Search for planets in hot Jupiter systems with multi-sector TESS photometry. I. No companions in planetary systems KELT-18, KELT-23, KELT-24, Qatar-8, WASP-62, WASP-100, WASP-119, and WASP-126

Abstract

Origins of giant planets on tight orbits, so called hot Jupiters, are a long-lasting question in the planetary formation and evolution theory. The answer seems to be hidden in architectures of those systems that remain only partially understood. Using multi-sector time-series photometry from the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite, we searched for additional planets in the KELT-18, KELT-23, KELT-24, Qatar-8, WASP-62, WASP-100, WASP-119, and WASP-126 planetary systems using both the transit technique and transit timing method. Our homogenous analysis has eliminated the presence of transiting companions down to the terrestrial-size regime in the KELT-23 and WASP-62 systems, and down to mini-Neptunes or Neptunes in the remaining ones. Transit timing analysis has revealed no sign of either long-term trends or periodic perturbations for all the studied hot Jupiters, including the WASP-126 b for which deviations from a Keplerian model were claimed in the literature. The loneliness of the planets of the sample speaks in favour of the high-eccentricity migration mechanism that probably brought them to their tight orbits observed nowadays. As a byproduct of our study, the transit light curve parameters were redetermined with a substantial improvement of the precision for 6 systems. For KELT-24 b, a joint analysis allowed us to place a tighter constraint on its orbital eccentricity.