Aims. Most hot Jupiters are expected to spiral in toward their host stars because the angular momentum of the orbital motion is transferred to the stellar spin. Their orbits can also precess as a ...result of planet-star interactions. Calculations show that both effects might be detected for the very-hot exoplanet WASP-12 b using the method of precise transit-timing over a time span of about 10 yr. Methods. We acquired new precise light curves for 29 transits of WASP-12 b, spannning four observing seasons from November 2012 to February 2016. New mid-transit times, together with those from the literature, were used to refine the transit ephemeris and analyze the timing residuals. Results. We find that the transit times of WASP-12 b do not follow a linear ephemeris with a 5σ confidence level. They may be approximated with a quadratic ephemeris that gives a change rate in the orbital period of (−2.56 ± 0.40) × 10-2 s yr-1. The tidal quality parameter of the host star was found to be equal to 2.5 × 105, which is similar to theoretical predictions for Sun-like stars. We also considered a model in which the observed timing residuals are interpreted as a result of the apsidal precession. We find, however, that this model is statistically less probable than the orbital decay.
Simulations predict that hot super-Earth sized exoplanets can have their envelopes stripped by photoevaporation, which would present itself as a lack of these exoplanets. However, this absence in the ...exoplanet population has escaped a firm detection. Here we demonstrate, using asteroseismology on a sample of exoplanets and exoplanet candidates observed during the Kepler mission that, while there is an abundance of super-Earth sized exoplanets with low incident fluxes, none are found with high incident fluxes. We do not find any exoplanets with radii between 2.2 and 3.8 Earth radii with incident flux above 650 times the incident flux on Earth. This gap in the population of exoplanets is explained by evaporation of volatile elements and thus supports the predictions. The confirmation of a hot-super-Earth desert caused by evaporation will add an important constraint on simulations of planetary systems, since they must be able to reproduce the dearth of close-in super-Earths.
Context. Transit or eclipse timing variations have proven to be a valuable tool in exoplanet research. However, no simple way to estimate the potential precision of such timing measures has been ...presented yet, nor are guidelines available regarding the relation between timing errors and sampling rate. Aims. A timing error estimator (TEE) equation is presented that requires only basic transit parameters as input. With the TEE, estimating timing precision for actual data and for future instruments, such as the TESS and PLATO space missions, is straightforward. Methods. A derivation of the timing error based on a trapezoidal transit shape is given. We also verify the TEE on realistically modelled transits using Monte Carlo simulations and determine its validity range, exploring in particular the interplay between ingress/egress times and sampling rates. Results. The simulations show that the TEE gives timing errors very close to the correct value, as long as the temporal sampling is faster than transit ingress/egress durations and transits with very low S/N are avoided. Conclusions. The TEE is a useful tool for estimating eclipse or transit timing errors in actual and future data sets. In combination with a previously published equation to estimate period-errors, predictions for the ephemeris precision of long-coverage observations are possible as well. The tests for the TEE’s validity range also led to implications for instrumental design. Temporal sampling has to be faster than transit ingress or egress durations, or a loss in timing precision will occur. An application to the TESS mission shows that transits close to its detection limit will have timing uncertainties that exceed 1 h within a few months of their acquisition. Prompt follow-up observations will be needed to avoid “losing” their ephemerides.
Context. The TESS and PLATO missions are expected to find vast numbers of new transiting planet candidates. However, only a fraction of these candidates will be legitimate planets, and the candidate ...validation will require a significant amount of follow-up resources. Radial velocity (RV) follow-up study can be carried out only for the most promising candidates around bright, slowly rotating, stars. Thus, before devoting RV resources to candidates, they need to be vetted using cheaper methods, and, in the cases for which an RV confirmation is not feasible, the candidate’s true nature needs to be determined based on these alternative methods alone. Aims. We study the applicability of multicolour transit photometry in the validation of transiting planet candidates when the candidate signal arises from a real astrophysical source (transiting planet, eclipsing binary, etc.), and not from an instrumental artefact. Particularly, we aim to answer how securely we can estimate the true uncontaminated star-planet radius ratio when the light curve may contain contamination from unresolved light sources inside the photometry aperture when combining multicolour transit observations with a physics-based contamination model in a Bayesian parameter estimation setting. More generally, we study how the contamination level, colour differences between the planet host and contaminant stars, transit signal-to-noise ratio, and available prior information affect the contamination and true radius ratio estimates. Methods. The study is based on simulations and ground-based multicolour transit observations. The contamination analyses were carried out with a contamination model integrated into the PYTRANSIT v2 transit modelling package, and the observations were carried out with the MuSCAT2 multicolour imager installed in the 1.5 m Telescopio Carlos Sanchez in the Teide Observatory, in Tenerife. Results. We show that multicolour transit photometry can be used to estimate the amount of flux contamination and the true radius ratio. Combining the true radius ratio with an estimate for the stellar radius yields the true absolute radius of the transiting object, which is a valuable quantity in statistical candidate validation, and enough in itself to validate a candidate whose radius falls below the theoretical lower limit for a brown dwarf.
Aims. The standard method of searching parameter space for transits is ill-suited to data sets with long time baselines and poor temporal coverage, such as that anticipated from Gaia. In this paper, ...we present an alternative method for identifying transit candidates is such data, one focusing on finding periodicity in high S/N outliers. Methods. We describe a technique for testing a small number of flux measurements for periodicity and consistency with an origin in a transit with a constant change in flux and test their performance with Monte Carlo simulations. To complement this, we also include a description of a statistical method to analyze the distribution of these measurements to determine if they are normally distributed around a constant, reduce flux consistent with a planetary transits. Results. Large numbers of light curves can be quickly scanned for transit signatures with minimal loss in effectiveness for data sets with long time baselines and poor temporal coverage, where one observation per transit is the norm by testing for periodicity and analyzing their distribution. Conclusions. If the noise characteristics of the data set and the intrinsic noise of the individual stars are understood, this method focusing on statistical outliers is nearly equivalent to the standard method of scanning parameter space and significantly faster, if the signal ≫ noise, the individual transits are sampled no more than once and a periodicity test is employed. Moreover, the test for a transit origin can eliminate additional false positives.
We confirm the Kepler planet candidate Kepler-410A b (KOI-42b) as a Neptune-sized exoplanet on a 17.8 day, eccentric orbit around the bright (K sub(p) = 9.4) star Kepler-410A (KOI-42A). This is the ...third brightest confirmed planet host star in the Kepler field and one of the brightest hosts of all currently known transiting exoplanets. Kepler-410 consists of a blend between the fast rotating planet host star (Kepler-410A) and a fainter star (Kepler-410B), which has complicated the confirmation of the planetary candidate. Employing asteroseismology, using constraints from the transit light curve, adaptive optics and speckle images, and Spitzer transit observations, we demonstrate that the candidate can only be an exoplanet orbiting Kepler-410A. We determine via asteroseismology the following stellar and planetary parameters with high precision; M sub(*) = 1.214 + or - 0.033 M sub(middot in circle), R sub(*) = 1.352 + or - 0.010 R sub(middot in circle), age = 2.76 + or - 0.54 Gyr, planetary radius (2.838 + or - 0.054 R sub(+ in circle)), and orbital eccentricity (0.17 super(+0.07) sub(-0.06)). In addition, rotational splitting of the pulsation modes allows for a measurement of Kepler-410A's inclination and rotation rate. Our measurement of an inclination of 82.5 super(+7.5) sub(-2.5)degrees indicates a low obliquity in this system. Transit timing variations indicate the presence of at least one additional (non-transiting) planet (Kepler-410A c) in the system.
The radial velocity technique is currently used to classify transiting objects. While capable of identifying grazing binary eclipses, this technique cannot reliably identify blends, a chance overlap ...of a faint background eclipsing binary with an ordinary foreground star. Blends generally have no observable radial velocity shifts, as the foreground star is brighter by several magnitudes and therefore dominates the spectrum, but their combined light can produce events that closely resemble those produced by transiting exoplanets. The radial velocity technique takes advantage of the mass difference between planets and stars to classify exoplanet candidates. However, the existence of blends renders this difference an unreliable discriminator. Another difference must therefore be utilized for this classification – the physical size of the transiting body. Due to the dependence of limb darkening on color, planets and stars produce subtly different transit shapes. These differences can be relatively weak, little more than 1/10th the transit depth. However, the presence of even small color differences between the individual components of the blend increases this difference. This paper shows that this color difference is capable of discriminating between exoplanets and blends reliably, theoretically capable of classifying even terrestrial-class transits, unlike the radial velocity technique.
In Tingley (CITE), all available transit detection algorithms were compared in a simple, rigorous test. However, the implementation of the Box-fitting Least Squares (BLS) approach of Kovács et al. ...(CITE) used in that paper was not ideal for those purposes. This letter revisits the comparison, using a version of the BLS better suited to the task at hand and made more efficient via the knowledge gained from the previous work. Multiple variations of the BLS and the matched filter are tested. Some of the modifications improve performance to such an extent that the conclusions of the original paper must be revised.
Aims. We announce confirmation of Kepler-418b, one of two proposed planets in this system. This is the first confirmation of an exoplanet based primarily on the transit color signature technique. ...Methods. We used the Kepler public data archive combined with multicolor photometry from the Gran Telescopio de Canarias and radial velocity follow-up using FIES at the Nordic Optical Telescope for confirmation. Results. We report a confident detection of a transit color signature that can only be explained by a compact occulting body, entirely ruling out a contaminating eclipsing binary, a hierarchical triple, or a grazing eclipsing binary. Those findings are corroborated by our radial velocity measurements, which put an upper limit of ~1 MJup on the mass of Kepler-418b. We also report that the host star is significantly blended, confirming the ~10% light contamination suspected from the crowding metric in the Kepler light curve measured by the Kepler team. We report detection of an unresolved light source that contributes an additional ~30% to the target star, which would not have been detected without multicolor photometric analysis. The resulting planet-star radius ratio is 0.110 ± 0.0025, more than 25% more than the 0.087 measured by Kepler leading to a radius of 1.20 ± 0.16 RJup instead of the 0.94 RJup measured by the Kepler team. Conclusions. This is the first confirmation of an exoplanet candidate based primarily on the transit color signature, demonstrating that this technique is viable from ground for giant planets. It is particularly useful for planets with long periods such as Kepler-418b, which tend to have long transit durations. While this technique is limited to candidates with deep transits from the ground, it may be possible to confirm earth-like exoplanet candidates with a few hours of observing time with an instrument like the James Webb Space Telescope. Additionally, multicolor photometric analysis of transits can reveal unknown stellar neighbors and binary companions that do not affect the classification of the transiting object but can have a very significant effect on the perceived planetary radius.
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