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A large sub-Neptune transiting the thick-disk M4 V TOI-2406

Wells, R. D. and Rackham, B. V. and Schanche, N. and Petrucci, R. and Gómez Maqueo Chew, Y. and Demory, B.-O. and Burgasser, A. J. and Burn, R. and Pozuelos, F. J. and Günther, M. N. and Sabin, L. and Schroffenegger, U. and Gómez-Muñoz, M. A. and Stassun, K. G. and Van Grootel, V. and Howell, S. B. and Sebastian, D. and Triaud, A. H. M. J. and Apai, D. and Plauchu-Frayn, I. and Guerrero, C. A. and Guillén, P. F. and Landa, A. and Melgoza, G. and Montalvo, F. and Serrano, H. and Riesgo, H. and Barkaoui, K. and Bixel, A. and Burdanov, A. and Chen, W. P. and Chinchilla, P. and Collins, K. A. and Daylan, T. and de Wit, J. and Delrez, L. and Dévora-Pajares, M. and Dietrich, J. and Dransfield, G. and Ducrot, E. and Fausnaugh, M. and Furlan, E. and Gabor, P. and Gan, T. and Garcia, L. and Ghachoui, M. and Giacalone, S. and Gibbs, A. B. and Gillon, M. and Gnilka, C. and Gore, R. and Guerrero, N. and Henning, T. and Hesse, K. and Jehin, E. and Jenkins, J. M. and Latham, D. W. and Lester, K. and McCormac, J. and Murray, C. A. and Niraula, P. and Pedersen, P. P. and Queloz, D. and Ricker, G. and Rodriguez, D. R. and Schroeder, A. and Schwarz, R. P. and Scott, N. and Seager, S. and Theissen, C. A. and Thompson, S. and Timmermans, M. and Twicken, J. D. and Winn, J. N. (2021) A large sub-Neptune transiting the thick-disk M4 V TOI-2406. Astronomy and Astrophysics, 653 . Art. No. A97. ISSN 0004-6361. doi:10.1051/0004-6361/202141277. https://resolver.caltech.edu/CaltechAUTHORS:20211007-152441005

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Abstract

Context. Large sub-Neptunes are uncommon around the coolest stars in the Galaxy and are rarer still around those that are metal-poor. However, owing to the large planet-to-star radius ratio, these planets are highly suitable for atmospheric study via transmission spectroscopy in the infrared, such as with JWST. Aims. Here we report the discovery and validation of a sub-Neptune orbiting the thick-disk, mid-M dwarf star TOI-2406. The star’s low metallicity and the relatively large size and short period of the planet make TOI-2406 b an unusual outcome of planet formation, and its characterisation provides an important observational constraint for formation models. Methods. We first infer properties of the host star by analysing the star’s near-infrared spectrum, spectral energy distribution, and Gaia parallax. We use multi-band photometry to confirm that the transit event is on-target and achromatic, and we statistically validate the TESS signal as a transiting exoplanet. We then determine physical properties of the planet through global transit modelling of the TESS and ground-based time-series data. Results. We determine the host to be a metal-poor M4 V star, located at a distance of 56 pc, with properties T_(eff) = 3100 ± 75 K, M* = 0.162 ± 0.008 M_⊙, R* = 0.202 ± 0.011 R_⊙, and [Fe∕H] = −0.38 ± 0.07, and a member of the thick disk. The planet is a relatively large sub-Neptune for the M-dwarf planet population, with R_p = 2.94 ± 0.17R ⊕_ and P = 3.077 d, producing transits of 2% depth. We note the orbit has a non-zero eccentricity to 3σ, prompting questions about the dynamical history of the system. Conclusions. This system is an interesting outcome of planet formation and presents a benchmark for large-planet formation around metal-poor, low-mass stars. The system warrants further study, in particular radial velocity follow-up to determine the planet mass and constrain possible bound companions. Furthermore, TOI-2406 b is a good target for future atmospheric study through transmission spectroscopy. Although the planet’s mass remains to be constrained, we estimate the S/N using amass-radius relationship, ranking the system fifth in the population of large sub-Neptunes, with TOI-2406 b having a much lower equilibrium temperature than other spectroscopically accessible members of this population.


Item Type:Article
Related URLs:
URLURL TypeDescription
https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/202141277DOIArticle
https://arxiv.org/abs/2107.14125arXivDiscussion Paper
ORCID:
AuthorORCID
Wells, R. D.0000-0002-7240-8473
Demory, B.-O.0000-0002-9355-5165
Burgasser, A. J.0000-0002-6523-9536
Pozuelos, F. J.0000-0003-1572-7707
Günther, M. N.0000-0002-3164-9086
Stassun, K. G.0000-0002-3481-9052
Van Grootel, V.0000-0003-2144-4316
Howell, S. B.0000-0002-2532-2853
Triaud, A. H. M. J.0000-0002-5510-8751
Apai, D.0000-0003-3714-5855
Barkaoui, K.0000-0003-1464-9276
Chen, W. P.0000-0003-0262-272X
de Wit, J.0000-0003-2415-2191
Delrez, L.0000-0001-6108-4808
Dietrich, J.0000-0002-8134-9591
Ducrot, E.0000-0002-7008-6888
Fausnaugh, M.0000-0002-9113-7162
Furlan, E.0000-0001-9800-6248
Gan, T.0000-0002-4503-9705
Gillon, M.0000-0003-1462-7739
Henning, T.0000-0002-1493-300X
Jehin, E.0000-0001-8923-488X
Jenkins, J. M.0000-0002-4715-9460
Latham, D. W.0000-0001-9911-7388
Queloz, D.0000-0002-3012-0316
Schwarz, R. P.0000-0001-8227-1020
Seager, S.0000-0002-6892-6948
Thompson, S.0000-0001-7106-4683
Twicken, J. D.0000-0002-6778-7552
Winn, J. N.0000-0002-4265-047X
Additional Information:© ESO 2021. Article published by EDP Sciences. Received 10 May 2021; Accepted 23 July 2021; Published online 13 September 2021. We thank the anonymous referee for their corrections and help in improving the paper. We warmly thank the entire technical staff of the Observatorio Astronómico Nacional at San Pedro Mártir in México for their unfailing support to SAINT-EX operations, namely: E. Cadena, T. Calvario, E. Colorado, B. García, G. Guisa, A. Franco, L. Figueroa, B. Hernández, J. Herrera, E. López, E. Lugo, B. Martínez, J. M. Nuñez, J. L. Ochoa, M. Pereyra, F. Quiroz, T. Verdugo, I. Zavala. B.V.R. thanks the Heising-Simons Foundation for support. Y.G.M.C acknowledges support from UNAM-PAPIIT IG-101321. B.-O. D. acknowledges support from the Swiss National Science Foundation (PP00P2-163967 and PP00P2-190080). R.B. acknowledges the support from the Swiss National Science Foundation under grant P2BEP2_195285. M.N.G. acknowledges support from MIT’s Kavli Institute as a Juan Carlos Torres Fellow. A.H.M.J.T acknowledges funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (grant agreement n° 803193/BEBOP), from the MERAC foundation, and from the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC; grant n° ST/S00193X/1). T.D. acknowledges support from MIT’s Kavli Institute as a Kavli postdoctoral fellow Part of this work received support from the National Centre for Competence in Research PlanetS, supported by the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF). The research leading to these results has received funding from the ARC grant for Concerted Research Actions, financed by the Wallonia-Brussels Federation. TRAPPIST is funded by the Belgian Fund for Scientific Research (Fond National de la Recherche Scientifique, FNRS) under the grant FRFC 2.5.594.09.F, with the participation of the Swiss National Science Fundation (SNF). M.G. and E.J. are F.R.S.-FNRS Senior Research Associate. This publication benefits from the support of the French Community of Belgium in the context of the FRIA Doctoral Grant awarded to MT. We acknowledge the use of public TESS data from pipelines at the TESS Science Office and at the TESS Science Processing Operations Center. We acknowledge the use of public TESS Alert data from pipelines at the TESS Science Office and at the TESS Science Processing Operations Center. Resources supporting this work were provided by the NASA High-End Computing (HEC) Program through the NASA Advanced Supercomputing (NAS) Division at Ames Research Center for the production of the SPOC data products. Funding for the TESS mission is provided by NASA’s Science Mission Directorate. This research has made use of the Exoplanet Follow-up Observation Program website, which is operated by the California Institute of Technology, under contract with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration under the Exoplanet Exploration Program. This paper includes data collected by the TESS mission that are publicly available from the Mikulski Archive for Space Telescopes (MAST). We thank the TESS GI program G03274 PI, Ryan Cloutier, for proposing the target of this work for 2-min-cadence observations in Sector 30. This work is based upon observations carried out at the Observatorio Astronómico Nacional on the Sierra de San Pedro Mártir (OAN-SPM), Baja California, México. This work makes use of observations from the LCOGT network. Part of the LCOGT telescope time was granted by NOIRLab through the Mid-Scale Innovations Program (MSIP). MSIP is funded by NSF. This work includes data collected at the Vatican Advanced Technology Telescope (VATT) on Mt. Graham. This paper includes data taken on the EDEN telescope network. We acknowledge support from the Earths in Other Solar Systems Project (EOS) and Alien Earths (grant numbers NNX15AD94G and 80NSSC21K0593), sponsored by NASA. Some of the observations in the paper made use of the High-Resolution Imaging instrument Zorro (Gemini program GS-2020B-LP-105). Zorro was funded by the NASA Exoplanet Exploration Program and built at the NASA Ames Research Center by Steve B. Howell, Nic Scott, Elliott P. Horch, and Emmett Quigley. Zorro was mounted on the Gemini South telescope of the international Gemini Observatory, a program of NSF’s OIR Lab, which is managed by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy (AURA) under a cooperative agreement with the National Science Foundation. on behalf of the Gemini partnership:the National Science Foundation (United States), National Research Council (Canada), Agencia Nacional de Investigación y Desarrollo (Chile), Ministerio de Ciencia, Tecnología e Innovación (Argentina), Ministério da Ciência, Tecnologia, Inovações e Comunicações (Brazil), and Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute (Republic of Korea). This research has made use of the NASA Exoplanet Archive, which is operated by the California Institute of Technology, under contract with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration under the Exoplanet Exploration Program. This work made use of the following Python packages: astropy (Astropy Collaboration 2013, 2018), lightkurve (Lightkurve Collaboration 2018), matplotlib (Hunter 2007), pandas (Wes McKinney 2010), seaborn (Waskom & The Seaborn Development team 2021), scipy (Virtanen et al. 2020) and numpy (Harris et al. 2020).
Group:Infrared Processing and Analysis Center (IPAC)
Funders:
Funding AgencyGrant Number
Heising-Simons Foundation51 Pegasi b Fellowship
Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM)IG-101321
Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF)PP00P2-163967
Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF)PP00P2-190080
Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF)P2BEP2_195285
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)UNSPECIFIED
European Research Council (ERC)803193
MERAC FoundationUNSPECIFIED
Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC)ST/S00193X/1
Australian Research CouncilUNSPECIFIED
Wallonia-Brussels FederationUNSPECIFIED
Fond National de la Recherche Scientifique2.5.594.09.F
NSFUNSPECIFIED
NASANNX15AD94G
NASA80NSSC21K0593
NASA Sagan FellowshipUNSPECIFIED
Subject Keywords:planets and satellites: detection – stars: individual: TOI-2406 – techniques: photometric
DOI:10.1051/0004-6361/202141277
Record Number:CaltechAUTHORS:20211007-152441005
Persistent URL:https://resolver.caltech.edu/CaltechAUTHORS:20211007-152441005
Official Citation:A large sub-Neptune transiting the thick-disk M4 V TOI-2406. R. D. Wells, B. V. Rackham, N. Schanche, R. Petrucci, Y. Gómez Maqueo Chew, B.-O. Demory, A. J. Burgasser, R. Burn, F. J. Pozuelos, M. N. Günther, L. Sabin, U. Schroffenegger, M. A. Gómez-Muñoz, K. G. Stassun, V. Van Grootel, S. B. Howell, D. Sebastian, A. H. M. J. Triaud, D. Apai, I. Plauchu-Frayn, C. A. Guerrero, P. F. Guillén, A. Landa, G. Melgoza, F. Montalvo, H. Serrano, H. Riesgo, K. Barkaoui, A. Bixel, A. Burdanov, W. P. Chen, P. Chinchilla, K. A. Collins, T. Daylan, J. de Wit, L. Delrez, M. Dévora-Pajares, J. Dietrich, G. Dransfield, E. Ducrot, M. Fausnaugh, E. Furlan, P. Gabor, T. Gan, L. Garcia, M. Ghachoui, S. Giacalone, A. B. Gibbs, M. Gillon, C. Gnilka, R. Gore, N. Guerrero, T. Henning, K. Hesse, E. Jehin, J. M. Jenkins, D. W. Latham, K. Lester, J. McCormac, C. A. Murray, P. Niraula, P. P. Pedersen, D. Queloz, G. Ricker, D. R. Rodriguez, A. Schroeder, R. P. Schwarz, N. Scott, S. Seager, C. A. Theissen, S. Thompson, M. Timmermans, J. D. Twicken and J. N. Winn. A&A, 653 (2021) A97; DOI: https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/202141277
Usage Policy:No commercial reproduction, distribution, display or performance rights in this work are provided.
ID Code:111264
Collection:CaltechAUTHORS
Deposited By: Tony Diaz
Deposited On:07 Oct 2021 15:49
Last Modified:07 Oct 2021 15:49

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