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Espinoza, N., Brahm, R., Henning, T., Jordan, A., Dorn, C., Rojas, F., et al. (2020). HD 213885b: a transiting 1-d-period super-Earth with an Earth-like composition around a bright (V=7.9) star unveiled by TESS. Mon. Not. Roy. Astron. Soc., 491(2), 2982–2999.
Abstract: We report the discovery of the 1.008-d, ultrashort period (USP) super-EarthHD213885b (TOI141b) orbiting the bright (V= 7.9) star HD 213885 (TOI-141, TIC 403224672), detected using photometry from the recently launched TESS mission. Using FEROS, HARPS, and CORALIE radial velocities, we measure a precise mass of 8.8 +/- 0.6M. for this 1.74 +/- 0.05 R. exoplanet, which provides enough information to constrain its bulk composition – similar to Earth's but enriched in iron. The radius, mass, and stellar irradiation of HD 213885b are, given our data, very similar to 55 Cancri e, making this exoplanet a good target to perform comparative exoplanetology of short period, highly irradiated super-Earths. Our precise radial velocities reveal an additional 4.78-d signal which we interpret as arising from a second, non-transiting planet in the system, HD 213885c, whoseminimum mass of 19.9 +/- 1.4M. makes it consistent with being a Neptune-mass exoplanet. The HD 213885 system is very interesting from the perspective of future atmospheric characterization, being the second brightest star to host an USP transiting super-Earth (with the brightest star being, in fact, 55 Cancri). Prospects for characterization with present and future observatories are discussed.
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Grieves, N., Bouchy, F., Ulmer-Moll, S., Gill, S., Anderson, D. R., Psaridi, A., et al. (2023). An old warm Jupiter orbiting the metal-poor G-dwarf TOI-5542. Astron. Astrophys., 668, A29.
Abstract: We report the discovery of a 1.32(-0.10)(+0.10)M(Jup) planet orbiting on a 75.12 day period around the G3V 10.8(-3.6)(+2.1) Gyr old star TOI-5542 (TIC 466206508; TYC 9086-1210-1). The planet was first detected by the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) as a single transit event in TESS Sector 13. A second transit was observed 376 days later in TESS Sector 27. The planetary nature of the object has been confirmed by ground-based spectroscopic and radial velocity observations from the CORALIE and HARPS spectrographs. A third transit event was detected by the ground-based facilities NGTS, EulerCam, and SAAO. We find the planet has a radius of 1.009(-0.035)(+0.036)R(Jup) and an insolation of 9.6(-0.8)(+0.9)S(circle plus), along with a circular orbit that most likely formed via disk migration or in situ formation, rather than high-eccentricity migration mechanisms. Our analysis of the HARPS spectra yields a host star metallicity of [Fe/H] = -0.21 +/- 0.08, which does not follow the traditional trend of high host star metallicity for giant planets and does not bolster studies suggesting a difference among low- and high-mass giant planet host star metallicities. Additionally, when analyzing a sample of 216 well-characterized giant planets, we find that both high masses (4 M-Jup < M-p < 13 M-Jup) and low masses (0.5 M-Jup < M-p < 4 M-Jup), as well as both both warm (P > 10 days) and hot (P < 10 days) giant planets are preferentially located around metal-rich stars (mean [Fe/H] > 0.1). TOI-5542b is one of the oldest known warm Jupiters and it is cool enough to be unaffected by inflation due to stellar incident flux, making it a valuable contribution in the context of planetary composition and formation studies.
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Kaye, L., Vissapragada, S., Gunther, M. N., Aigrain, S., Mikal-Evans, T., Jensen, E. L. N., et al. (2022). Transit timings variations in the three-planet system: TOI-270. Mon. Not. Roy. Astron. Soc., 510(4), 5464–5485.
Abstract: We present ground- and space-based photometric observations of TOI-270 (L231-32), a system of three transiting planets consisting of one super-Earth and two sub-Neptunes discovered by TESS around a bright (K-mag = 8.25) M3V dwarf. The planets orbit near low-order mean-motion resonances (5:3 and 2:1) and are thus expected to exhibit large transit timing variations (TTVs). Following an extensive observing campaign using eight different observatories between 2018 and 2020, we now report a clear detection of TTVs for planets c and d, with amplitudes of similar to 10 min and a super-period of similar to 3 yr, as well as significantly refined estimates of the radii and mean orbital periods of all three planets. Dynamical modelling of the TTVs alone puts strong constraints on the mass ratio of planets c and d and on their eccentricities. When incorporating recently published constraints from radial velocity observations, we obtain masses of M-b = 1.48 +/- 0.18 M-circle plus, M-c = 6.20 +/- 0.31 M-circle plus, and M-d = 4.20 +/- 0.16 M-circle plus for planets b, c, and d, respectively. We also detect small but significant eccentricities for all three planets : e(b) = 0.0167 +/- 0.0084, e(c) = 0.0044 +/- 0.0006, and e(d) = 0.0066 +/- 0.0020. Our findings imply an Earth-like rocky composition for the inner planet, and Earth-like cores with an additional He/H2O atmosphere for the outer two. TOI-270 is now one of the best constrained systems of small transiting planets, and it remains an excellent target for atmospheric characterization.
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Osborn, A., Armstrong, D. J., Cale, B., Brahm, R., Wittenmyer, R. A., Dai, F., et al. (2021). TOI-431/HIP 26013: a super-Earth and a sub-Neptune transiting a bright, early K dwarf, with a third RV planet. Mon. Not. Roy. Astron. Soc., 507(2), 2782–2803.
Abstract: We present the bright (V-mag = 9.12), multiplanet system TOI-431, characterized with photometry and radial velocities (RVs). We estimate the stellar rotation period to be 30.5 +/- 0.7 d using archival photometry and RVs. Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) objects of Interest (TOI)-431b is a super-Earth with a period of 0.49 d, a radius of 1.28 +/- 0.04 R-circle plus, a mass of 3.07 +/- 0.35 M-circle plus, and a density of 8.0 +/- 1.0 g cm(-3); TOI-431 d is a sub-Neptune with a period of 12.46 d, a radius of 3.29 +/- 0.09 R-circle plus, a mass of M-circle plus, and a density of 1.36 +/- 0.25 g cm(-3). We find a third planet, TOI-431c, in the High Accuracy Radial velocity Planet Searcher RV data, but it is not seen to transit in the TESS light curves. It has an Msin i of M-circle plus, and a period of 4.85 d. TOI-431d likely has an extended atmosphere and is one of the most well-suited TESS discoveries for atmospheric characterization, while the super-Earth TOI-431b may be a stripped core. These planets straddle the radius gap, presenting an interesting case-study for atmospheric evolution, and TOI-431b is a prime TESS discovery for the study of rocky planet phase curves.
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Sandford, E., Espinoza, N., Brahm, R., & Jordan, A. (2019). Estimation of singly transiting K2 planet periods with Gaia parallaxes. Mon. Not. Roy. Astron. Soc., 489(3), 3149–3161.
Abstract: When a planet is only observed to transit once, direct measurement of its period is impossible. It is possible, however, to constrain the periods of single transiters, and this is desirable as they are likely to represent the cold and far extremes of the planet population observed by any particular survey. Improving the accuracy with which the period of single transiters can be constrained is therefore critical to enhance the long-period planet yield of surveys. Here, we combine Gaia parallaxes with stellar models and broad-band photometry to estimate the stellar densities of K2 planet host stars, then use that stellar density information to model individual planet transits and infer the posterior period distribution. We show that the densities we infer are reliable by comparing with densities derived through asteroseismology, and apply our method to 27 validation planets of known (directly measured) period, treating each transit as if it were the only one, as well as to 12 true single transiters. When we treat eccentricity as a free parameter, we achieve a fractional period uncertainty over the true single transits of 94(-58)(+87) per cent, and when we fix e = 0, we achieve fractional period uncertainty 15(-6)(+30) per cent, a roughly threefold improvement over typical period uncertainties of previous studies.
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