Three statistically validated K2 transiting warm Jupiter exoplanets confirmed as low-mass stars
Avi Shporer, George Zhou, Andrew Vanderburg, Benjamin J. Fulton, Howard Isaacson, Allyson Bieryla, Guillermo Torres, Timothy D. Morton, Joao Bento, Perry Berlind, Michael L. Calkins, Gilbert A. Esquerdo, Andrew W. Howard, David W. Latham
(Submitted on 28 Aug 2017)
We have identified three K2 transiting star-planet systems, K2-51 (EPIC 202900527), K2-67 (EPIC 206155547), and K2-76 (EPIC 206432863), as stellar binaries with low-mass stellar secondaries. The three systems were statistically validated as transiting planets, and through measuring their orbits by radial velocity monitoring we have derived the companion masses to be 0.1459+0.0029−0.0032 MSun (EPIC 202900527 B), 0.1612+0.0072−0.0067 MSun (EPIC 206155547 B), and 0.0942±0.0019 MSun (EPIC 206432863 B). Therefore they are not planets but small stars, part of the small sample of low-mass stars with measured radius and mass. The three systems are at an orbital period range of 12−24 days, and the secondaries have a radius within 0.9−1.9 RJ, not inconsistent with the properties of warm Jupiter planets. These systems illustrate some of the existing challenges in the statistical validation approach. We point out a few possible origins for the initial misclassification of these objects, including poor characterization of the host star, the difficulty in detecting a secondary eclipse in systems on an eccentric orbit, and the difficulty in distinguishing between the smallest stars and gas giant planets as the two populations have indistinguishable radius distributions. Our work emphasizes the need for obtaining medium-precision radial velocity measurements to distinguish between companions that are small stars, brown dwarfs, and gas giant planets.
Comments: Posted on the arXiv for comments from the community. Current version includes corrections following first referee report. To be resubmitted to ApJ Letters
Subjects: Solar and Stellar Astrophysics (astro-ph.SR)
Cite as: arXiv:1708.08455 [astro-ph.SR] (or arXiv:1708.08455v1 [astro-ph.SR] for this version)
Submission history
From: Avi Shporer
[v1] Mon, 28 Aug 2017 18:00:01 GMT (537kb,D)
https://arxiv.org/abs/1708.08455
