TRANSIT TIMING VARIATION OF NEAR-RESONANCE PLANETARY PAIRS: CONFIRMATION OF 12 MULTIPLE-PLANET SYSTEMS
- Department of Astronomy and Key Laboratory of Modern Astronomy and Astrophysics in Ministry of Education, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210093 (China)
We extract transit timing variation (TTV) signals for 12 pairs of transiting planet candidates that are near first-order mean motion resonances (MMR), using publicly available Kepler light curves (Q0-Q14). These pairs show significant sinusoidal TTVs with theoretically predicted periods, which demonstrate these planet candidates are orbiting and interacting in the same system. Although individual masses cannot be accurately extracted based only on TTVs because of the well-known degeneracy between mass and eccentricity, TTV phases and amplitudes can still place upper limits on the masses of the candidates, confirming their planetary nature. Furthermore, the mass ratios of these planet pairs can be relatively tightly constrained using these TTVs. The planetary pair in KOI 880 seems to have particularly high mass and density ratios, which might indicate very different internal compositions of these two planets. Some of these newly confirmed planets are also near MMR with other candidates in the system, forming unique resonance chains (e.g., KOI 500)
- OSTI ID:
- 22273305
- Journal Information:
- Astrophysical Journal, Supplement Series, Vol. 208, Issue 2; Other Information: Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0067-0049
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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