Properties Of Planets Research Articles

The CHEOPS view of the climate of WASP-3 b

Hot Jupiters are giant planets subject to intense stellar radiation. The physical and chemical properties of their atmosphere make them the most amenable targets for atmospheric characterization. In this paper we analyze the photometry collected during the secondary eclipses of the hot Jupiter by and Our aim is to characterize the atmosphere of the planet by measuring the secondary eclipse depth in several passbands and constrain the planetary dayside spectrum. We updated the radius and the ephemeris of by analyzing the transit photometry collected by and We also analyzed the CHEOPS, TESS, and photometry of the occultations of the planet, measuring the eclipse depth at different wavelengths. Our update of the stellar and planetary properties is consistent with previous works. The analysis of the occultations returns an eclipse depth of 92pm 21 ppm in the CHEOPS passband, 83pm 27 ppm for TESS, and $>$2000 ppm in the IRAC 1-2-4 passbands. Using the eclipse depths in the bands, we propose a set of likely emission spectra that constrain the emission contribution in the CHEOPS and TESS passbands to approximately a few dozen parts per million. This allowed us to measure a geometric albedo of 0.21pm 0.07 in the CHEOPS passband, while the TESS data lead to a 95<!PCT!> upper limit of sim 0.2. belongs to the group of ultra-hot Jupiters that are characterized by a low Bond albedo (<0.3pm 0.1), as predicted by different atmospheric models. On the other hand, it seems to efficiently recirculate the absorbed stellar energy, which is not typical for similar, highly irradiated planets. To explain this inconsistency, we propose that other energy recirculation mechanisms are at play besides advection (for example, the dissociation and recombination of H$_2$). Another possibility is that the observations in different bandpasses probe different atmospheric layers; this would make the atmospheric analysis difficult without an appropriate modeling of the thermal emission spectrum of which is not feasible with the limited spectroscopic data available to date.

Origin of transition disk cavities: Pebble-accreting protoplanets vs super-Jupiters

Protoplanetary disks surrounding young stars are the birth places of planets. Among them, transition disks with inner dust cavities of tens of au are sometimes suggested to host massive companions. Yet, such companions are often not detected. Some transition disks exhibit a large amount of gas inside the dust cavity and relatively high stellar accretion rates, which contradicts typical models of gas-giant-hosting systems. Therefore, we investigate whether a sequence of low-mass planets can create the appearance of cavities in the dust disk. We evolve the disks with low-mass growing embryos in combination with 1D dust transport and 3D pebble accretion, to investigate the reduction of the pebble flux at the embryos' orbits. We vary the planet and disk properties to understand the resulting dust profile. We find that multiple pebble-accreting planets can efficiently decrease the dust surface density, resulting in dust cavities consistent with transition disks. The number of low-mass planets necessary to sweep up all pebbles decreases with decreasing turbulent strength and is preferred when the dust Stokes number is $10^ $. Compared to dust rings caused by pressure bumps, those by efficient pebble accretion exhibit more extended outer edges. We also highlight the observational reflections: the transition disks with rings featuring extended outer edges tend to have a large gas content in the dust cavities and rather high stellar accretion rates. We propose that planet-hosting transition disks consist of two groups. In Group A disks, planets have evolved into gas giants, opening deep gaps in the gas disk. Pebbles concentrate in pressure maxima, forming dust rings. In Group B, multiple Neptunes (unable to open deep gas gaps) accrete incoming pebbles, causing the appearance of inner dust cavities and distinct ring-like structures near planet orbits. The morphological discrepancy of these rings may aid in distinguishing between the two groups using high-resolution ALMA observations.

A regularisation technique to precisely infer limb darkening using transit measurements: Can we estimate stellar surface magnetic fields?

Abstract The high-precision measurements of exoplanet transit light curves that are now available contain information about the planet properties, their orbital parameters, and stellar limb darkening (LD). Recent 3D magneto-hydrodynamical (MHD) simulations of stellar atmospheres have shown that LD depends on the photospheric magnetic field, and hence its precise determination can be used to estimate the field strength. Among existing LD laws, the uses of the simplest ones may lead to biased inferences, whereas the uses of complex laws typically lead to a large degeneracy among the LD parameters. We have developed a novel approach in which we use a complex LD model but with second derivative regularisation during the fitting process. Regularisation controls the complexity of the model appropriately and reduces the degeneracy among LD parameters, thus resulting in precise inferences. The tests on simulated data suggest that our inferences are not only precise but also accurate. This technique is used to re-analyse 43 transit light curves measured by the NASA Kepler and TESS missions. Comparisons of our LD inferences with the corresponding literature values show good agreement, while the precisions of our measurements are better by up to a factor of 2. We find that 1D non-magnetic model atmospheres fail to reproduce the observations while 3D MHD simulations are qualitatively consistent. The LD measurements, together with MHD simulations, confirm that Kepler-17, WASP-18, and KELT-24 have relatively high magnetic fields (>200 G). This study paves the way for estimating the stellar surface magnetic field using the LD measurements.

TESS Asteroseismic Masses and Radii of Red Giants with (and without) Planets

We present a study of asteroseismically derived surface gravities, masses, and radii of a sample of red giant stars both with and without confirmed planetary companions using TESS photometric light curves. These red giants were drawn from radial velocity surveys, and their reported properties in the literature rely on more traditional methods using spectroscopy and isochrone fitting. Our asteroseismically derived surface gravities achieved a precision of ∼0.01 dex; however, they were on average ∼0.1 dex smaller than the literature. The systematic larger gravities of the literature could plausibly present as a systematic overestimation of stellar masses, which would in turn lead to overestimated planetary masses of the companions. We find that the fractional discrepancies between our asteroseismically determined parameters and those previously found are typically larger for stellar radii (∼10% discrepancy) than for stellar masses (<5% discrepancy). However, no evidence of a systematic difference between methods was found for either fundamental parameter. Two stars, HD 100065 and HD 18742, showed significant disagreement with the literature in both mass and radii. We explore the impacts of updated stellar properties on inferred planetary properties and caution that red giant radii may be more poorly constrained than uncertainties suggest.

SWEET-Cat: A view on the planetary mass-radius relation

SWEET-Cat (Stars With ExoplanETs Catalog) was originally introduced in 2013, and since then, the number of confirmed exoplanets has increased significantly. A crucial step for a comprehensive understanding of these new worlds is the precise and homogeneous characterization of their host stars. We used a large number of high-resolution spectra to continue the addition of new stellar parameters for planet-hosting stars in SWEET-Cat following the new detection of exoplanets listed both in the Extrasolar Planets Encyclopedia and in the NASA exoplanet archive. We obtained high-resolution spectra for a significant number of these planet-hosting stars, either observed by our team or collected through public archives. For FGK stars, the spectroscopic stellar parameters were derived for the spectra following the same homogeneous process using ARES+MOOG as for the previous SWEET-Cat releases. The stellar properties were combined with the planet properties to study possible correlations that could shed more light on the star-planet connection studies. We have increased the number of stars with homogeneous parameters by 232 (sim 25&lt;!PCT!&gt; -- from 959 to 1191). We focus on the exoplanets that have had both mass and radius determined to review the mass-radius relation, and we find results consistent with the ones previously reported in the literature. For the massive planets, we also revisit the radius anomaly, confirming a metallicity correlation for the radius anomaly already hinted at in previous results.

The GAPS Programme at TNG. LIX. Characterisation study of the ~300 Myr-old multi-planetary system orbiting the star BD+40 2790 (TOI-2076)

The long-term Global Architecture of Planetary Systems (GAPS) programme has been characterising a sample of young systems with transiting planets via spectroscopic and photometric follow-up observations. One of the main goals of GAPS is measuring planets' dynamical masses and bulk densities to help build a picture of how planets evolve in the early stages of their formation via a comparison between the fundamental physical properties of young and mature exoplanets. We collected more than 300 high-resolution spectra of the sim 300 Myr old star BD+40 2790 (TOI-2076) over about three years. This star hosts three transiting planets discovered by TESS, with orbital periods of sim 10, 21, and 35 days. From our determined fundamental planetary physical properties, we investigate the temporal evolution of the planetary atmospheres by calculating the expected mass loss rate due to photo-evaporation up to a system age of 5 Gyr. BD+40 2790 shows an activity-induced scatter larger than 30 ms in the radial velocities. We employed different methods to measure the stellar radial velocities, along with several models to filter out the dominant stellar activity signal to bring to light the planet-induced signals, which are expected to have semi-amplitudes that are lower by one order of magnitude. We evaluated the mass loss rate of the planetary atmospheres using photo-ionisation hydrodynamic modeling, accounting for the temporal evolution of the stellar high-energy flux through the adoption of different models for X-rays and EUV irradiation. The dynamical analysis confirms that the three sub-Neptune-sized companions (with our radius measurements of $R_b$=2.54pm 0.04, $R_c$=3.35pm 0.05, and $R_d$=3.29pm 0.06 have masses that situate them in the planetary regime. We derived 3sigma upper limits below or close to the mass of Neptune for all the planets in our sample: 11--12, 12--13.5, and 14--19 for planets $b$, $c$, and $d$, respectively. In the case of planet $d$, we found promising clues that the mass could be between sim 7 and 8 with a significance level between 2.3--2.5sigma (at best). This result must be further investigated using other analysis methods and techniques or using high-precision near-infrared (nIR) spectrographs to collect new radial velocities, which could be less affected by stellar activity. Atmospheric photo-evaporation simulations predict that BD+40 2790\,b is currently losing its H-He gaseous envelope and that it will be completely lost at an age within 0.5--3\,Gyr if its current mass is lower than 12\,M$_ Furthermore, BD+40 2790\,c could have a lower bulk density than $b$ and might be able to retain its atmosphere up to an age of 5 Gyr. For the outermost object, planet $d$, we predicted an almost negligible evolution of its mass and radius, induced by photo-evaporation.

Revising Properties of Planet–Host Binary Systems. IV. The Radius Distribution of Small Planets in Binary Star Systems Is Dependent on Stellar Separation* *Based on observations obtained with the Hobby–Eberly Telescope, which is a joint project of the University of Texas at Austin, the Pennsylvania State University, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, and Georg-August-Universität Göttingen.

Small planets (R p ≤ 4 R ⊕) are divided into rocky super-Earths and gaseous sub-Neptunes separated by a radius gap, but the mechanisms that produce these distinct planet populations remain unclear. Binary stars are the only main-sequence systems with an observable record of the protoplanetary disk lifetime and mass reservoir, and the demographics of planets in binaries may provide insights into planet formation and evolution. To investigate the radius distribution of planets in binary star systems, we observed 207 binary systems hosting 283 confirmed and candidate transiting planets detected by the Kepler mission, then recharacterized the planets while accounting for the observational biases introduced by the secondary star. We found that the population of planets in close binaries (ρ ≤ 100 au) is significantly different from the planet population in wider binaries (ρ > 300 au) or single stars. In contrast to planets around single stars, planets in close binaries appear to have a unimodal radius distribution with a peak near the expected super-Earth peak of R p ∼ 1.3 R ⊕ and a suppressed population of sub-Neptunes. We conclude that we are observing the direct impact of a reduced disk lifetime, smaller mass reservoir, and possible altered distribution of solids reducing the sub-Neptune formation efficiency. Our results demonstrate the power of binary stars as a laboratory for exploring planet formation and as a controlled experiment of the impact of varied initial conditions on mature planet populations.

Assessing the residual biases in high-resolution transit absorption spectra correction

Context. In recent years it has become common practice to divide observed transit absorption spectra by synthetic absorption spectra computed for the transit of an atmosphere-less planet. This action supposedly corrects the observed absorption spectrum, leaving the sole atmospheric absorption signature free from the biases induced by stellar rotation and centre-to-limb variations. Aims. We aim to show that while this practice is beneficial, it does not completely correct the absorption spectrum from the stellar distortions and that some residual biases remain, leaving a possibly altered atmospheric signature. Methods. By reducing the problem to its most basic form, we show that dividing the observed absorption spectrum by a synthetic absorption spectrum of the planet does not isolate the pure atmospheric absorption signature. We also used simulated synthetic transit observations to assess the magnitude of these residual biases in typical transit observations. Results. We show that dividing the observed absorption spectrum by the planetary absorption spectrum results in an atmospheric signature modulated by the ratio of the flux behind the atmosphere and the flux behind the planet. Depending on the non-homogeneity of the stellar spectrum, this leads to distorted atmospheric signatures. Eventually, directly analysing these biased signatures will lead to wrong estimates of planetary atmosphere properties.

TOI-2015 b: A Warm Neptune with Transit Timing Variations Orbiting an Active Mid-type M Dwarf

We report the discovery of a close-in (P orb = 3.349 days) warm Neptune with clear transit timing variations (TTVs) orbiting the nearby (d = 47.3 pc) active M4 star, TOI-2015. We characterize the planet's properties using Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) photometry, precise near-infrared radial velocities (RVs) with the Habitable-zone Planet Finder Spectrograph, ground-based photometry, and high-contrast imaging. A joint photometry and RV fit yields a radius Rp=3.37−0.20+0.15R⊕ , mass mp=16.4−4.1+4.1M⊕ , and density ρp=2.32−0.37+0.38gcm−3 for TOI-2015 b, suggesting a likely volatile-rich planet. The young, active host star has a rotation period of P rot = 8.7 ± 0.9 days and associated rotation-based age estimate of 1.1 ± 0.1 Gyr. Though no other transiting planets are seen in the TESS data, the system shows clear TTVs of super-period Psup≈430days and amplitude ∼100 minutes. After considering multiple likely period-ratio models, we show an outer planet candidate near a 2:1 resonance can explain the observed TTVs while offering a dynamically stable solution. However, other possible two-planet solutions—including 3:2 and 4:3 resonances—cannot be conclusively excluded without further observations. Assuming a 2:1 resonance in the joint TTV-RV modeling suggests a mass of mb=13.3−4.5+4.7M⊕ for TOI-2015 b and mc=6.8−2.3+3.5M⊕ for the outer candidate. Additional transit and RV observations will be beneficial to explicitly identify the resonance and further characterize the properties of the system.

Study of stellar properties under TESS satellite observations

This study employs data from the TESS satellite to investigate the properties of stars. TESS, the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite, offers insights into star activity, periodic variations, and planetary transits by monitoring changes in stellar brightness. Our analysis of TESS data explores critical star attributes, including mass, luminosity, activity levels, and dynamic changes. By examining the relationship between these stellar properties and the presence of planets, we aim to uncover the intricate interplay between celestial bodies and unveil the universe's mysteries. This research encompasses data collection methods, processing techniques, and data analysis approaches, addressing star classifications, parameters, and periodic stellar activity. We also delve into flare energy, which reveals the energy released during stellar flares, and photoperiodic analysis, a tool for understanding periodic light changes in celestial bodies. The study concludes by highlighting the significance of newly discovered planets and the diversity of stars observed by TESS. It underscores the importance of comprehending the connections between stars and planets, shaping our understanding of celestial habitability. In summary, this study enriches our knowledge of star and planet properties, contributing to a broader comprehension of the universe. Through our analysis, we seek to illuminate the complex relationships between celestial entities and unveil the universe's enigmas.

Towards characterising rocky worlds: Trends in chemical make-ups of M dwarfs versus GK dwarfs

Elemental abundances of Sun-like stars have been shown to be crucial for understanding the detailed properties of planets surrounding them. However, accurately measuring elemental abundances of M stars, the most abundant class of stars in the solar neighbourhood, is challenging due to their faintness and pervasive molecular features in optical photospheric spectra. As a result, elemental abundances of Sun-like stars have been proposed to constrain those of M stars, particularly by scaling X/H given measured Fe/H This work aims to test the robustness of this convenient practice based on two selected sets of M- and GK-dwarf stellar abundances and a set of rigorous statistical methods. We compiled the elemental abundances of a sample of up to 43 M dwarfs for ten major rock-forming elements (Fe, C, O, Mg, Si, Al, Ca, Na, Ni, and Ti) from high-resolution near-infrared stellar surveys including APOGEE, CARMENES, and Subaru. We carried out bootstrap-based linear regressions on the selected sample of M dwarfs to constrain the statistical trends of X/H versus Fe/H and then compare them with those of GK dwarfs (sampled from the GALAH database). We then applied a two-sample, multivariate Mahalanobis Distance test to assess the significance of the differences in the X/H Fe/H trends for individual elemental pairs between M and GK dwarfs. We find that the null hypothesis -- that is, no significant difference in the chemical trends of X/H versus Fe/H between M and GK dwarfs -- is strongly rejected for all elements except for Si, for which the rejection is marginal ($p$-value close to 0.05), and Na and Ni, for which the results are inconclusive. This finding suggests that assuming no difference may result in biased results, and thus inaccurate constraints on characterising rocky planets around M dwarfs by scaling the (unmeasured) chemical abundances of planet-hosting M dwarfs from the chemical trends of X/H Fe/H determined by GK dwarfs. It is therefore crucial for both the stellar and exoplanet communities to be aware of these observed differences. To better understand these differences, we advocate for dedicated modelling techniques for M-dwarf atmospheres and an increasing set of benchmark, homogeneous abundance analyses. Intermediately, our statistically constrained trends of X/H Fe/H for M dwarfs provide a new constraint on estimating M-dwarf elemental abundances given measured Fe/H and further on characterising the detailed properties of M-dwarf-hosted rocky worlds.

A temperate super-Jupiter imaged with JWST in the mid-infrared

Of the approximately 25 directly imaged planets to date, all are younger than 500 Myr, and all but six are younger than 100 Myr (ref. 1). Eps Ind A (HD209100, HIP108870) is a K5V star of roughly solar age (recently derived as 3.7–5.7 Gyr (ref. 2) and 3.5−1.3+0.8\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$${3.5}_{-1.3}^{+0.8}$$\\end{document} Gyr (ref. 3)). A long-term radial-velocity trend4,5 and an astrometric acceleration6,7 led to claims of a giant planet2,8,9 orbiting the nearby star (3.6384 ± 0.0013 pc; ref. 10). Here we report JWST coronagraphic images which reveal a giant exoplanet that is consistent with these radial and astrometric measurements but inconsistent with the previously claimed planet properties. The new planet has a temperature of approximately 275 K and is remarkably bright at 10.65 and 15.50 µm. Non-detections between 3.5 and 5.0 µm indicate an unknown opacity source in the atmosphere, possibly suggesting a high-metallicity, high carbon-to-oxygen ratio planet. The best-fitting temperature of the planet is consistent with theoretical thermal evolution models, which were previously untested at this temperature range. The data indicate that this is probably the only giant planet in the system, and therefore we refer to it as b, despite it having significantly different orbital properties than the previously claimed planet b.

Constraints on PDS 70 b and c from the dust continuum emission of the circumplanetary discs considering in situ dust evolution

Context. The young T Tauri star PDS 70 has two gas accreting planets sharing one large gap in a pre-transitional disc. Dust continuum emission from PDS 70 c has been detected by Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) Band 7, considered as the evidence of a circumplanetary disc. However, there has been no detection of the dust emission from the CPD of PDS 70 b. Aims. We constrain the planet mass and the gas accretion rate of the planets by introducing a model of dust evolution in the CPDs and reproducing the detection and non-detection of the dust emission. Methods. We first develop a 1D steady gas disc model of the CPDs reflecting the planet properties. We then calculate the radial distribution of the dust profiles considering the dust evolution in the gas disc and calculate the total flux density of dust thermal emission from the CPDs. Results. We find positive correlations between the flux density of dust emission and three planet properties, the planet mass, gas accretion rate, and their product called ‘MMdot’. We then find that the MMdot of PDS 70 c is ≥4 × 10−7 MJ2 yr−1, corresponding to the planet mass of ≥5 MJ and the gas accretion rate of ≥2 × 10−8 MJ yr−1. This is the first case to succeed in obtaining constraints on planet properties from the flux density of dust continuum emission from a CPD. We also find some loose constraints on the properties of PDS 70 b from the non-detection of its dust emission. Conclusions. We propose possible scenarios for PDS 70 b and c explaining the non-detection respectively detection of the dust emission from their CPDs. The first explanation is that planet c has larger planet mass, larger gas accretion rate, or both than planet b. The other possibility is that the CPD of planet c has a larger amount of dust supply, weaker turbulence, or both than that of planet b. If the dust supply to planet c is larger than b due to its closeness to the outer dust ring, it is also quantitatively consistent with that planet c has weaker Hα line emission than planet b considering the dust extinction effect.

Updated Spectral Characteristics for the Ultracool Dwarf TRAPPIST-1

A comprehensive infrared spectroscopic study of star TRAPPIST-1 is a crucial step toward the detailed examination of its planets. While the presence of Earth’s atmosphere has limited the spectral extent of such a study up to now, the Near Infrared Imager and Slitless Spectrograph (NIRISS) and the Near Infrared Spectrograph instruments aboard the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) can now yield the 0.6–5 μm spectral energy distribution (SED) of the star. Here we translate TRAPPIST-1's SED into tight constraints on its luminosity (L bol = 0.000566 ± 0.000022 L ⊙), effective temperature (T eff = 2569 ± 28 K), and metallicity ([Fe/H] = 0.052 ± 0.073) and investigate the behavior of its gravity-sensitive indices. Through band-by-band comparisons of the NIRISS and ground-based spectra, TRAPPIST-1 exhibits a blend of both field source and intermediate-gravity spectral characteristics, suggesting that the star is likely a field-age source with spectral features reminiscent of young objects. We also employ photospheric modeling incorporating theoretical and JWST spectra to constrain stellar surface heterogeneities, finding that the limited fidelity of current stellar spectral models precludes definitive constraints on the physical parameters of the distinct spectral components giving rise to TRAPPIST-1's photospheric heterogeneity and variability. In addition, we find intermodel differences in the inferences of properties (e.g., the effective temperature) over one order of magnitude larger than the instrument-driven uncertainties (∼100 K vs. ∼4 K), pointing toward a model-driven accuracy wall. Our findings call for a new generation of stellar models to support the optimal mining of JWST data and further constraining stellar—and ultimately planetary—properties.

Migration and Evolution of giant ExoPlanets (MEEP). I. Nine Newly Confirmed Hot Jupiters from the TESS Mission

Hot Jupiters were many of the first exoplanets discovered in the 1990s, but in the decades since their discovery the mysteries surrounding their origins have remained. Here we present nine new hot Jupiters (TOI-1855 b, TOI-2107 b, TOI-2368 b, TOI-3321 b, TOI-3894 b, TOI-3919 b, TOI-4153 b, TOI-5232 b, and TOI-5301 b) discovered by NASA’s TESS mission and confirmed using ground-based imaging and spectroscopy. These discoveries are the first in a series of papers named the Migration and Evolution of giant ExoPlanets survey and are part of an ongoing effort to build a complete sample of hot Jupiters orbiting FGK stars, with a limiting Gaia G-band magnitude of 12.5. This effort aims to use homogeneous detection and analysis techniques to generate a set of precisely measured stellar and planetary properties that is ripe for statistical analysis. The nine planets presented in this work occupy a range of masses (0.55M J < MP < 3.88M J) and sizes (0.967R J < RP < 1.438R J) and orbit stars that have an effective temperature in the range of 5360 K < T eff < 6860 K with Gaia G-band magnitudes ranging from 11.1 to 12.7. Two of the planets in our sample have detectable orbital eccentricity: TOI-3919 b ( e=0.259−0.036+0.033 ) and TOI-5301 b ( e=0.33−0.10+0.11 ). These eccentric planets join a growing sample of eccentric hot Jupiters that are consistent with high-eccentricity tidal migration, one of the three most prominent theories explaining hot Jupiter formation and evolution.

Ariel stellar characterisation II. Chemical abundances of carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen for 181 planet-host FGK dwarf stars

One of the ultimate goals of the ESA Ariel space mission is to shed light on the formation pathways and evolution of planetary systems in the Solar neighbourhood. Stellar elemental abundances are the cipher key to decode planetary compositional signatures. This makes it imperative to perform a large chemical survey not only of the planets, but their host stars as well. This work is aimed at providing homogeneous chemical abundances for C, N, and O among a sample of 181 stars belonging to Tier 1 of the Ariel mission candidate sample. We applied the spectral synthesis and equivalent width methods to a variety of atomic and molecular indicators ( C i lines at 5052 and 5380.3 O i forbidden line at 6300.3 C _2$ bands at 5128 and 5165 and CN band at 4215 using high-resolution and high signal-to-noise spectra collected with a range of spectrographs. We determined carbon abundances for 180 stars, nitrogen abundances for 105 stars, and oxygen abundances for 89 stars. We analysed the results in the light of the Galactic chemical evolution and in terms of the planetary companion properties. We find that our sample essentially follows standard trends with respect to the metallicity values expected for the C/Fe N/Fe and O/Fe abundance ratios. The proportion between carbon and oxygen abundances (both yields of primary production) is consistent with a constant ratio as O/H increases. Meanwhile, the abundance of nitrogen tends to increase with the increasing of the oxygen abundance, supporting the theoretical assumption of a secondary production of nitrogen. The C/N C/O and N/O abundance ratios are also correlated with Fe/H which might introduce biases in the interpretation of the planetary compositions and formation histories when host stars of different metallicities are compared. Finally, we provide relations that can be used to qualitatively estimate whether the atmospheric composition of planets is enriched (or otherwise) with respect to the host stars.

Updated Catalog of Kepler Planet Candidates: Focus on Accuracy and Orbital Periods

We present a new catalog of Kepler planet candidates that prioritizes accuracy of planetary dispositions and properties over uniformity. This catalog contains 4376 transiting planet candidates, including 1791 residing within 709 multiplanet systems, and provides the best parameters available for a large sample of Kepler planet candidates. We also provide a second set of stellar and planetary properties for transiting candidates that are uniformly derived for use in occurrence rate studies. Estimates of orbital periods have been improved, but as in previous catalogs, our tabulated values for period uncertainties do not fully account for transit timing variations (TTVs). We show that many planets are likely to have TTVs with long periodicities caused by various processes, including orbital precession, and that such TTVs imply that ephemerides of Kepler planets are not as accurate on multidecadal timescales as predicted by the small formal errors (typically 1 part in 106 and rarely >10−5) in the planets’ measured mean orbital periods during the Kepler epoch. Analysis of normalized transit durations implies that eccentricities of planets are anticorrelated with the number of companion transiting planets. Our primary catalog lists all known Kepler planet candidates that orbit and transit only one star; for completeness, we also provide an abbreviated listing of the properties of the two dozen nontransiting planets that have been identified around stars that host transiting planets discovered by Kepler.

TOI-837 b is a young Saturn-sized exoplanet with a massive 70 M⊕ core

ABSTRACT We present an exhaustive photometric and spectroscopic analysis of TOI-837, a F9/G0 35 Myr young star, hosting a transiting exoplanet, TOI-837 b, with an orbital period of ∼8.32 d. Utilizing data from the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite and ground-based observations, we determine a planetary radius of $0.818_{-0.024}^{+0.034}$ RJ for TOI-837 b. Through detailed High Accuracy Radial Velocity Planet Searcher spectroscopic time series analysis, we derive a Doppler semi-amplitude of $34.7_{-5.6}^{+5.3}$ ${\rm m\, s^{-1}}$, corresponding to a planetary mass of $0.379_{-0.061}^{+0.058}$ MJ. The derived planetary properties suggest a substantial core of approximately 70 M⊕, constituting about 60 per cent of the planet’s total mass. This finding poses a significant challenge to existing theoretical models of core formation. We propose that future atmospheric observations with JWST could provide insights into resolving ambiguities of TOI-837 b, offering new perspectives on its composition, formation, and evolution.

NeuralCMS: A deep learning approach to study Jupiter's interior

NASA's Juno mission provided exquisite measurements of Jupiter's gravity field that together with the Galileo entry probe atmospheric measurements constrains the interior structure of the giant planet. Inferring its interior structure range remains a challenging inverse problem requiring a computationally intensive search of combinations of various planetary properties, such as the cloud-level temperature, composition, and core features, requiring the computation of sim \(10^9\) interior models. We propose an efficient deep neural network (DNN) model to generate high-precision wide-ranged interior models based on the very accurate but computationally demanding concentric MacLaurin spheroid (CMS) method. We trained a sharing-based DNN with a large set of CMS results for a four-layer interior model of Jupiter, including a dilute core, to accurately predict the gravity moments and mass, given a combination of interior features. We evaluated the performance of the trained DNN (NeuralCMS) to inspect its predictive limitations. NeuralCMS shows very good performance in predicting the gravity moments, with errors comparable with the uncertainty due to differential rotation, and a very accurate mass prediction. This allowed us to perform a broad parameter space search by computing only sim \(10^4\) actual CMS interior models, resulting in a large sample of plausible interior structures, and reducing the computation time by a factor of \(10^5\). Moreover, we used a DNN explainability algorithm to analyze the impact of the parameters setting the interior model on the predicted observables, providing information on their nonlinear relation.

Planets similar in size are often dissimilar in interior

The number of discovered exoplanets now exceeds 5500 allowing statistical analyses of planetary systems. Multi-planet systems are mini-laboratories of planet formation and evolution, and analysing their system architectures can help us to constrain the physics of these processes. Recent works have found evidence of significant intrasystem uniformity in planet properties such as radius, mass, and orbital spacing, collectively termed ‘peas in a pod’ trends. In particular, correlations in radius and mass have been interpreted as implying uniformity in planet bulk density and composition within a system. However, the samples used to assess trends in mass tend to be small and biased. In this paper, we re-evaluate correlations in planet properties in a large sample of systems with at least two planets for which mass and radius have been directly measured, and therefore bulk density can be calculated. Our sample was assembled using the most up-to-date exoplanet catalogue data, and we compute the relevant statistics while using a procedure to ‘weight’ the data points according to measurement precision. We find a moderate correlation in radius and a weak correlation in the densities of adjacent planets. However, masses of neighbouring planets show no overall correlation in our main sample and a weak correlation among pairs of planets similar in size or pairs restricted to Mp&lt;100 M⊕, Rp&lt;10 R⊕. Similarly, we show that the intrasystem dispersion in radius is typically less than that in mass and density. We identify ranges in stellar host properties that correlate with stronger uniformity in pairs of adjacent planets: low Teff for planet masses, and low metallicity and old age for planet densities. Furthermore, we explore whether peas in a pod trends extend into planet compositions or interior structures. For small neighbouring planets with similar radii, we show that their masses and interior structures are often disparate, indicating that even within the same system, similarity in radii is not necessarily a good proxy for similarity in composition or the physical nature of the planets.