The Search for the In-betweeners: How Packed Are TESS Planetary Systems?

In this work, we examine seven systems discovered by TESS, to see whether there is any room in those systems for an additional planet (or several) to lurk unseen between the two planets already confirmed therein. In five of those systems (namely, HD 15337, HD 21749, HD 63433, HD 73583, and LTT 3780)...

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Main Authors: Jonathan Horner, Robert A. Wittenmyer, Stephen R. Kane, Timothy R. Holt
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: IOP Publishing 2024-01-01
Series:The Astronomical Journal
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Online Access:https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-3881/ad8e3a
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author Jonathan Horner
Robert A. Wittenmyer
Stephen R. Kane
Timothy R. Holt
author_facet Jonathan Horner
Robert A. Wittenmyer
Stephen R. Kane
Timothy R. Holt
author_sort Jonathan Horner
collection DOAJ
description In this work, we examine seven systems discovered by TESS, to see whether there is any room in those systems for an additional planet (or several) to lurk unseen between the two planets already confirmed therein. In five of those systems (namely, HD 15337, HD 21749, HD 63433, HD 73583, and LTT 3780), we find that there is ample room for an undiscovered planet to move between those that have already been discovered. In other words, as they currently stand, those systems are not tightly packed. In stark contrast, the perturbative influence of the two known TOI-1670 planets is such that additional planets in between are ruled out. The final system, TOI 421, is more challenging. In the vast majority of cases, adding an Earth-mass planet to that system between the orbits of the known planets caused catastrophic instability. Just ∼1.1% of our simulations of the modified system proved dynamically stable on a timescale of 1 Myr. As a result, it seems that there is very little room between the two known planets in the TOI 421 system for an additional unseen world to exist, but the existence of such a planet cannot be definitely ruled out on dynamical grounds alone.
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spelling doaj-art-5dbe5ff71ce94cc19f2643c863f2cdf72024-12-05T09:41:03ZengIOP PublishingThe Astronomical Journal1538-38812024-01-011691810.3847/1538-3881/ad8e3aThe Search for the In-betweeners: How Packed Are TESS Planetary Systems?Jonathan Horner0https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1160-7970Robert A. Wittenmyer1https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9957-9304Stephen R. Kane2https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7084-0529Timothy R. Holt3https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0437-3296Centre for Astrophysics, University of Southern Queensland , West Street, Toowoomba, QLD 4350, Australia ; jonti.horner@unisq.edu.auCentre for Astrophysics, University of Southern Queensland , West Street, Toowoomba, QLD 4350, Australia ; jonti.horner@unisq.edu.auCentre for Astrophysics, University of Southern Queensland , West Street, Toowoomba, QLD 4350, Australia ; jonti.horner@unisq.edu.au; Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, University of California , Riverside, CA 92521, USACentre for Astrophysics, University of Southern Queensland , West Street, Toowoomba, QLD 4350, Australia ; jonti.horner@unisq.edu.auIn this work, we examine seven systems discovered by TESS, to see whether there is any room in those systems for an additional planet (or several) to lurk unseen between the two planets already confirmed therein. In five of those systems (namely, HD 15337, HD 21749, HD 63433, HD 73583, and LTT 3780), we find that there is ample room for an undiscovered planet to move between those that have already been discovered. In other words, as they currently stand, those systems are not tightly packed. In stark contrast, the perturbative influence of the two known TOI-1670 planets is such that additional planets in between are ruled out. The final system, TOI 421, is more challenging. In the vast majority of cases, adding an Earth-mass planet to that system between the orbits of the known planets caused catastrophic instability. Just ∼1.1% of our simulations of the modified system proved dynamically stable on a timescale of 1 Myr. As a result, it seems that there is very little room between the two known planets in the TOI 421 system for an additional unseen world to exist, but the existence of such a planet cannot be definitely ruled out on dynamical grounds alone.https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-3881/ad8e3aExoplanetsExoplanet dynamicsAstrobiology
spellingShingle Jonathan Horner
Robert A. Wittenmyer
Stephen R. Kane
Timothy R. Holt
The Search for the In-betweeners: How Packed Are TESS Planetary Systems?
The Astronomical Journal
Exoplanets
Exoplanet dynamics
Astrobiology
title The Search for the In-betweeners: How Packed Are TESS Planetary Systems?
title_full The Search for the In-betweeners: How Packed Are TESS Planetary Systems?
title_fullStr The Search for the In-betweeners: How Packed Are TESS Planetary Systems?
title_full_unstemmed The Search for the In-betweeners: How Packed Are TESS Planetary Systems?
title_short The Search for the In-betweeners: How Packed Are TESS Planetary Systems?
title_sort search for the in betweeners how packed are tess planetary systems
topic Exoplanets
Exoplanet dynamics
Astrobiology
url https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-3881/ad8e3a
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