Description
The transit technique is the most successful one to detect planets. For single planets it provides a direct estimation of their radius. However, in multi-planet systems, the transit timing variations (TTVs) induced by mutual perturbations can provide additional invaluable information in their masses and densities. They can also reveal the presence of unseen non-transiting planets. It is therefore extremely important to correctly model the TTVs to extract a maximum of constraints on these planetary systems.
Resonances are a natural outcome of the migration of exoplanets. Consequently, they appear to be a crucial step in the formation of close-in sub-Neptunes. These exoplanets, with radii ranging from 1 to 4 Earth radii and orbital periods of less than 100 days, have been shown to exist around 30 to 50% of sun-like stars, based on early results from the HARPS spectrograph and the Kepler...
Transit Timing Variations are a powerful method for detecting and studying additional planets in exoplanetary systems. Hot Jupiters, massive gas giants orbiting very close to their stars, were once thought to exist in isolated orbits. However, recent discoveries of small nearby companions, have shown that these systems can be more complex. By analyzing TTVs, we can measure the masses, orbital...
We used PyDynamicaLC, a photodynamical model tailored for the analysis of the smallest- and lowest-TTV-amplitude- planets, to analyze Kepler’s multi-planet systems (Ofir+2025), where we were able to determine significant masses to 88 planets. We demonstrate consistency with literature results over 2 orders of magnitude in mass, and for the planets that already had literature mass estimations,...
Transit timing variations (TTVs) of hot Jupiters can reveal signatures of multiple physical processes, including apsidal precession, the Rømer effect, and notably, planetary migration. Hot Jupiters are believed to form at significant distances from their host stars and later migrate inward, a scenario that can be directly supported by TTV measurements. Detecting TTVs requires a long...
K2-19 hosts a pair of Neptune-like planets inside the 3:2 resonance, with previously reported eccentricities of 0.2 raising questions about conditions at the time of formation. Moreover, in spite of the system's resonant status both resonance angles circulate at these high eccentricities, contrary to common understanding. Tripling the observing baseline reveals the full resonant evolution of...
Recent TESS discoveries have revealed increasing number of exoplanetary systems exhibiting strong transit timing variations (TTVs), many of which consist of warm, Jovian-mass planet pairs near a 2:1 mean-motion resonance (MMR). I will present several peculiar TTV systems identified within the Warm gIaNts with tEss (WINE) collaboration, which systematically characterizes TESS transiting warm...
In multiple-planet systems, gravitational interactions of exoplanets could lead to transit timing variations (TTVs), whose amplitude becomes significantly enhanced when planets are near mean-motion resonances (MMRs), making them more easily detectable. In cases where both TTVs and radial velocity (RV) measurements are available, combined analysis can break degeneracies and provide robust...
Measuring transit timing variations allows us to study multi-planet systems, in particular probing planetary masses and dynamics. NGTS, with its high photometric precision, fast cadence and flexible scheduling, is very well suited to measuring transit timing variations . Here we present the suite of NGTS projects aimed at measuring transit timing variations over a range of targets and science...
We present the discovery and analysis of exceptionally large transit timing variations (TTVs) in the TOI-4504 exoplanetary system. Using data from NASA's Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) and radial velocity measurements from FEROS, we identified TOI-4504 c as a warm Jupiter with a peak-to-node TTV amplitude of approximately 2 days, the largest such signal observed to date....
The Neptunian desert, a scarcity of Neptune-like planets in close orbit around their host stars, is an unexpected finding of the known exoplanet population. Large space-based surveys like TESS, together with ground-based follow-up, are identifying and confirming new transiting planet candidates in and near the desert. However, the targets that end up being followed form a heterogeneous and...
Understanding the demographics of close-in Neptune-sized planets is a key to exploring planet formation, particularly around the Neptunian desert. We performed a comprehensive search of TESS SPOC Full Frame Image light curves to identify transit signals. Candidate validation was conducted with our RAVEN pipeline, utilizing machine learning to identify false positives. The resulting sample...
The detection of exoplanets rely heavily on space-based transit surveys such as Kepler, TESS and PLATO. In these surveys, detecting and characterising small planets pose challenges due to their low signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). Standard methods, such as the Box least square (BLS) algorithm, exploit the periodic nature of orbits to enhance the SNR. But these methods are fundamentally limited...
