This result highlights the challenge of analyzing long-term, quasi-periodic activity signals over multiyear and multi-instrument observing campaigns.
Abstract
Mass, radius, and age measurements of young (≲100 Myr) planets have the power to shape our understanding of planet formation. However, young stars tend to be extremely variable in both ...photometry and radial velocity (RV) measurements, which makes constraining these properties challenging. The V1298 Tau system of four ∼0.5
R
J
planets transiting a pre-main-sequence star presents an important, if stress-inducing, opportunity to observe and measure directly the properties of infant planets. Suárez Mascareño et al. published radial-velocity-derived masses for two of the V1298 Tau planets using a state-of-the-art Gaussian process regression framework. The planetary densities computed from these masses were surprisingly high, implying extremely rapid contraction after formation in tension with most existing planet-formation theories. In an effort to constrain further the masses of the V1298 Tau planets, we obtained 36 RVs using Keck/HIRES, and analyzed them in concert with published RVs and photometry. Through performing a suite of cross-validation tests, we found evidence that the preferred model of Suárez Mascareño et al. suffers from overfitting, defined as the inability to predict unseen data, rendering the masses unreliable. We detail several potential causes of this overfitting, many of which may be important for other RV analyses of other active stars, and recommend that additional time and resources be allocated to understanding and mitigating activity in active young stars such as V1298 Tau.
Abstract
We confirm the planetary nature of TOI-532b, using a combination of precise near-infrared radial velocities with the Habitable-zone Planet Finder, Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite ...(TESS) light curves, ground-based photometric follow up, and high-contrast imaging. TOI-532 is a faint (
J
∼ 11.5) metal-rich M dwarf with T
eff
= 3957 ± 69 K and Fe/H = 0.38 ± 0.04; it hosts a transiting gaseous planet with a period of ∼2.3 days. Joint fitting of the radial velocities with the TESS and ground-based transits reveal a planet with radius of 5.82 ± 0.19
R
⊕
, and a mass of
61.5
−
9.3
+
9.7
M
⊕
. TOI-532b is the largest and most massive super Neptune detected around an M dwarf with both mass and radius measurements, and it bridges the gap between the Neptune-sized planets and the heavier Jovian planets known to orbit M dwarfs. It also follows the previously noted trend between gas giants and host-star metallicity for M-dwarf planets. In addition, it is situated at the edge of the Neptune desert in the Radius–Insolation plane, helping place constraints on the mechanisms responsible for sculpting this region of planetary parameter space.
Abstract In order to understand the relationship between planet multiplicity, mass, and composition, we present newly measured masses of five planets in two planetary systems: Kepler-323 and ...Kepler-104. We used the HIRES instrument at the W.M. Keck Observatory to collect 79 new radial velocity (RV) measurements for Kepler-323, which we combined with 48 literature RVs from TNG/HARPS-N. We also conducted a reanalysis of the Kepler-104 system, using 44 previously published RV measurements. Kepler-323 b and c have masses of 2.0 − 1.1 + 1.2 M ⊕ and 6.5±1.6 M ⊕ , respectively, whereas the three Kepler-104 planets are more massive (10.0±2.8 M ⊕ , 7.1 − 3.5 + 3.8 M ⊕ , and 5.5 − 3.5 + 4.6 M ⊕ for planets b, c, and d, respectively). The Kepler-104 planets have densities consistent with rocky cores overlaid with gaseous envelopes ( 4.1 − 1.1 + 1.2 g cc −1 , 2.9 − 1.5 + 1.7 g cc −1 , and 1.6 − 1.1 + 1.5 g cc −1 respectively), whereas the Kepler-323 planets are consistent with having rocky compositions ( 4.5 − 2.4 + 2.8 g cc −1 and 9.9 − 2.5 + 2.7 g cc −1 ). The Kepler-104 system has among the lowest values for gap complexity ( C = 0.004) and mass partitioning ( Q = 0.03); whereas, the Kepler-323 planets have a mass partitioning similar to that of the Inner Solar System ( Q = 0.28 and Q = 0.24, respectively). For both exoplanet systems, the uncertainty in the mass partitioning is affected equally by (1) individual mass errors of the planets and (2) the possible existence of undetected low-mass planets, meaning that both improved mass characterization and improved sensitivity to low-mass planets in these systems would better elucidate the mass distribution among the planets.
Abstract
We measured the Rossiter–McLaughlin effect of WASP-107b during a single transit with Keck/HIRES. We found the sky-projected inclination of WASP-107b’s orbit, relative to its host star’s ...rotation axis, to be
degrees. This confirms the misaligned/polar orbit that was previously suggested from spot-crossing events and adds WASP-107b to the growing population of hot Neptunes in polar orbits around cool stars. WASP-107b is also the fourth such planet to have a known distant planetary companion. We examined several dynamical pathways by which this companion could have induced such an obliquity in WASP-107b. We find that nodal precession and disk dispersal-driven tilting can both explain the current orbital geometry while Kozai–Lidov cycles are suppressed by general relativity. While each hypothesis requires a mutual inclination between the two planets, nodal precession requires a much larger angle, which for WASP-107 is on the threshold of detectability with future Gaia astrometric data. As nodal precession has no stellar type dependence, but disk dispersal-driven tilting does, distinguishing between these two models is best done on the population level. Finding and characterizing more extrasolar systems like WASP-107 will additionally help distinguish whether the distribution of hot-Neptune obliquities is a dichotomy of aligned and polar orbits or if we are uniformly sampling obliquities during nodal precession cycles.
Abstract
TOI-561 is a galactic thick-disk star hosting an ultra-short-period (0.45-day-orbit) planet with a radius of 1.37
R
⊕
, making it one of the most metal-poor (Fe/H = −0.41) and oldest (≈10 ...Gyr) sites where an Earth-sized planet has been found. We present new simultaneous radial velocity (RV) measurements from Gemini-N/MAROON-X and Keck/HIRES, which we combined with literature RVs to derive a mass of
M
b
= 2.24 ± 0.20
M
⊕
. We also used two new sectors of TESS photometry to improve the radius determination, finding
R
b
= 1.37 ± 0.04
R
⊕
and confirming that TOI-561 b is one of the lowest-density super-Earths measured to date (
ρ
b
= 4.8 ± 0.5 g cm
−3
). This density is consistent with an iron-poor rocky composition reflective of the host star’s iron and rock-building element abundances; however, it is also consistent with a low-density planet with a volatile envelope. The equilibrium temperature of the planet (∼2300 K) suggests that this envelope would likely be composed of high mean molecular weight species, such as water vapor, carbon dioxide, or silicate vapor, and is likely not primordial. We also demonstrate that the composition determination is sensitive to the choice of stellar parameters and that further measurements are needed to determine whether TOI-561 b is a bare rocky planet, a rocky planet with an optically thin atmosphere, or a rare example of a nonprimordial envelope on a planet with a radius smaller than 1.5
R
⊕
.
Abstract The distribution of stellar obliquities provides critical insight into the formation and evolution pathways of exoplanets. In the past decade, it was found that hot stars hosting hot ...Jupiters are more likely to have high obliquities than cool stars, but it is not clear whether this trend exists only for hot Jupiters or holds for other types of planets. In this work, we extend the study of the obliquities of hot (6250–7000 K) stars with transiting super-Earth-sized and sub-Neptune-sized planets. We constrain the obliquity distribution based on measurements of the stars’ projected rotation velocities. Our sample consists of 170 TESS and Kepler planet-hosting stars and 180 control stars chosen to have indistinguishable spectroscopic characteristics. In our analysis, we find evidence suggesting that the planet hosts have a systematically higher 〈 sin i 〉 compared to the control sample. This result implies that the planet hosts tend to have lower obliquities. However, the observed difference in 〈 sin i 〉 is not significant enough to confirm spin–orbit alignment as it is 3.8 σ away from perfect alignment. We also find evidence that within the planet-hosting stars there is a trend of higher obliquity (lower 〈 sin i 〉 ) for the hotter stars ( T eff > 6250 K) than for the cooler stars in the sample. This suggests that hot stars hosting smaller planets exhibit a broader obliquity distribution ( 〈 sin i 〉 = 0.79 ± 0.053 ) than cooler planet-hosting stars, indicating that high obliquities are not exclusive to hot Jupiters and instead are more broadly tied to hot stars.
Abstract
We confirm the planetary nature of two gas giants discovered by TESS to transit M dwarfs with stellar companions at wide separations. TOI-3984 A (
J
= 11.93) is an M4 dwarf hosting a ...short-period (4.353326 ± 0.000005 days) gas giant (
M
p
= 0.14 ± 0.03
M
J
and
R
p
= 0.71 ± 0.02
R
J
) with a wide-separation white dwarf companion. TOI-5293 A (
J
= 12.47) is an M3 dwarf hosting a short-period (2.930289 ± 0.000004 days) gas giant (
M
p
= 0.54 ± 0.07
M
J
and
R
p
= 1.06 ± 0.04
R
J
) with a wide-separation M dwarf companion. We characterize both systems using a combination of ground- and space-based photometry, speckle imaging, and high-precision radial velocities from the Habitable-zone Planet Finder and NEID spectrographs. TOI-3984 A b (
T
eq
= 563 ± 15 K and
TSM
=
138
−
27
+
29
) and TOI-5293 A b (
T
eq
=
675
−
30
+
42
K and TSM = 92 ± 14) are two of the coolest gas giants among the population of hot Jupiter–sized gas planets orbiting M dwarfs and are favorable targets for atmospheric characterization of temperate gas giants and 3D obliquity measurements to probe system architecture and migration scenarios.
Abstract
Despite the importance of Jupiter and Saturn to Earth’s formation and habitability, there has not yet been a comprehensive observational study of how giant exoplanets correlate with the ...architectural properties of close-in, sub-Neptune-sized exoplanets. This is largely because transit surveys are particularly insensitive to planets at orbital separations ≳1 au, and so their census of Jupiter-like planets is incomplete, inhibiting our study of the relationship between Jupiter-like planets and the small planets that do transit. To investigate the relationship between close-in, small and distant, giant planets, we conducted the Kepler Giant Planet Survey (KGPS). Using the W. M. Keck Observatory High Resolution Echelle Spectrometer, we spent over a decade collecting 2844 radial velocities (RVs; 2167 of which are presented here for the first time) of 63 Sunlike stars that host 157 transiting planets. We had no prior knowledge of which systems would contain giant planets beyond 1 au, making this survey unbiased with respect to previously detected Jovians. We announce RV-detected companions to 20 stars from our sample. These include 13 Jovians (
0.3
M
J
<
M
sin
i
<
13
M
J
, 1 au <
a
< 10 au), eight nontransiting sub-Saturns, and three stellar-mass companions. We also present updated masses and densities of 84 transiting planets. The KGPS project leverages one of the longest-running and most data-rich collections of RVs of the NASA Kepler systems yet, and it will provide a basis for addressing whether giant planets help or hinder the growth of sub-Neptune-sized and terrestrial planets. Future KGPS papers will examine the relationship between small, transiting planets and their long-period companions.
Abstract
An intriguing pattern among exoplanets is the lack of detected planets between approximately 1.5
R
⊕
and 2.0
R
⊕
. One proposed explanation for this “radius gap” is the photoevaporation of ...planetary atmospheres, a theory that can be tested by studying individual planetary systems. Kepler-105 is an ideal system for such testing due to the ordering and sizes of its planets. Kepler-105 is a Sun-like star that hosts two planets straddling the radius gap in a rare architecture with the larger planet closer to the host star (
R
b
= 2.53 ± 0.07
R
⊕
,
P
b
= 5.41 days,
R
c
= 1.44 ± 0.04
R
⊕
,
P
c
= 7.13 days). If photoevaporation sculpted the atmospheres of these planets, then Kepler-105b would need to be much more massive than Kepler-105c to retain its atmosphere, given its closer proximity to the host star. To test this hypothesis, we simultaneously analyzed radial velocities and transit-timing variations of the Kepler-105 system, measuring disparate masses of
M
b
= 10.8 ± 2.3
M
⊕
(
ρ
b
= 3.68 ± 0.84 g cm
−3
) and
M
c
= 5.6 ± 1.2
M
⊕
(
ρ
c
= 10.4 ± 2.39 g cm
−3
). Based on these masses, the difference in gas envelope content of the Kepler-105 planets could be entirely due to photoevaporation (in 76% of scenarios), although other mechanisms like core-powered mass loss could have played a role for some planet albedos.
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