Confirmation of Hot Jupiter Kepler-41b via Phase Curve Analysis

Abstract

We present high precision photometry of Kepler-41, a giant planet in a 1.86 day orbit around a G6V star that was recently confirmed through radial velocity measurements. We have developed a new method to confirm giant planets solely from the photometric light curve, and we apply this method herein to Kepler-41 to establish the validity of this technique. We generate a full phase photometric model by including the primary and secondary transits, ellipsoidal variations, Doppler beaming and reflected/emitted light from the planet. Third light contamination scenarios that can mimic a planetary transit signal are simulated by injecting a full range of dilution values into the model, and we re-fit each diluted light curve model to the light curve. The resulting constraints on the maximum occultation depth and stellar density combined with stellar evolution models rules out stellar blends and provides a measurement of the planet's mass, size, and temperature. We expect about two dozen Kepler giant planets can be confirmed via this method.

25 pages, 7 figures, Accepted to Ap.J

References in corpus (3)

• The Very Low Albedo of an Extrasolar Planet: MOST Spacebased Photometry of HD 209458
• Photometrically derived masses and radii of the planet and star in the TrES-2 system
• Decoupling Phase Variations in Multi-Planet Systems

Cited by in corpus (27)

• Wotan: Comprehensive time-series de-trending in Python
• Changing Phases of Alien Worlds: Probing Atmospheres of Kepler Planets with High-Precision Photometry
• Optical Phase Curves of Kepler Exoplanets
• Transits and Occultations of an Earth-Sized Planet in an 8.5-Hour Orbit
• Understanding Trends Associated with Clouds in Irradiated Exoplanets
• A comprehensive study of Kepler phase curves and secondary eclipses -- temperatures and albedos of confirmed Kepler giant planets
• High-resolution imaging of $Kepler$ planet host candidates. A comprehensive comparison of different techniques
• Kepler-91b: a planet at the end of its life. Planet and giant host star properties via light-curve variations
• Studying atmosphere-dominated hot Jupiter Kepler phase curves: Evidence that inhomogeneous atmospheric reflection is common
• Multicolour photometry for exoplanet candidate validation
• Radial Velocity Observations and Light Curve Noise Modeling Confirm That Kepler-91b is a Giant Planet Orbiting a Giant Star
• Kepler-432 b: a massive planet in a highly eccentric orbit transiting a red giant
• Improved parameters of seven Kepler giant companions characterized with SOPHIE and HARPS-N
• Optical phase curves as diagnostics for aerosol composition in exoplanetary atmospheres
• The Dawes Review 3: The Atmospheres of Extrasolar Planets and Brown Dwarfs
• Radial velocity confirmation of Kepler-91 b. Additional evidence of its planetary nature using the Calar Alto/CAFE instrument
• Measuring the Galactic Distribution of Transiting Planets with WFIRST
• Reflected Light Curves, Spherical and Bond Albedos of Jupiter- and Saturn-like Exoplanets
• TOI-519 b: a short-period substellar object around an M dwarf validated using multicolour photometry and phase curve analysis
• Inferring asymmetric limb cloudiness on exoplanets from transit light curves
• Inferring heat recirculation and albedo for exoplanetary atmospheres: Comparing optical phase curves and secondary eclipse data
• Phase Curves of the Kepler-11 Multi-Planet System
• Phase Modeling of the TRAPPIST-1 Planetary Atmospheres
• Observations of scattered light from exoplanet atmospheres
• Discovery of a substellar companion in the TESS light curve of the $\delta$ Scuti/$\gamma$ Doradus hybrid pulsator HD 31221
• Revisiting Kepler Transiting Systems: Unvetting Planets and Constraining Relationships among Harmonics in Phase Curves
• Reflected-light Phase Curves with PICASO: A Kepler-7b Case Study