Many of the known hot Jupiters are formally unstable to tidal orbital decay. The only hot Jupiter for which orbital decay has been directly detected is WASP-12, for which transit-timing measurements ...spanning more than a decade have revealed that the orbital period is decreasing at a rate of , corresponding to a reduced tidal quality factor of about 2 × 105. Here, we present a compilation of transit-timing data for WASP-12 and 11 other systems that are especially favorable for detecting orbital decay: KELT-16; WASP-18, 19, 43, 72, 103, 114, and 122; HAT-P-23; HATS-18; and OGLE-TR-56. For most of these systems we present new data that extend the time baseline over which observations have been performed. None of the systems besides WASP-12 display convincing evidence for period changes, with typical upper limits on dP/dt on the order of 10−9 or 10−10, and lower limits on the reduced tidal quality factor on the order of 105. One possible exception is WASP-19, which shows a statistically significant trend, although it may be a spurious effect of starspot activity. Further observations are encouraged.
We compare the planet-to-star mass-ratio distribution measured by gravitational microlensing to core accretion theory predictions from population synthesis models. The core accretion theory's runaway ...gas accretion process predicts a dearth of intermediate-mass giant planets that is not seen in the microlensing results. In particular, the models predict ∼10 × fewer planets at mass ratios of than inferred from microlensing observations. This tension implies that gas giant formation may involve processes that have hitherto been overlooked by existing core accretion models or that the planet-forming environment varies considerably as a function of host-star mass. Variation from the usual assumptions for the protoplanetary disk viscosity and thickness could reduce this discrepancy, but such changes might conflict with microlensing results at larger or smaller mass ratios, or with other observations. The resolution of this discrepancy may have important implications for planetary habitability because it has been suggested that the runaway gas accretion process may have triggered the delivery of water to our inner solar system. So, an understanding of giant planet formation may help us to determine the occurrence rate of habitable planets.
Abstract
We investigate photometric variations due to stellar activity that induce systematic radial-velocity errors (so-called “jitter”) for the four targets in the Hyades open cluster observed by ...the K2 mission (EPIC 210721261, EPIC 210923016, EPIC 247122957, and EPIC 247783757). Applying Gaussian process regressions to the K2 light curves and the near-infrared (NIR) light curves observed with the IRSF 1.4 m telescope, we derive the wavelength dependences of the photometric signals due to stellar activity. To estimate the temporal variations in the photometric variability amplitudes between the two observation periods of K2 and IRSF, separated by more than 2 yr, we analyze a number of K2 targets in Hyades that have also been observed in Campaigns 4 and 13 and find a representative variation rate over 2 yr of 38% ± 71%. Taking this temporal variation into account, we constrain projected sizes and temperature contrast properties of the starspots in the stellar photosphere to be approximately 10% and 0.95%, respectively. These starspot properties can induce relatively large differences in the variability amplitude over different observational passbands, and we find that radial-velocity jitter may be more suppressed in the NIR than previously expected. Our result supports profits of ongoing exoplanet search projects that are attempting to detect or confirm young planets in open clusters via radial-velocity measurements in the NIR.
We present the detection and follow-up observations of planetary candidates around low-mass stars observed by the K2 mission. Based on light-curve analysis, adaptive-optics imaging, and optical ...spectroscopy at low and high resolution (including radial velocity measurements), we validate 16 planets around 12 low-mass stars observed during K2 campaigns 5-10. Among the 16 planets, 12 are newly validated, with orbital periods ranging from 0.96 to 33 days. For one of the planets (K2-151b), we present ground-based transit photometry, allowing us to refine the ephemerides. Combining our K2 M-dwarf planets together with the validated or confirmed planets found previously, we investigate the dependence of planet radius Rp on stellar insolation and metallicity Fe/H. We confirm that for periods P 2 days, planets with a radius are less common than planets with a radius between 1-2 R⊕. We also see a hint of the "radius valley" between 1.5 and 2 R⊕, which has been seen for close-in planets around FGK stars. These features in the radius/period distribution could be attributed to photoevaporation of planetary envelopes by high-energy photons from the host star, as they have for FGK stars. For the M dwarfs, though, the features are not as well defined, and we cannot rule out other explanations such as atmospheric loss from internal planetary heat sources or truncation of the protoplanetary disk. There also appears to be a relation between planet size and metallicity: the few planets larger than about 3 R⊕ are found around the most metal-rich M dwarfs.
ABSTRACT
We report the discovery of TOI-530b, a transiting Saturn-like planet around an M0.5V dwarf, delivered by the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS). The host star is located at a ...distance of 147.7 ± 0.6 pc with a radius of R* = 0.54 ± 0.03 R⊙ and a mass of M* = 0.53 ± 0.02 M⊙. We verify the planetary nature of the transit signals by combining ground-based multiwavelength photometry, high-resolution spectroscopy from SPIRou as well as high-angular-resolution imaging. With V = 15.4 mag, TOI-530b is orbiting one of the faintest stars accessible by ground-based spectroscopy. Our model reveals that TOI-530b has a radius of 0.83 ± 0.05 RJ and a mass of 0.37 ± 0.08 MJ on a 6.39-d orbit. TOI-530b is the sixth transiting giant planet hosted by an M-type star, which is predicted to be infrequent according to core accretion theory, making it a valuable object to further study the formation and migration history of similar planets. Furthermore, we identify a potential dearth of hot massive giant planets around M-dwarfs with separation distance smaller than 0.1 au and planet-to-star mass ratio between 2 × 10−3 and 10−2. We also find a possible correlation between hot giant planet formation and the metallicity of its parent M-dwarf. We discuss the potential formation channel of such systems.
Abstract
We present the first measurement of the mass function of free-floating planets (FFPs), or very wide orbit planets down to an Earth mass, from the MOA-II microlensing survey in 2006–2014. Six ...events are likely to be due to planets with Einstein radius crossing times
t
E
< 0.5 days, and the shortest has
t
E
= 0.057 ± 0.016 days and an angular Einstein radius of
θ
E
= 0.90 ± 0.14
μ
as. We measure the detection efficiency depending on both
t
E
and
θ
E
with image-level simulations for the first time. These short events are well modeled by a power-law mass function,
dN
4
/
d
log
M
=
(
2.18
−
1.40
+
0.52
)
×
(
M
/
8
M
⊕
)
−
α
4
dex
−1
star
−1
with
α
4
=
0.96
−
0.27
+
0.47
for
M
/
M
⊙
< 0.02. This implies a total of
f
=
21
−
13
+
23
FFPs or very wide orbit planets of mass 0.33 <
M
/
M
⊕
< 6660 per star, with a total mass of
80
−
47
+
73
M
⊕
star
−1
. The number of FFPs is
19
−
13
+
23
times the number of planets in wide orbits (beyond the snow line), while the total masses are of the same order. This suggests that the FFPs have been ejected from bound planetary systems that may have had an initial mass function with a power-law index of
α
∼ 0.9, which would imply a total mass of
171
−
52
+
80
M
⊕
star
−1
. This model predicts that Roman Space Telescope will detect
988
−
566
+
1848
FFPs with masses down to that of Mars (including
575
−
424
+
1733
with 0.1 ≤
M
/
M
⊕
≤ 1). The Sumi et al. large Jupiter-mass FFP population is excluded.
44 Validated Planets from K2 Campaign 10 Livingston, John H.; Endl, Michael; Dai, Fei ...
The Astronomical journal,
08/2018, Volume:
156, Issue:
2
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
Open access
We present 44 validated planets from the 10th observing campaign of the NASA K2 mission, as well as high-resolution spectroscopy and speckle imaging follow-up observations. These 44 planets come from ...an initial set of 72 vetted candidates, which we subjected to a validation process incorporating pixel-level analyses, light curve analyses, observational constraints, and statistical false positive probabilities. Our validated planet sample has median values of = , Porb = days, = K, and J = mag. Of particular interest are four ultra-short period planets ( day), 16 planets smaller than 2 , and two planets with large predicted amplitude atmospheric transmission features orbiting infrared-bright stars. We also present 27 planet candidates, most of which are likely to be real and worthy of further observations. Our validated planet sample includes 24 new discoveries and has enhanced the number of currently known super-Earths ( 1-2 ), sub-Neptunes ( 2-4 ), and sub-Saturns ( 4-8 ) orbiting bright stars (J = 8-10 mag) by ∼4%, ∼17%, and ∼11%, respectively.
We report the analysis of OGLE-2019-BLG-0960, which contains the smallest mass-ratio microlensing planet found to date (q = 1.2–1.6 × 10^(−5) at 1σ). Although there is substantial uncertainty in the ...satellite parallax measured by Spitzer, the measurement of the annual parallax effect combined with the finite source effect allows us to determine the mass of the host star (M(L) = 0.3–0.6 Mꙩ), the mass of its planet (m(p) = 1.4–3.1 Mꚛ), the projected separation between the host and planet (a(⊥) = 1.2–2.3 au), and the distance to the lens system (D(L) = 0.6–1.2 kpc). The lens is plausibly the blend, which could be checked with adaptive optics observations. As the smallest planet clearly below the break in the mass-ratio function, it demonstrates that current experiments are powerful enough to robustly measure the slope of the mass-ratio function below that break. We find that the cross-section for detecting small planets is maximized for planets with separations just outside of the boundary for resonant caustics and that sensitivity to such planets can be maximized by intensively monitoring events whenever they are magnified by a factor A > 5. Finally, an empirical investigation demonstrates that most planets showing a degeneracy between (s > 1) and (s < 1) solutions are not in the regime (|log s| ≫ 0) for which the "close"/"wide" degeneracy was derived. This investigation suggests that there is a link between the "close"/"wide" and "inner/outer" degeneracies and also that the symmetry in the lens equation goes much deeper than symmetries uncovered for the limiting cases.
We present Keck/NIRC2 adaptive optics imaging of planetary microlensing event MOA-2007-BLG-400 that resolves the lens star system from the source. We find that the MOA-2007-BLG-400L planetary system ...consists of a 1.71 ± 0.27M(sub Jup) planet orbiting a 0.69 ± 0.04M⨀ K-dwarf host star at a distance of 6.89 ± 0.77 kpc from the Sun. So, this planetary system probably resides in the Galactic bulge. The planet–host star projected separation is only weakly constrained due to the close-wide light-curve degeneracy; the 2σ projected separation ranges are 0.6–1.0 au and 4.7–7.7 au for close and wide solutions, respectively. This host mass is at the top end of the range of masses predicted by a standard Bayesian analysis. Our Keck follow-up program has now measured lens-source separations for six planetary microlensing events, and five of these six events have host star masses above the median prediction under the assumption that assumes that all stars have an equal chance of hosting planets detectable by microlensing. This suggests that more massive stars may be more likely to host planets of a fixed mass ratio that orbit near or beyond the snow line. These results also indicate the importance of host star mass measurements for exoplanets found by microlensing. The microlensing survey imaging data from NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope (formerly WFIRST) mission will be doing mass measurements like this for a huge number of planetary events.
We report the discovery of an ultrahot Jupiter with an extremely short orbital period of 0.67247414 ± 0.00000028 days (∼16 hr). The 1.347 ± 0.047 RJup planet, initially identified by the Transiting ...Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) mission, orbits TOI-2109 (TIC 392476080)—a T(eff) ∼ 6500 K F-type star with a mass of 1.447 ± 0.077 Mꙩ, a radius of 1.698 ± 0.060 Rꙩ, and a rotational velocity of v sin i =81.9 ± 1.7 km/s. The planetary nature of TOI-2109b was confirmed through radial-velocity measurements, which yielded a planet mass of 5.02 ± 0.75 M(Jup). Analysis of the Doppler shadow in spectroscopic transit observations indicates a well-aligned system, with a sky-projected obliquity of λ = 1.°7± 1.°7. From the TESS full-orbit light curve, we measured a secondary eclipse depth of 731 ± 46 ppm, as well as phase-curve variations from the planet's longitudinal brightness modulation and ellipsoidal distortion of the host star. Combining the TESS-band occultation measurement with a K(s)-band secondary eclipse depth (2012 ± 80 ppm) derived from ground-based observations, we find that the dayside emission of TOI-2109b is consistent with a brightness temperature of 3631 ± 69 K, making it the second hottest exoplanet hitherto discovered. By virtue of its extreme irradiation and strong planet–star gravitational interaction, TOI-2109b is an exceptionally promising target for intensive follow-up studies using current and near-future telescope facilities to probe for orbital decay, detect tidally driven atmospheric escape, and assess the impacts of H2 dissociation and recombination on the global heat transport.
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