Ephemeris Matching Reveals False Positive Validated and Candidate Planets from the K2 Mission

Abstract

Data from the Kepler space telescope have led to the discovery of thousands of planet candidates. Most of these candidates are likely to be real exoplanets, but a significant number of false positives still contaminate the sample, especially in candidate lists from the K2 mission. Identifying and rejecting the false positives lurking in the planet candidates sample is important for prioritizing follow-up resources and measuring the most accurate population statistics. Here, we identify false positives in the K2 planet candidate sample using a technique called “ephemeris matching,” in which we compare the period and transit time of different signals. When signals from different stars show the same period and time of transit, we can conclude that at least one of the two signals is contamination. We identify 43 false positives among published K2 planet candidates (nearly 2% of the complete list), one of which (K2-256 b) was previously validated as genuine exoplanet. This work increases the reliability of the K2 planet sample and helps boost confidence in the surviving planet candidates.